Government Is ‘Narrow-Minded’ About Pay Review Body

27 September 2024

The Government is being “narrow-minded” by not changing the current police pay mechanism, Cleveland Police Federation has said.

At the Police Superintendents’ Association Conference in early September, Policing Minister Diana Johnson told a Q&A session that the Labour Government had no plans to change the way police officer pay rises are decided.

The Police Federation of England and Wales is lobbying for a new pay mechanism for police, and Cleveland Police Federation Chair Paul Crowley said the police needed a unique pay review body due to the fact that they didn’t have industrial rights.

He said: “I think this is very narrow-minded of ministers. Policing is a unique industry, and the pay negotiations that determine the pay for police officers need to recognise that.

“For example, with the recent disorder in the height of summer, when officers were meant to be spending time with their families, they were having their rest days cancelled, forcing officers to come into work in order to make sure that law and order was being restored in our communities.

“There’s no other industry where you would be forced to do such things. That needs to be recognised. The excessive workloads need to be addressed, too.

“I think it’s very narrow-minded to say: ‘We’re not going to review how pay is determined’, because they’re ignoring the fact that this is not a normal set of circumstances. We cannot have the same negotiating body as the fire service and teachers, all of whom have access to industrial rights and other employment-related protections that we simply don’t.

“It needs to be recognised that we are unique and we need a unique pay review body to be able to administer that.”