PFEW calls for a 17% pay increase for officers

9 March 2023

PFEW has today called for a 17% pay increase for officers after an independent study by a leading non-partisan think tank showed a fundamental decline in police pay of almost 20 per cent since 2000.

The independent research showed police pay to be an outlier among protective services workers; public sector workers; and all workers. The report shows that all of these groups saw their pay rise in real terms over this period – by 1 per cent, 14 per cent, and 5 per cent in total respectively, against a real terms drop of 17 per cent for police officers.

The report also demonstrated police constable starting salaries have lagged behind earnings as a whole across the economy by a considerable amount.

The independent report exposed the decline in police pay is likely to be linked to the restrictions on police officers’ right to strike, which puts them at a distinct disadvantage to all other workers including other emergency service workers.

The research also calculated that if these real-terms trends continued over the next five years, police pay would drop a further 4 per cent in a real-terms decline by 2027, in comparison to private and public sector worker pay which is set to rise over the same period.

Further details available here