Policy paper

Home Office evidence to the Police Remuneration Review Body, 2020 to 2021 (accessible version)

Updated 11 November 2021

I. Executive Summary

1. The Government’s commitment to increase officer numbers by 20,000 over the next three years through the police uplift programme constitutes the biggest national recruitment drive in decades. This significant increase in officer numbers alongside delivery of other elements of workforce reform will enable policing to build and retain capability, capacity and support wellbeing within a growing workforce. This in turn will assist in meeting the challenges of emerging and rapidly changing types of crime, ensuring that we have a workforce that is fit for purpose with the resources it needs to meet demand.

2. The current police pay structure is still grounded in a system of annual incremental progression and over half of all officers are at the top of their pay scale. Pay reform aims to link pay to productivity and competence rather than time served, resulting in a fairer and more transparent system. This will also support the drive to embed a culture of professional development in policing. The Home Office has been working closely with the NPCC to help prioritise key elements of the pay reform programme and we recognise that some progress that has been made since last year.

3. The Home Secretary’s remit letter asks that the PRRB comments on the suitability and robustness of the NPCC’s proposals for independent benchmarking, which will have been completed for all officer grades, including Chief Officers; defining and valuing the ‘P-Factor’, which seeks to revaluate the current X factor element of police pay; and the rationale and proposals for variable pay, which covers a range of pay interventions to support operational delivery through targeting roles that are hard to fill or critical to retain.

4. The Government’s approach to public sector pay allows us to recognise areas of skill shortage and prioritises improvements to workforce productivity. The Government continues to take a balanced approach to public spending, and it is important that pay awards are considered within the wider fiscal picture. The PRRB should continue to consider affordability when making recommendations.

5. The Government has set out the provisional police funding settlement for 2020/21 and there is a clear expectation that alongside an increase in officer numbers, forces will continue to take responsibility for improving their efficiency and effectiveness, to show the public what difference this investment is making. The pay award must be affordable within the 2020/21 funding settlement. While additional funding has been secured for the first year of the police uplift programme, no further central funding will be made available to fund the police officer pay award.

6. While officer retention in the current workforce remains stable, the police uplift programme has identified the need to ensure that we have the right people in the right roles to maintain the current workforce and support a new generation of officers with the right coaching and supervisory capacity. The NPCC are currently considering the retention of experienced officers to support the uplift and are developing policy proposals on this.

Summary pay proposals

7. As set out in the Home Secretary’s remit letter, attached at Annex B, the PRRB is asked to conduct an annual review of police officer pay and associated allowances for 2020/21. This will include a formal recommendation on how to apply the police officer pay award for 2020/21 to all ranks, including chief officers, and to include a review of London Weighting and Dog Handler’s allowance.

8. Taking into account the evidence presented in this document, including the economic context at Annex A, the PRRB is also asked to consider the following:

• To review the NPCC’s proposals for pay reform including its impact, proposed salaries and the level of force maturity to meet the proposed assessment points;
• To consider the robustness of the NPCC’s proposals for independent benchmarking, which will have been completed for all officer grades, including Chief Officers;
• To consider the strength of evidence for defining and valuing the ‘P-Factor’, recognising those elements of the role which are unique to policing;
• To consider the rationale and proposals for a range of pay interventions to support operational delivery through targeting roles that are hard to fill or critical to retain;
• To take into account wider workforce data which is available to support the uplift of 20,000 officers;
• To review the NPCC’s proposed timetable for regulatory implementation taking account of requirements for consultation with interested parties; and
• To review whether there is a case to increase London Weighting and Dog Handlers’ Allowance.

II. Pay proposals

9. The Government is committed to world class public services and ensuring that public sector workers are fairly paid for the vitally important work that they do. It is important that we consider all pay awards in the light of wider pressures on public spending. Public sector pay needs to be fair both for public sector workers and the taxpayer. Around a quarter of all public spending is on pay and we need to ensure that our public services remain affordable for the future.

10. The Government must balance the need to ensure fair pay for public sector workers with protecting funding for frontline service, including the police service who play a vital part in the criminal justice system, and ensuring affordability for taxpayers. Recognising these factors, we ask the PRRB to consider the following pay proposals for 2020/21.

Basic pay

11. We ask the PRRB for views on how to apply the pay award for 2020/21 for police officers of all ranks, including chief officers, in the context of how it will support overarching pay reform proposals. We ask the PRRB to consider the appropriate level of basic pay for 2020/21 for police officers, including their assessment of affordability, to take into account the Home Office’s view that the award should be within the cash affordability envelope we recommend within this evidence. We also ask the PRRB to consider the evidence that the NPCC will present on the package of measures related to pay reform, that they say should help to support the officer uplift programme which is now a priority for forces.

Pay reform

12. To successfully implement the new pay and reward framework by the revised timeline of spring 2021, it is important that a full consultation with interested parties on any proposals is undertaken. We therefore welcome the PRRB’s observations of NPCC’s revised proposals for pay reform, to include any comments they might have on potential impact and force readiness for future implementation; and to provide views on timetabling of implementation, taking into account the context of the police uplift programme and any legislative requirements for implementation.

