Police officer forced to dip into sons’ university fund amid staff exodus over pay

‘I’ve stopped expecting any sort of pay reward for what we do,’ says officer who recalls when policing was a ‘career for life’

A police officer of 17 years has described having no choice but to dip into his children’s university fund to pay his family’s soaring bills, as rising anger over wages sparks an exodus from forces across England and Wales.

Officers are resigning in record numbers “simply because they cannot afford to stay in the service”, the Police Federation warned last week, after a decade in which “every element of their pay and conditions has been gradually eroded”.

Polling of 36,000 officers saw 87 per cent report that they were worse off now than five years ago – and revealed that nearly one in five plan to quit the police force within the next two years.