A police officer regularly has to ask her mum for help affording to feed her young son and put fuel in her car, despite working as a detective.
Vicky Knight, a detective constable with North Wales Police service, told the Police Federation annual conference that she has 'never felt this poor'.
The 47-year-old spoke of her 'embarrassment' at having to ask family for money just to afford the basics and worries she could lose her home, Devon Live reports.
She added that others are in the same boat, with herself and colleagues “desperately struggling to do the job that we love and to make ends meet”.
The Police Federation rep questioned the Home Secretary - who was told to "put her money where her mouth is" at the conference.
“I have never known it to be this bad in 23 years’ service. I have never felt this poor. The separated mother-of-one added: “I was scared on Saturday.
"I had no money left, and I mean like at the end of my overdraft, not a penny. And I had to go cap in hand to my mum.
“I’m 47 years old, I’ve been a professional for 20 years, it’s a professional job, and I had to go to my mum and say, 'It’s been a five weekend month mum, and I have got no money left and I need to buy school dinners'."
Ms Knight asked Priti Patel if she could live on the take-home pay of a probationary officer, £1,200 a month to “go out and get kicked and spat at”. The officer said: “I could see the shock in her face when I asked her, ‘Could you live off twelve hundred pound a month?’.
“She’s a mum herself. She’s a woman doing a very difficult job in a very male-orientated environment. What would you do if you found yourself in this situation?”
During her speech, the Home Secretary said she was “very proudly pro-police” as she unveiled plans to give volunteer police officers powers to use Tasers. But answering questions afterwards at the event in Manchester, groans could be heard when Ms Patel told delegates the federation – which represents more than 130,000 officers from the rank of constable to chief inspector – had not been “at the table” recently for pay negotiations.
After paying professional subscriptions and pension, Ms Knight said she takes home £2,300 a month and works overtime twice a month to “make ends meet.” Because wages are measured before pension deductions, she does not receive any support apart from child family allowance, telling the conference: “Apart from that I’m on my own."
Ms Knight said after paying her bills, she is left with around £100 a month for food. She said an accountant friend went through her finances and came to the conclusion she would be better off giving up her police officer role and working 22 hours a week in a shop which would make her eligible for benefits and housing allowance.
Describing how she is paid “a couple of hundred pounds a month more than the workers in McDonald’s flipping burgers” and less than her “local manager at Lidl”, Ms Knight told how ahead of her most recent pay day she had to borrow £40 from her mother so she could put fuel in her car and buy food for her son’s school lunches “because I had no money left at the end of the month”.
Ms Knight, who said she had used food banks in the past but not regularly due to the support of family and friends, added: “As a detective of 23 years, I couldn’t believe it. How is that even possible?
“Some of the politicians are so far removed from the reality of it and they live in their big houses in their nice area with their kids in public school. I joined the Navy when I was 17 and I’ve done nothing but serve the public all my working life. I’m at the point where I’m going backwards.
“I’m potentially going to lose my house. I’m potentially going to have to move back in with my parents. And I’m not on my own.”
Ms Knight was met with applause when she asked: “I work … with the most vulnerable members of our community and I love my job. However, if the rate of interest goes up and I can’t pay my mortgage and I can’t pay the fuel, I’m not going to be able to continue to come to work.
“I went to see an accountant and the advice was leave the police, work for 22 hours a week and claim benefits and you will be better off. How can that be right?”
Ms Knight added: “I tell this story not because I’m here for sympathy, I just want to be heard. I stand here to represent myself and many people in the force that are like me.
“We are desperately struggling to do the job that we love and to make ends meet at home. So I need you to be on our team and to help us, to represent us … to get us fair pay.”
Ms Patel said that pay and conditions was something she was “committed” to working with the Federation on and thanked Ms Knight for sharing her story, adding: “I think it just it really illustrates so strongly and powerfully why we need to actually find solutions to pay issues and actually give you the support that you rightly deserve.
“We have to move this forward. You have that commitment from me, you absolutely do.” The federation’s national chairman, Steve Hartshorn, who took on the role in March, said the “lack” of pay “sticks in the throat” of officers and causes them the “greatest hardship”, asking Ms Patel: “What has gone wrong?”
He added: “Why are my colleagues one of the only groups of frontline public sector workers being penalised in their pockets? It’s frustrating to see and hear from colleagues who are struggling to feed their families and going to food banks.”
Last year the federation withdrew from the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB), an independent system that sets salaries, after widespread outrage over the Government’s decision to freeze pay for officers who earn more than £24,000.
By contrast, NHS staff were given a 3% increase and firefighters and local government workers a 1.5% rise. The bitter row saw the federation pass a vote of no confidence in Ms Patel over pay, while chairman of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, Martin Hewitt, wrote to her to say that officers “deserve better”.
