Your Federation subs

16 October 2023

Police Federation subscriptions increased by 3.1 per cent in October 2022, but this rise was not passed on to members of West Mercia Police Federation.

Instead, the branch took the decision to cover the cost of the increase from its own reserves and it has continued to do that to try to help members already feeling the effects of below-inflation pay rises and the cost of living crisis.

But, from 1 January 2024, it can no longer fund the difference in the cost of subs following the increase. This will mean members will pay £24.31 per month for their subscription, though this reduces to £19.45 once tax relief is applied.

“The decision to increase subs by the same percentage as the annual pay award was taken at the Federation’s conference in May 2022,” explains Pete Nightingale, secretary of West Mercia Police Federation, “It was a democratic decision with 221 voting for the increase and 170 voting against.

“But, as a branch, it just didn’t sit right with us, even though we appreciated that the Federation itself was facing increased costs, and we wanted to do what we could to help our members. We knew they were struggling with increased fuel and household bills and we didn’t want to add to that burden.

“We decided to pick up the extra cost of the subs, in effect freezing them for members, and I believe we were only one of three branches in the country to do this.

“We always knew that we could not sustain this forever but we will have covered that increase for 15 months when we finally put that cost back to members in the new year.

“If we could have covered the costs for longer we would but it is critically important that the branch remains financially viable so that it can continue to provide a full range of support services for our members.” 

Members are reminded that they can claim tax relief on their subscriptions. Find out more.