THE Police Federation of England and Wales and the Superintendents\u2019 Association have asked for a pay increase of 3.4% for all police officers in 2018.<\/p>\n
The request \u2013 which the Staff Associations say is in line with inflation \u2013 also demands \u2018that the 1% that the Government cheated us out of last year be consolidated and not be considered as part of this year\u2019s police officer pay settlement.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Police Remuneration Review Body will consider evidence submitted by interested parties \u2013Police Chiefs, Police and Crime commissioners and Staff Associations \u2013 and then advise the Home Secretary, who will make all final decisions on pay.<\/p>\n
A decision is likely to come this summer \u2013 prior to the pay rise being introduced in September 2018, although this past year, the whole process was delayed by Government who then handed police officers a 1% pay rise and a 1% \u2018bonus\u2019 rather than the 2% the PRRB recommended.<\/p>\n
In the 2018 submission, Chief Constables have come under fire from the Police Federation of England and Wales and the Superintendents\u2019 Association around a lack of transparency and they remain \u2018deeply concerned\u2019 that the Home Secretary\u2019s Remit Letter implies that the NPCC\u2019s plans for pay reform are more advanced than believed to be the case.<\/p>\n
Andy Fittes, PFEW General Secretary, explained that PFEW\u2019s analysis of the economic circumstances has led to an insistence that an uplift for all officers of 3.4% is considered in line with inflation.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Home Secretary must act on the independent advice of the PRRB: doing otherwise last year has undermined the credibility of the process, and the mechanisms that this Government introduced,\u201d said Mr Fittes.<\/p>\n
According to the Home Office, Chief officers want \u2018time-limited, targeted payments to address specific recruitment and retention pressures\u2019 for roles such as detectives, firearms and custody officers, similar to Special Priority Payments which were axed in 2012.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe NPCC has failed to provide proposals or time-limited targeted pay, despite the fact they have asked for targeted pay to be included two years in a row in the remit letter. We are dumbfounded as the NPCC has failed to provide any proposals, either in draft or final.\u201d concluded Mr Fittes.<\/p>\n
In addition, the NPCC\u2019s proposals for officer apprenticeship pay to start at \u00a318,000 has been labelled a \u2018derisory offer\u2019, which would \u2019cause considerable hardship to any apprentice taking it up.\u2019<\/p>\n
The Staff Associations \u2018see no reason to move away from our recommendation in last year\u2019s submission, that apprentices should be incorporated within the existing pay scale.\u2019<\/p>\n
Calum Macleod, Police Federation of England and Wales Chairman, said:\u00a0 \u201cThis is the fourth year we have submitted evidence to the PRRB, and that is exactly what ours is \u2013 strong, well-researched evidence that takes account of the uniqueness of policing, the increasing pressures and demands on police officers and inflation now and predictions for the year to come.\u00a0 \u035e<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not finger in the wind guess work.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cLast year the PRRB was brave and, despite the shackles set by Government, put its neck on the line recommending an overall pay uplift that was more than the 1% public sector pay cap. This year, we ask that they be brave again.\u201d<\/p>\n