Chair welcomes 4.75% pay uplift as a ‘good start’

30 July 2024

Nottinghamshire Police Federation has welcomed the new Government’s offer of a 4.75 per cent pay uplift for all ranks while noting that more needs to be done to undo years of 'damaging below-inflation rises'.

Branch chair Simon Riley described the award as a 'good start', but insisted the Federation will continue the fight until officers receive the fair settlement they are owed.

He said: “The announcement that the Government has accepted the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) recommendation in full, and that officer pay for 2024/25 will increase by 4.75 per cent - on top of last year’s rise - is welcomed.”

“However, we know that our members have suffered a 17 per cent real-term pay cut since 2010 and there is still some way to go for police pay to get back to where it needs to be. It is deeply disappointing that the PRRB recommended increase was below that offered to millions of other public sector workers and below the recommendation of the National Police Chiefs’ Council.  This is about what is fair for our members, who are seeking no more than fair pay for the extraordinary work they do.”

Recommendation

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

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

Simon pointed out that junior doctors are being offered a 20 per cent uplift, having exercised their prerogative to go on strike – an option which is denied police officers by law. 

“Until and unless police pay keeps pace with inflation, demands for increased industrial rights for police officers will not go away.  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,” he continued.

Branch chair Simon Riley.

The Police Remuneration Review Body’s recommended increase was below that offered to other professions and ignored calls from the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) for officers to receive a six per cent increase.

This prompted Calum Macleod, national secretary of the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) to respond: “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. Poor pay and morale means police officers aren’t staying in the force and we are losing valuable experience from the service. The Federation is right to sit outside a process which does not recognise the role that police officers perform in society and the risks they take.”

The Federation remains removed from the pay review body mechanism, as it does not allow for negotiation, only the imposition of a fixed pay award.

In a recent poll, 98 per cent of officers supported the Federation’s call for a return to collective bargaining with binding arbitration. It is also important that this pay award is funded by new money so that police chiefs aren’t forced to fund it through cuts to other essential services.

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.

READ MORE: Nottinghamshire sergeant remembered at COPS service.