National Federation asks for 3.4% pay rise for Police Officers

6 February 2018

The Police Federation of England and Wales and the Superintendents’ Association have asked for a pay increase of 3.4% for all police officers in 2018.

The request – which the Staff Associations say is in line with inflation – also demands “that the 1% that the Government cheated us out of last year be consolidated and not be considered as part of this year’s police officer pay settlement."

The Police Remuneration Review Body will consider evidence submitted by interested parties – Police Chiefs, Police and Crime commissioners and Staff Associations – and then advise the Home Secretary, who will make all final decisions on pay.

A decision is likely to come this summer – prior to the pay rise being introduced in September 2018.

Although this past year, the whole process was delayed by Government who then handed police officers a 1% pay rise and a 1% “bonus” rather than the 2% the PRRB recommended.

In the 2018 submission, Chief Constables have come under fire from the Police Federation of England and Wales and the Superintendents’ Association around its lack of transparency and they remain “deeply concerned” that the Home Secretary's Remit Letter implies that the NPCC’s plans for pay reform are more advanced than believed to be the case.

Andy Fittes, PFEW General Secretary, explained that PFEW’s analysis of the economic circumstances has led to an insistence that an uplift for all officers of 3.4% is considered in line with inflation.

“The Home Secretary must act on the independent advice of the PRRB: doing otherwise last year has undermined the credibility of the process, and the mechanisms that this Government introduced,” said Mr Fittes. 

According to the Home Office, Chief officers want “time-limited, targeted payments to address specific recruitment and retention pressures” – for roles such as detectives, firearms and custody officers. Similar to Special Priority Payments which were axed in 2012.

“The NPCC has failed to provide proposals or time-limited targeted pay, despite the fact they have asked for targeted pay to be included two years in a row in the remit letter. We are dumbfounded as the NPCC has failed to provide any proposals, either in draft or final,” concluded Mr Fittes.

In addition, the NPCC's proposals for officer apprenticeship pay to start at £18,000 has been labelled “a derisory offer,” which would “cause considerable hardship to any apprentice taking it up.” The Staff Associations “see no reason to move away from our recommendation in last year’s submission, that apprentices should be incorporated within the existing pay scale.”

Calum Macleod, Police Federation of England and Wales Chairman, said: “This is the fourth year that we have submitted evidence to the PRRB, and that is exactly what ours is – strong, well-researched evidence that takes account of the uniqueness of policing, the increasing pressures and demands on police officers and inflation now and predictions for the year to come.

“This is not finger in the wind guess work”.

He added: “Last year the PRRB was brave and, despite the shackles set by government, put its neck on the line recommending an overall pay uplift that was more than the 1% public sector pay cap. This year, we ask that they be brave again.

“And then Government must stop patting us on the back with one hand, while picking our pockets with the other. They must honour the PRRB process and implement their recommendation in full; and give us the additional 1% consolidated pay they owe us from last year too.”