Police pay: Incremental rises “still being negotiated”

THE FUTURE of incremental pay for police officers is still under negotiation, the Police Federation of England and Wales has said.

As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review, Chancellor George Osborne announced plans to scrap automatic pay progression for public sector workers. But Ian Rennie, general secretary of the PFEW, (pictured) has said incremental pay is currently being discussed by the Police Negotiating Board.

Mr Rennie has pointed out that there is no reference to police officers within the Treasury’s Spending Round 2013 document – only a sentence that says: “The police have been subject to a two-year progression freeze.”

Mr Rennie said: “It appears that the headline statement in respect of automatic pay progression in the public sector actually involves no new proposals for police officers’ pay.

“Recommendation 84 from the Winsor Final Report, which seeks to link incremental progression for officers in the Federated Ranks to a satisfactory box marking in an annual appraisal, is still currently under discussion at the Police Negotiating Board.”

The policing budget, which has already suffered 20 per cent cuts, now faces the prospect of a further cut of 4.9 per cent, or £269m, in 2015/2016. Overall the Home Office budget will be cut by six per cent in 2015/16.

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said this equates to 10,700 new police constable posts.

“The Chancellor is making the communities and the police pay a greater price for [the government’s] failure. The scale of these cuts to policing is the direct result of the Chancellor’s failure on growth, and his failure to get the deficit down as a result,” she said.

PFEW chairman Steve Williams said the announced cuts were “not as severe as some predicted” but said the PFEW would be “very interested to hear how the Government proposes forces should function with even more scant resources”.

He added that if government is committed to protecting counter-terrorism policing, it should also be committed to protecting the entire service. Reduced funds will mean fewer officers on the beat making routine stop checks and enquiries that contribute to protecting the country from terrorism, he said.

“Our members have admirably risen to the challenges of recent years in the face of unprecedented pressure and adversity but have simply run out of room to manoeuvre,” said Mr Williams. “More cuts will see morale fall further at the expense of service delivery to the public.”