Battling the bulge: Obese British cops face pay cuts
Source: Agencies |
March 16, 2012, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
BRITISH police officers must prove their fitness in annual tests or have their pay docked after a survey found that 53 percent were overweight and one in 100 was morbidly obese, a review concluded yesterday.
The government-commissioned report into police pay and conditions suggested that officers who failed a fitness test thrice should be disciplined and could lose 8 percent of their salary, as much as 3,000 pounds (US$4,700) for some.
It follows a survey of more than 11,500 staff on London's police force which found that 44 percent were overweight, 19 percent obese and 1 percent morbidly obese.
The review, which comes as the government seeks to make cuts of some 20 percent to police budgets as part of austerity measures, recommended other big changes which would allow officers to be sacked, cut starting salaries, raise the pension age and require staff to have better qualifications.
The proposals, while generally welcomed by chief constables, have not gone down well with ordinary officers who are facing pay freezes, higher pension contributions and a cut in numbers.
"Police officers have had enough of the constant state of uncertainty and the deliberate, sustained attack on them by this government," said Paul McKeever, Chairman of Police Federation of England and Wales. "The service cannot take any more; enough is enough."
The government-commissioned report into police pay and conditions suggested that officers who failed a fitness test thrice should be disciplined and could lose 8 percent of their salary, as much as 3,000 pounds (US$4,700) for some.
It follows a survey of more than 11,500 staff on London's police force which found that 44 percent were overweight, 19 percent obese and 1 percent morbidly obese.
The review, which comes as the government seeks to make cuts of some 20 percent to police budgets as part of austerity measures, recommended other big changes which would allow officers to be sacked, cut starting salaries, raise the pension age and require staff to have better qualifications.
The proposals, while generally welcomed by chief constables, have not gone down well with ordinary officers who are facing pay freezes, higher pension contributions and a cut in numbers.
"Police officers have had enough of the constant state of uncertainty and the deliberate, sustained attack on them by this government," said Paul McKeever, Chairman of Police Federation of England and Wales. "The service cannot take any more; enough is enough."
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