Police Remuneration Review Body opens for business

POLICE officers will be able to have their say on police pay and conditions when members of the new Police Remuneration Review Body come and visit their forces.

From September, this new body will replace the Police Negotiating Board and be responsible for making recommendations to the Home Secretary on police pay for all ranks up to and including chief superintendent. 

With the introduction of a Police Remuneration Review Body issues over police officer pay and remuneration in England and Wales will no longer be negotiated.

Instead the Review Body will consider evidence submitted by interested parties – ACPO, police and crime commissioners and staff associations – and then advise the Home Secretary, who will make all final decisions on pay.

The Police Federation of England and Wales, which has previously expressed its disappointment at the axing of the PNB, said this week that “importantly, the [new] Review Body will be required to consider the frontline role of officers and the operating environments of different forces.

“It will therefore supplement the evidence submissions with visits to police forces to meet officers and discuss their concerns over pay and conditions.

“The combination of evidence and visits will also provide an essential insight into the significant challenges facing the police, for instance, the effect of financial constraints and workforce reductions.”

Since January 2014, the Pay Review Body has been in operation covering National Crime Agency officers designated with operational powers. Its first report was accepted in full by the Government in July 2014. It will continue to consider NCA officers when its role is extended to cover police officers.

The Review Body’s timetable for a 2015 pay award includes visits to forces this autumn, receipt of written evidence by mid-December and then oral evidence from interested parties in March 2015.

Following consideration, the Review Body’s first set of recommendations and conclusions will be submitted to the Home Secretary in June 2015 for the September 2015 pay settlement.

David Lebrecht, a former Head of Employee Relations and Human Resources at British Airways, is chairman of the Police Remuneration Review Body.

Mr Lebrecht, has been appointed by Prime Minister David Cameron until August 2018, and has previously been a member of the Prison Service Pay Review Body.

Home Secretary Theresa May has also appointed five members of the Review Body. They are Prof Brian Bell, a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Oxford and a Tutorial Fellow at Lady Margaret Hall, Elizabeth Bell, Group Talent Development Director at Kingfisher and Christopher Pilgrim, HR Director at RWE NPower and a member of their Senior Management Team.

Two former police officers are also part of that five. They are Pat Stayt, former National Secretary of the Police Superintendents’ Association – who has great experience of police pay and conditions negotiations – and Heather Baily, who was previously Deputy Chief Constable of Hertfordshire Police.

These five appointments will be to 31 August 2017.

Police pensions will not be handled by the PRRB but instead the Police Advisory Boards for England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The pay of ACPO ranks will be set by the Senior Salaries Review Body.

The Scottish Government has pledged to continue with a Police Negotiating Board and to legislate for binding arbitration.