Christmas and New Year Message from Greater Manchester Police Federation Chair Mike Peake

Looking back at 2025 it was a year of police officer burnout as sickness figures increased.

Many GMP operational departments are operating with less staff, and officers are having to work harder than ever.

For a long time now, I have been raising my concerns around sustainability as officers struggle to meet demand. Officer burn out is real and this was evidenced by the local results of this year’s National Police Wellbeing Survey.

• 67 % of officers’ state that they face unrealistic time pressures.
• 74 % find it difficult to take enough breaks.
• 66 % of officers are feeling fatigue or physical exhaustion through work.
• 57 % feel burnt out because of their job.
In addition to this only one in five officers feel that their pay and benefits are fair for the work they do.

The PFEW launched its sustained ‘Copped Enough’ pay campaign – what the police take home is criminal, which seeks to highlight how police pay has declined since 2010 and why police pay needs to improve.

The Government announced a police officer pay award of 4.2% which falls far short of the real term pay cut police officers have experienced since 2010. Officers deserve pay and conditions that truly reflect the demands, dangers, and dedication of policing and that is what I, along with PFEW will continue to fight for.

Sadly, the world was shocked when the news broke about the horrendous terrorist attack in Crumpsall on 2nd October. My thoughts are still with the families who were affected and lost loved ones.

GMPs initial response to the incident was first class and I commend those officers who ran towards danger neutralising the threat as quickly as they did.

The subsequent demand became incredible as officers were placed on 12-hour shifts and rest days were cancelled.

GMP became stretched beyond its limits and officer exhaustion very quickly kicked in, but everyone pulled together to protect and reassure the community.

Looking forward, The government has announced that it is to produce a police reform white paper. The first steps being to save £100 million by abolishing Police Crime Commissioners by 2028, whilst this will have little impact locally, as Greater Manchester already has an elected mayor structure in place, we await further news on how other government reforms will drive quality, consistency and efficiency in policing.

Whilst nothing is confirmed at present there is talk of regionalising policing forces, which would result in a reduction of the current 43 police force model that exists in England and Wales. I eagerly await the content of the white paper and along with PFEW will be showing a keen interest on how any changes will affect officers in GMP.

Christmas is a busy time for police officers, and I hope that you get the chance to spend some quality time with family and loved ones. I ask everyone to share a thought for the many officers who will be working shifts over the Christmas period protecting our communities.

I hope that you stay safe and celebrate whenever you can.

I would like to take the opportunity to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.