Concerns have been raised over the announcement of a pay bonus to be given to police staff in Guernsey. Guernsey Police officers up to the rank of inspector are set to receive a £5,000 recognition and retention payment. Deputy Marc Leadbeater, Member of the committee for health & social care, questioned how other emergency service workers will be treated and if they will see a similar increase.
He said: "We have staff groups that are stretched, doing a lot of overtime...
but unfortunately we haven't got the luxury of having £5k each that we can pay them so I think it is a fairly dangerous precedent personally." He added: "It will be interesting to see how home affairs have half a million pounds spare kicking around in their budget. "A lot of the staff that work for us (health and social care) don't earn anywhere near what a police officer will earn, so £5,000 to them would be a massive welcome bonus.
" The committee for home affairs said staff had been operating under "sustained pressure for some years" with officers working longer hours and undertaking ever-more complex case work. It said officers have been covering an ever-increasing number of unsociable shifts, working additional overtime, having leave and rest-days cancelled and handling heavy workloads. Deputy Rob Prow, president of the committee for home affairs, defended the £5,000 recognition and retention payment.
He said: "The police are suffering from recruitment and retention problems and it is quite obvious th.