Policing Needs Fairer Pay

10 February 2025

The proposed higher pay award for senior officers is ‘divisive and unhelpful’ and would widen inequality between the ranks, Surrey Police Federation has warned.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council has recommended a 4.8% annual pay uplift for chiefs and superintendents from September - compared to a 3.8% for the federated ranks.

Darren Pemble, Surrey Police Federation Chair, said: “It cannot be right that officers on the front line receive less than senior leaders who already have larger salaries. This is divisive and unhelpful and would only widen the gap between the federated ranks and senior ranks. I am struggling to understand how the NPCC have reached this decision. The CPSOA (Supers Association) are recommending that the 4.8% pay award is an uplift for all ranks which is welcome.”

Darren said police pay for all ranks needs to be addressed, recognised and improved and that fairer police pay would make policing a more desirable career that would attract the best candidates. With police pay having “degraded by 21% over the past 20 years”,  Darren called for the Government to look at the example from South Australia where officers recently received an 18% increase.

Darren said: “Last year we saw teachers and the NHS receive greater pay rises than policing. The public needs to understand what policing provides and how being a police officer is different to other public sector work.

“Policing places restrictions on officers’ personal lives and greater scrutiny than in other professions. Police officers are subjected to numerous traumatic events during the course of their duty, which can be damaging to officers’ physical and mental health.

“If police pay is not addressed, then we risk undoing all the good work of the last few years with officers choosing to work elsewhere and swerving the opportunity to work in policing. We need to avoid this and reward police officers with fair pay.”

To see the NPCC proposals in full, go to: https://news.npcc.police.uk/releases/better-pay-crucial-to-recruiting-more-officers