Federation calling for multi-year pay settlement
17 June 2026
A single-year pay award will not repair the cumulative damage of years of real-terms pay cuts, the national secretary of the Police Federation has argued.
John Partington says this is why the Federation is pressing for a multi-year settlement so that members and forces planning their budgets can have certainty.
The Federation says that this year it has submitted its most comprehensive and evidence-led case yet to the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB), including calling for a minimum seven per cent consolidated pay award for 2026/27, followed by seven per cent in each of the following two years.
John said: “This is not an arbitrary figure. It is based on the evidence police pay has suffered prolonged real-terms erosion since 2010. This decline is compounded by increased pension contributions, frozen tax thresholds driving fiscal drag and the rising cost of living.”
The submission to PRRB, which will make recommendations to the Government on this year’s award, is built around mainly five interconnected arguments:
- The job has changed beyond recognition, but the pay framework has not
- Officers face a level of risk and trauma that no other profession is asked to absorb
- Officers are operating under unprecedented scrutiny
- The workforce is becoming less experienced
- Pay outside of policing.
Beyond the headline pay award, the submission to the PRRB also included a set of specific recommendations including shortening the constable pay scale points, so early-career officers are recognised sooner for the responsibilities they carry from day one and a detective allowance to address the persistent recruitment and retention crisis in investigative roles.
The Home Office will announce this year’s police pay award, which will come into effect on 1 September, in the coming weeks.
