Pay rise coming – but future of increments still unclear
POLICE officers across England and Wales will receive a 1% “cost of living” pay rise on 1 September – but how their incremental increases will look in the future is still to be decided.
At a Police Negotiating Board meeting in April, An Official Side offer to increase police officers’ pay in September was accepted by the Staff Side. How police officer increments will change from 2014 is still to be finally negotiated.
The pay scale for new recruit constables – who joined after 1 April this year – has been reduced from ten points to seven points, meaning new officers will be able to reach the top point of £36,519 in seven years rather than ten.
A spokeswoman for the Police Federation of England and Wales said officers already in service on 31 March 2013 would not be affected by this new salary scale.
In theory, police officers will move one point up their pay scale following the end of the incremental pay freeze in April next year. Officers will not be able to “jump” pay points to reflect their actual length of service, but will only progress to the next point on their scale above the level they were “frozen” on.
However, the Police Federation of England and Wales spokeswoman added that the PNB has accepted Winsor’s Recommendation 55 that the current point pay scale for existing officers should be reduced by 3 points between 2014 and 2016.
Recommendation 55 states: “Pay points 6, 7, and 9 should be removed from the existing constables’ pay scale in April 2014, 2015 and 2016 respectively. This will allow constables to move to the maximum more quickly and ensure that the current and new pay scales merge in 2016.”
According to the Police Federation of England and Wales: “Staff Side has agreed Recommendation 55 on condition that work is done to ensure that there is no leapfrogging of officers by those with shorter lengths of service. This would require an additional investment of £8.1 million, to which the Official Side has agreed.”
The PNB agreement on Recommendation 55 is now with the Home Secretary – she will make her decision in “due course”.
Once this decision is made, it is understood that work would begin between the Home Office and the national Police Federation on getting clarity for officers on how the changes will be implemented and how it will affect officers.
This 1% “cost of living” rise at the beginning of September will be less than half of that seen for officers in the three years preceding the three year pay freeze which began in 2011.
In 2008, a deal was struck with the Labour Government that saw an increase in officers’ pay of 2.65 per cent for 2008/09, 2.6 per cent for 2009/10 and 2.55 per cent for 2010/11.