Pay rise reaction: Federation will fight for better pay mechanism

30 July 2024

Northamptonshire branch chair Sam Dobbs says the Federation will continue to fight for a pay mechanism that recognises the unique role of police officers in society.

His comments come as it was announced that officers will receive a 4.75 per cent pay rise this year.

Sam said the award, on top of last year’s seven per cent rise, went some way towards restoration for officers, who have seen their wages fall in real terms by more than 20 per cent in the last 15 years.

But he said it was below pay awards for other public sector workers, underlining the need for a new pay mechanism that takes into account the job officers do and the risks and dangers they face every day.

Stabbed

Sam said: “While we welcome the fact that the Government has accepted the pay review body recommendation in full, it’s disappointing that the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) recommended increase was below that offered to millions of other public sector workers.

“It is also below the six per cent figure proposed by the National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC).

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, policing is a job like no other. It’s so different to that of so many other public sector roles, in relation to the daily and hourly risks officers run into. And there was no better reminder of that, than the Bravery Awards, which not only showcased the bravery of police officers but highlighted scenarios which saw officers carrying on their duty despite being - in some cases - injured or even stabbed.

“While we don’t believe that one group of public sector workers should be set against another, the pay review body recommendation shows that they do not understand policing and its needs.

“The existing pay mechanism is broken. It does not allow for negotiation, only the imposition of a fixed pay award.”

Sam continued to say that the 4.75 per cent increase, on top of last year’s rise, will help restore the significant degradation of police pay since 2010.

He went on to reference that the PRRB also recommended that London Weighting should be increased by 4.75 per cent, adding: “The Met has been given an additional increase, which I support. However, as the cost of buying a house in Northamptonshire remains high, we believe this should be reflected in our officers’ pay - and this will be one of the first issues we discuss with our local MPs when we get the earliest opportunity.”

He added: “In our recent Pay and Morale survey, 95 per cent of respondents in Northamptonshire Police said they did not feel respected by the government, while the most cited reason for officers intending to leave the Force was the way they were treated by the last government.”

Financially

In addition, 87 per cent of Northamptonshire respondents revealed they felt worse off financially than they did five years ago, while 20 per cent reported that they ‘never’ or ‘almost never’ have enough money to cover all of their essentials.

Sam said: “As a Federation, we’ve actually had to help a member to buy things as basic as prescriptions because their money is running out.”

Following a recent poll of members, the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) will launch a campaign for a new mechanism for determining officer pay awards which includes collective bargaining and access to binding arbitration.

This will be in recognition of the unique restrictions placed on police officers who, for example, cannot join a trade union or go on strike.

Sam said: “The Federation will continue to fight for a pay mechanism that recognises the role that police officers perform in society and the risks they take.”

Other announcements include:

The on-call allowance will be increased from £20 to £25
The dog handlers’ allowance should be uprated by 4.75 per cent and the additional rate for officers with more than one dog be raised from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the rate for the first dog
The PRRB recommended that the chief officer of police in each force should be given the discretion to set the starting salary for new constables at either pay point 1 or pay point 2 on the constables’ pay scale. This recommendation has been accepted, but implementation will be subject to detailed proposals from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) on the circumstances in which this discretion should be used, along with transition arrangements for those constables on pay point 1, to inform amendments to the Police Regulations 2003
The annual leave entitlements for officers in the federated ranks and recommended the time it takes to reach the maximum entitlement of 30 days should be reduced from 20 to 10 years, with effect from 1 April 2025 and phased in over three years. This recommendation was accepted, subject to the submission of a satisfactory Equality Impact Assessment by the NPCC to the Home Office
The annual leave entitlement for new entrants will be increased from 22 to 25 days, with implementation taking effect on 1 April 2025
The Home Office will provide £175m additional funding in 2024-25 to forces to help with the cost of the pay increase.