London Weighting

13. Location and regional based allowances are currently being reviewed by the NPCC and we have not seen any evidence to support any specific changes. While uprating for London weighting has historically been linked to annual pay increases, we ask the PRRB to consider the evidence put forward by policing partners on whether there is a case for increasing this in 2020/21.

Dog Handlers’ Allowance

14. Historically, PRRB have considered this allowance alongside the annual officer pay award. As with London Weighting, it is currently being reviewed by the NPCC as part of a wider review of allowances. The Home Office has not received any proposals on this to date. We ask the PRRB to consider the evidence put forward by policing partners on whether there is a case for increasing this in 2020/21.

II. Context

The policing environment

15. Over recent decades, overall levels of crime have continued to fall, with figures remaining stable between 2017 and 2018. The latest published figures from the Crime Survey in ‘Crime in England and Wales’ ^{[footnote 1]} shows that with the exception of fraud, in the year ending September 2019, there was no change in the total level of crime. However, demand on the police is rising as recorded crime become more complex and resource intensive. There has also been an increase in the reporting of lower volume but high-harm crimes, such as child sexual exploitation and modern slavery. The challenge from serious and organised crime networks is growing with these types of crimes being concentrated in metropolitan areas such as London and Greater Manchester. The threat from terrorism continues to evolve. While the total number of offences involving knives or sharp instruments increased, the number of homicides using these weapons decreased by 20% (excluding GMP). The Serious Violence Strategy has helped to crack down on these crimes by combining support for more robust and targeted policing with effective long-term investment in prevention and earlier intervention.

Police Funding

16. The 2019/20 settlement provided total police funding of around £14 billion, an increase of £1 billion compared to 2018/19, including precept, pensions funding and national investment.

• We increased Government grants to PCCs by £161m, with funding to PCCs protected in real terms.
• PCCs are raising an additional £512m this year as a result of being empowered to raise council tax contributions for local policing by up to £2-a-month per Band D household. Elected PCCs have made the case for raising local tax to their electorates and will be accountable for delivery of a return on that public investment.
• We invested £90 million from the settlement to support our new Serious and Organised Crime Strategy, which sets out our approaching to tackling cyber-crime, economic crime, child sexual exploitation and drug and gun trafficking.
• Funding for counter terrorism policing increases by £59 million in 2019/20 to £816 million. This is £160 million more than planned at the last Spending Review.
• £153m for extra funding for pensions costs.
• And in March we announced a new £100m fund to tackle serious violence, including £80m of new funding from Treasury.

17. The Government has promised 20,000 extra police officers to be recruited over the next three years. On 4 September, the Home Office announced plans to invest an additional £750m in policing for 2020/21. Further details of this are set out below and full details of police funding has been set out in the police funding settlement for 2020/21.

Police Numbers - Police Uplift Programme

18. Demand on the police is changing and becoming more complex. The Government is committed to supporting the police and giving them the extra resources that they need to protect the public and keep us safe. The Government has committed to 20,000 extra police officers being recruited over the next three years. On 4 September, the Home Office announced plans to invest an additional £750m in policing for 2020/21 and an extra £45m to kick start recruitment. This funding will allow forces to recruit the first wave of 6,000 additional officers by March 2021.

19. The commitment to recruit 20,000 extra police officers over the next three years is the biggest police recruitment drive in decades. This is why the Government has set up a new National Policing Board to make sure it delivers on this commitment.

20. In October 2019, the Government announced how the first wave of up to 6,000 additional officers will be allocated between police forces in England and Wales. These officers will be recruited by the end of March 2021.

Officer Numbers – Recruitment and Retention

21. Retention of experienced police officers has emerged as a concern in supporting the effective delivery of the commitment to increase police officer numbers by 20,000 over the next 3 years.

22. The main concern, among some chief officers, is the loss of experienced officers on reaching 30 years’ service. Officers retiring now are almost exclusively members of the older 1987 Police Pension Scheme. Its design incentivises officers to remain in service for 30 years and depart at that point to maximise their pension benefits.

23. Having accrued maximum benefits, officers are able to gain access to up to a quarter of the total value of their pension as a lump sum upon retirement. Reforms to police pensions since 2006 no longer incentivise retirement at 30 years’ service in the same way, but those with significant service prior to 2006 would have been largely protected from those reforms.

24. CC Matt Jukes and the National Reward team are currently gathering data from forces to consider how to incentivise retention of the skills that will be needed to support the uplift programme, with due consideration to any pension implications.

25. We will need to balance recruitment and retention measures with an affordable pay award. While retention is important to deliver the police uplift commitment, any new measures will need to be considered it the context of the need to fund existing and new officers within the 2020/21 settlement.

Efficiency and effectiveness

26. With increased public and Government investment, as outlined above, comes an increased responsibility to improve efficiency and effectiveness, and to show the public what difference this investment is making.

