Police pay

POLICE PAY  I would like to pay tribute to the bravery, commitment, and professionalism of our police. The police have worked throughout the pandemic to keep the public safe. On 21 July, the seventh report of the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) was published. The PRRB considers the pay and allowances for police officers up to and including the chief officer ranks in England and Wales. As set out in the 2020 Spending Review, there will be a pause to headline pay rises for the majority of public sector workforces in 2021-22. This is to ensure fairness between public and private sector wage growth, as the private sector was significantly impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic in the form of reduced hours, supressed earnings growth and increased redundancies, whilst the public sector was largely shielded from these effects. This approach will protect public sector jobs and investment in public services, prioritising the lowest paid, with those earning less than £24,000 (full-time equivalent) receiving a minimum £250 increase. The pause ensures we can get the public finances back onto a sustainable path after unprecedented Government spending on the response to Covid-19. The PRRB recommended that the minimum rates for Police Constable Degree Apprentice starting pay and pay point 0 of the constable scale should be uplifted by £250, and that all officers with a basic salary above these minima but below £24,000 (on a full-time equivalent basis) should receive a consolidated pay award of £250. I am pleased that the Government has accepted the PRRB’s recommendation in full. The pay award will take effect from 1 September 2021. Officers who have not yet reached the top of their pay scale will receive a pay increment that equates to at least 2 per cent of basic pay, and often 4-6 per cent of pay. The largest increments can be worth nearly 16 per cent (moving to pay point 1 of the constable scale) and over 17.5 per cent (moving to point 7, at the top of the constable scale). Those earning less than £24,000 will also receive a £250 pay increase. More than 60 per cent of police constables are at the top of the pay scale and already earn more than £41,000 a year, with median total earnings for a police constable outside London now £41,300.