CAMBRIDGESHIRE police deserve 'fair treatment' when it comes to a special funding allowance paid to neighbouring forces, from which the local force is excluded.
This was top of the agenda when our MP Shailesh Vara hosted a meeting in Parliament, jointly with Huntingdon MP Jonathan Djanogly, to discuss local policing matters. Also there was Cambridgeshire Police and Crime Commissioner Darryl Preston and Chief Constable Nick Dean.
Introduced in 1994, the so-called South East Allowance is an extra payment made to police officers to recognise the additional cost of living in the south east of England. The maximum payable is capped at £3,000 a year and is currently paid in eight police forces including Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire which work very closely with Cambridgeshire on a variety of initiatives.
Afterwards Shailesh told us: "I am working with Jonathan Djanogly and other Cambridgeshire MPs to support the Police Federation's request for a review of the national police funding formula, and in particular the disparity in payment of the South East Allowance. There is clearly much to be done to ensure fair treatment and payment for our officers locally and I will be taking up these and other matters with Home Secretary James Cleverly.
"It simply is not right that while officers in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire receive this allowance, their colleagues here in Cambridgeshire are excluded despite the very close collaboration between forces."
