POLICE officer pay rises are ‘nothing short of insulting’, the chairman of Thames Valley Police Federation has said.

The Government said it was lifting the public sector pay cap for officers when it announced a 2 per cent rise in the form of a 1 per cent pay rise and 1 per cent bonus in September.

But Craig O’Leary, chairman of the federation, says officers have suffered enough financially and called on the Government to properly fund the police service.

He said: “It’s quite clear that the pay award is anything but a lifting of the pay cap. We’ve been awarded a 1 per cent pay rise and 1 per cent non-consolidated bonus, which is only in place for a year and at August 2018 will cease to be in existence.

“So we are very much still within the realms of the pay cap at 1 per cent.

“It’s nothing short of an insult to our working members out there on the streets, that have now suffered for the last seven years, into an eighth year now, of Tory austerity. It’s just nothing short of insulting for them, really.”

Police constable O’Leary said he is yet to receive any support from Oxfordshire MPs on the issue of police pay, and says the service is at a crossroads.

He said: “You can’t do more with less.

“The service that the public receives does diminish.”