Proposed pay rise is "nothing more than our hardworking colleagues deserve", says Federation

12 February 2019

A 15 per cent pay increase has been requested for police officers over the next three years to help rescue them from a “financial cliff edge”.

A 5 per cent uplift in pay for police officers has been requested this year, followed by 5% in both 2020/21 and 2021/22 - by the Police Federation of England and Wales submission to the Police Remuneration Review Body.

Should a three-year settlement not be accepted, then a one-year deal of 6.2% has been requested, according to the submission made in partnership with the Police Superintendents’ Association of England and Wales.

Mel Warnes, Chair of Surrey Police Federation, said: “This is no more than our hard working colleagues deserve. Even if the Federation’s recommendation is accepted in full – as it should be – then it will only bring police officer’s pay back to somewhere near to where it should be.

“The pay of police constables and sergeants is already up to 19% behind where it should be and with the cost of living in many parts of Surrey, many of our members are struggling to make ends meet. That cannot be right.”

Mel added: “What we need now is for the Pay Review Body to accept our fair recommendation. And then – and this is incredibly important – the Home Secretary to accept their findings in full. The time for platitudes from politicians is over. We need a proper pay rise to back up their warm words.”

On-call allowance would also see a boost under the proposals; officers of all ranks should receive £29.17 a day to bring the payments in line with those received by staff members. And both the London and SE Allowances should be uprated in line with inflation, the submission said.

The PFEW’s National Secretary, Alex Duncan, said: “Since austerity began, we have seen years of no pay increases or below inflation increases. The level of police pay has now eroded to a point where police officers are worse off than they should be.

“41% of our members are saying they have not got enough money to cover their essentials each month and 45% tell us that they worry about the state of their finances every day, or almost every day. These figures should be ringing massive alarm bells with ministers.”

The proposed three-year deal is just the “start on the journey” to return police officer pay to the level where it should be, the PFEW said.

Mr Duncan added: “Since 2010, there has not been a single pay award that has kept pace with inflation. Based on where we are, another real terms pay cut, or indeed a rise in the cost of living, is going to exacerbate that situation and result in more officers falling over a financial cliff-edge.”

Eight recommendations have been made to the PRRB ahead of the oral evidence sessions scheduled for 27 February – 6 March. To see the submission in full, go to: http://www.polfed.org/fedatwork/3859.aspx