PRRB report must be 'required reading' for ministers, says chair

17 July 2026

The independent Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) report should be ‘required reading’ for the new Prime Minister and Home Secretary, says Northamptonshire Police Federation chair Sam Dobbs.

Responding to the publication of the PRRB report and this year's police pay award, Sam said that officers would have hoped for a bigger increase than the 3.5 per cent announced.

Sam said: “While it’s good that the rise is funded, I think the Government should at least have honoured 3.9 per cent.

“However, we’re still woefully behind on inflation. The rise itself for me probably won’t cover the increases in my diesel and electricity bills. And that’s the harsh reality.”

Sam said the PRRB report itself accurately captured the reality of policing and the challenges officers face.

 

Northamptonshire Police Federation chair Sam Dobbs

 

He said: “Even though the Police Federation is not at the negotiating table, it's clear our views have been heard.

“The report is littered with the issues we've been raising for years.

“It's an honest, evidence-based reality check on the state of policing."

Andy Burnham is set to take over from Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader and as Prime Minister, and then to announce his Home Secretary and Policing Minister.

And Sam said that before embarking on any reform, the new ministers should start with understanding the challenges identified by the independent review.

Law and order

He said: “In his first speech as Labour leader, Andy Burnham has promised to fix the big things.

“I would challenge him by saying that for me, one of the biggest things in society is law and order.

“The appointment of his Home Secretary and Police Minister is fundamental to that.

“And if we were to end up with a new Home Secretary, and they were looking for a brief on the real state of policing, then go no further than the PRRB reports.

“Across more than 200 pages, this report gives an incredibly accurate picture of where policing is today.”

Report findings

Sam said many of the report's findings are reflected daily in Northamptonshire Police.

He said the Force continues to struggle to attract and retain police officers, particularly as neighbouring forces compete for the same workforce.

“Recruitment remains a real issue here, but retention is also a really big concern,” he said.

“Increasingly, officers don't join for an entire career. Many are leaving within the first five years, and that's a ticking time bomb.”

He added that Northamptonshire has successfully recruited police staff investigators to support frontline policing.

"Anything that helps free up police officers to use the powers only they can exercise we welcome,” he said.

Funding formula

Sam renewed longstanding calls for reform of the police funding formula.

He said that Northamptonshire Police continues to receive an unfair share of national policing funding despite significant population growth and increasing demand.

Sam said: “For many years, we have said that the piece of the policing cake that Northamptonshire gets is disproportionately low.

“The last Government promised us they would review the funding formula. Senior ministers told me, personally, they'd done the work, but the formula couldn't be reviewed because the cake wouldn't get bigger and to redistribute the size of the slices would mean key areas of policing would suffer.

Funding review

“So, basically, Northamptonshire won't get that review.

“However, Northamptonshire is a burgeoning county. It has grown dramatically, with tens of thousands of additional households, but the funding hasn't kept pace.

“We're a rural force dealing with urban challenges. For instance, we’re at risk of county lines because there are so many communication lines.

“There are lots of reasons for that funding formula to be reviewed.”

Council Tax payers

Sam warned that although this year's pay award is fully funded, relying on Council Tax payers to bridge wider funding gaps is not sustainable.

“According to our Police and Crime Commissioner, Northamptonshire public pay far more pro-rata for policing than many other parts of the country.

“It's not realistic to say we need more money but local people have to pay for it.

“That means that the size of the cake needs looking at, and that means that that has to be one of the big issues that needs fixing.

“I still maintain that in comparison to other Government departments, the envelope for policing is not as big as it could or should be. 

Home Secretary

“That’s why we need the right choice of Home Secretary and they need to live up to some of the promises.”

Sam welcomed the report's recognition of the growing impact workload was having on officers' wellbeing, highlighting the disruption to work-life balance and increasing reliance on overtime.

Recent major incidents in Northamptonshire, including two murder investigations, have placed significant additional demands on already stretched teams, he said.

“Our resources have been stretched and the Force has relied on the goodwill of officers, many of whom are fatigued by overtime now,” he said.

Exploitative

“The PRRB report highlights and cautions about the potential exploitative nature of that and that frontline officers are getting burnt out.”

Sam also welcomed the report's support for reviewing police leadership and concerns around inspector and chief inspector pay.

He also highlighted ‘contextual societal issues’ such as filming officers and posting to social media.

He concluded: “All of these, in my view, are the big things.

“The police service and my members will do their utmost to keep communities safe, because they're drawn by a huge, powerful vocation.

“But you can't do it when the size of that cake is too small.”

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