Plan for "time-limited, targeted payments" for hard-to-fill roles

15 December 2017

The Government has told the Police Pay Review Body to consider targeted bonuses for hard-to-fill roles, like detectives, firearms and custody officers for the 2018/19 financial year.

Home Secretary Amber Rudd has written to the body to say they must consider the issue. It sounds similar to Special Priority Payments – which were for hard-to-fill roles and were axed by the Winsor Review into police pay in 2012.

According to the Home Office, Chief officers want "time-limited, targeted payments to address specific recruitment and retention pressures" in policing.

It added in the letter: "The Government has adopted a more flexible approach to public sector pay, to address any areas of skills shortages and in return for improvements to public sector productivity."

Proposals for a timetable on complete reform of pay structures will also be considered by the body. This will link officer pay to their skills rather than the ranks they hold, among other changes.

Calum Macleod said, Chairman Elect of the Police Federation, said: "We have serious concerns that the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) is being set an invidious task, expected to make recommendations based on a lot of NPCC ifs, buts and maybes.

"Police pay is far too important to officers across England and Wales to base assumptions on blueprint schemes and ideas.

“It is grossly unfair, not only to expect the staff associations representing those officers to be able to properly represent their interests without all the detail of the proposals being shared, but also to the PRRB who will be expected to try to make recommendations based on loose assumptions."

CC Francis Habgood claimed in a statement that the proposals are being shaped with the input of staff associations.

He told PoliceOracle.com: "We will be providing the PRRB with high level proposals for a new reward structure which they will consider when reviewing and applying the pay reward for 2018/19.

"We will also provide proposals for the police apprenticeship levy, targeted payments to address specific issues and wider reform.

"Detailed proposals are not expected until 2019 but these early submissions enable the body to take into account the future direction when making their decisions."

The latest recommendation of the pay review body - to grant all officers a two per cent rise - was not accepted by the Government this year.