‘Lack of respect from Home Office over officer pay’
12 March 2019
The Home Office has shown a lack of respect in the way it has handled the pay review process, says Leicestershire Police Federation chair Dave Stokes.
Dave was commenting after the Home Office’s submission to the Police Remuneration Review Body (PPRB) was received a month after it was expected.
The Federation – in a joint submission with the Superintendents’ Association – has put forward to the PRRB evidence of the need for a three-year pay deal, comprising of a five per cent uplift in police officer pay this year, in 2020/21 and 2021/22, as a start to making up for years of below-inflation pay awards.
However, in its PRRB submission, the Home Office said it will only make £70 million available. This amounts to a pay rise of just 1.3 per cent if spent over a 12-month period, and less than the recent 2.7 per cent increase recently given to MPs.
Dave said: “The fact that this response comes a month late shows a distinct lack of respect to the independent pay review process and to our members. And that is before we even saw that the Home Office has not listened to our requests for fair pay for our hard-working officers.
“This response does not take the needs of our members seriously. It is nothing more than a slap in the face and does not fill anyone with any confidence that the Home Office is taking the pay review process seriously.”
National Federation chair John Apter was equally scathing.
He said: “I wish I could say it was worth waiting for. I wish I could say it had taken the additional weeks to read our published evidence and concede that, in the face of such comprehensive research and analysis, it had decided to agree with us and suggest officers receive five per cent per year for each of the next three years. I wish I could, but I can’t.
“Unfortunately, we have waited an additional month to see nothing more than a Home Office PR list of supposed achievements, and no firm recommendations on police pay.”
John added: “Even the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has done better than 1.3 per cent, as its submission includes options of up to 4.5 per cent this year. Given that the NPCC say this, maybe we can take some hope from the fact the Home Office states it will ‘undertake another assessment of affordability’.
“We have written to the PRRB to express our anger, disappointment and concerns. However, the Home Office submission itself and its lateness will do nothing to instil confidence in police officers that it takes seriously the pay review process.”
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