Home Office calls for 1% pay rise for Police Officers
THE Home Secretary has advised the police pay review body to stick to the Treasury’s limit of an average one per cent pay rise for officers next year.
Amber Rudd wrote to the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) Chairman, David Lebrecht, reiterating that his recommendations on how to apply the officer pay award for 2017/18 should be “in accordance” with a letter from the Chief Secretary to the Treasury.
Greg Hands, who was Chief Secretary at the time, informed the body that “the government would fund public sector workforces for pay awards of an average one per cent a year, up to 2019/2020″.
Ms Rudd also said she would be “particularly interested” to see further police-led proposals on how a “fair and sustainable reward structure can be achieved”.
But added: “As in previous years, in considering the appropriate level of pay for police officers I would ask you to have regard to the standing terms of reference as set out in previous remit letters.”
She also asked for recommendations on how best to apply “short-term, targeted measures to address recruitment and retention pressures” and to “provide observations on proposals to introduce police officer apprenticeships in 2018, in relation to setting pay at an appropriate level”.
Ms Rudd added that the PRRB’s recommendations should be considered in the broader context of the work being undertaken by chief constables and the College of Policing on the development of a longer-term pay strategy. This includes a “more flexible and sustainable reward structure linked to role, competence and skills” as well as the “implementation of a new five-level organisational structure”, she said.
Written submissions to the PRRB, which considers police pay, must be made by mid-December, and then interested parties – such as staff associations – will hold further discussions before the PRRB submits its findings to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary in May.
A pay announcement for September 2017 will be made in the summer.