The government has accepted the recommendations of the Police Remuneration Review Body, in full. This means police officers will receive a 4.75% pay increase from 1 September 2024.
Civil Nuclear Constabulary Officers can expect to see that increase in their September pay, backdated to the first of the month.
Gary Thwaite, CEO of Civil Nuclear Police Federation, said: "We welcome this year's pay award. The cost-of-living crisis continues to present very real challenges for our officers so this increase will go some way towards helping them to meet their financial commitments.
"PRRB did not accept recommendations from the National Police Chiefs Council that officers should receive a 6% rise. Officers will ask why that was, especially as we're seeing the impact of recruitment and retention issues in our force.
"We ask a lot of our officers, and the simple fact is, there are easier jobs outside policing that pay better. We've got to do what we can to retain good people, and pay is a big part of that.
"We will be speaking with the force about how some of the other recommendations will be implemented in a way that's in line with the national approach and fair to everyone, particularly annual leave."
Home Secretary's statement
This statement can be viewed in full on the parliament.uk website but the key points include:
Both the PRRB and SSRB recommended a consolidated increase of 4.75% to all police officer ranks and pay points with effect from 1 September 2024. The Government is accepting the recommendation in full. The Home Office will provide £175m additional funding in 2024-25 to forces to help with the cost of the pay increase.
The PRRB also recommended that London Weighting should increase by 4.75%; that the On-call Allowance should be increased from £20 to £25; and that the Dog Handlers' Allowance should be uprated by 4.75% and the additional rate for officers with more than one dog be raised from 25% to 50% of the rate for the first dog.
The PRRB recommended that the chief officer of police in each force should be given the discretion to set the starting salary for new constables at either pay point 1 or pay point 2 on the constables' pay scale. This recommendation has been accepted, but implementation will be subject to detailed proposals from the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) and Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) on the circumstances in which this discretion should be used, along with transition arrangements for those constables on pay point 1, to inform amendments to the Police Regulations 2003.
The PRRB also recommended the Commissioners of the Metropolitan Police Service and City of London Police be given further discretion to set the starting salaries of new constables at pay point 3 on the constables' pay scale; and that this additional flexibility should be limited to a period of two years and be reviewed after one year. This recommendation has not been accepted. Instead, London Allowance for officers appointed on or after 1 September 1994 will be increased by £1,250. Implementation of this increase will be synchronised alongside the wider changes to constable starting salaries.
The PRRB considered annual leave entitlements for officers in the federated ranks and recommended the time it takes to reach the maximum entitlement of 30 days should be reduced from 20 to 10 years, with effect from 1 April 2025 and phased in over three years. This recommendation has been accepted, subject to the submission of a satisfactory Equality Impact Assessment by the NPCC to the Home Office. The PRRB further recommended that from September 2024, annual leave entitlement for new entrants should be increased from 22 to 25 days. This recommended has been accepted but with implementation taking effect on 1 April 2025.
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