27. Police forces have made good progress against the conditions agreed with HM Treasury as part of the 2019/20 police funding settlement, including continued efficiency savings through collaborative procurement and moving towards a new operating model for police commercial functions. Policing remain on track to deliver £120m of commercial savings by the end of 2020/21 and has moved into the mobilisation stage for the new Police Commercial Organisation (PCO). Forces have also been focused on driving productivity through the smarter use of data and digital capabilities. The Frontline Digital Mobility Programme established in 2019 was developed a national approach to mobile working. The aim was to enable the frontline to maximise productivity by developing national standards; sharing good practice; driving down costs and supporting technological innovation.

28. Progress has also been made against the effectiveness conditions agreed with HM Treasury last year. Policing has continued to work towards reducing the investigative skills gap. The Home Office is starting to work with the NPCC to develop a national staff bank of investigators, with a final decision on this being taken this year. Whilst monitoring this work, we will continue to support the Police Now fast track detective scheme pilot, with 90 new detectives who have joined forces in January.

29. Additionally, with regard to serious and organised crime, all forces have introduced dedicated cybercrime units, which work to provide an effective victim experience and investigative response. Regional organised crime threat assessment teams have also been established in every Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU), with the most recent HMICFRS inspection findings confirming that the quality of mapping has improved as a result of their implementation.

30. We will continue to support the police to drive efficiency and productivity including delivering the PCO, a condition of our 2019 Spending Round Settlement. The PCO will enhance collaborative procurement practice across policing using the category management approach used by central government. It will increase the national and regional procurement of goods, increase standardisation and improve supplier and contract management to deliver value of money. The PCO will also create a Centre of Excellence for shared services to reduce cost variation and develop a roadmap towards a more radical transformation of shared services.

31. We will also support the police to improve efficiency and productivity by investing in several national policing technology programmes. Including Home Office-led programmes to upgrade critical police systems and police-led programmes such as the Digital Policing Portfolio and the National Enabling Programme.

32. As part of the 2020/21 police funding settlement, we will consider new investments in areas such as data analytics, Artificial Intelligence automation, digital forensics and specialist capabilities to drive efficiency and productivity.

33. We are also considering how we can enhance the Home Office’s oversight of police funding to help drive efficiency. This will be complemented by police-led work to improve the way the sector evidences efficiency and productivity including, developing a robust approach to the collection of data on savings, increased standardisation of financial management information and increased benchmarking.

Police officer pay bill and affordability

34. The police officer pay bill for the financial year 2020/21 is around £6.5 billion. This assumes an increase in funding, as set out below. It also includes the increase of 6,000 more officers by the end of 2020/21, employer pension contributions and National Insurance contributions.

35. The police funding settlement for 2020/21 has confirmed that Government grant funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will increase by £667m next year. Assuming full take up of precept flexibility, overall funding for PCCs will increase by £915 million to £15.2 billion next year, to include the officer uplift allocation of £700m.

36. The Home Office’s current assessment is that factoring in the new officer numbers and the overall pay bill as a result of this uplift, an increase of £150m-£160m to the police officer pay-bill is affordable for 2020/21 in the context of the additional investment in the system already announced for next year. This funding will provide PCCs and forces with considerable flexibility to manage its cost pressures while increasing local recruitment.

The police officer workforce

37. The Government’s commitment to increase the workforce by 20,000 officers over three years reflects the most significant officer uplift in decades and demonstrates the Government’s support for a service that it values so highly. The programme has presented additional recruitment and retention challenges, to ensure that policing recruits the right mix of people into the workforce and retains resilience in business critical areas. We are working with the NPCC to consider solutions to this challenge, including improved learning and development, particularly to support those carrying out supervisory roles for new recruits.

38. Outside of this programme, recruitment and retention of police officers at a national level has been stable over the past year. The number of people joining police forces was at a 10-year high, demonstrating that policing has still been viewed as a desirable and sought-after career. Wastage rates remain low overall at 6%, excluding transfers, and voluntary resignations account for less than 2% of the workforce. Retirement rates also remain stable and most officers continue to retire shortly after completing 30 years’ service ^{[footnote 2]}. Despite this relative stability, the police uplift programme presents a challenge to ensure that the workforce does not lose valuable expertise. NPCC’s emerging proposals on skills-based retention to support the uplift will aim to introduce measures to address this challenge. It remains the case, however, that some forces are experiencing difficulties in internal recruitment processes. In its ‘A Workforce Under Pressure 2018/19’ report, HMICFRS have continued to note a “shortage of qualified detectives and other investigators” at national level and that some forces are not coping well with increasing demand, although it acknowledged a national campaign to improve numbers. Based on data from 32 forces, HMICFRS reported in their recent PEEL spotlight report that the percentage of detective vacancies has reduced from last year’s 19% to 14%. HMICFRS acknowledged that reducing the deficit completely will take a few years, mainly because of how long it takes an investigator to become accredited, and the natural loss of qualified staff through retirement and promotion.

39. Managing this shortage and ensuring the right people stay on in the job requires a co- ordinated approach, particularly given that most of these officers will continue to come through traditional entry routes. We welcome the action forces are taking to ensure they have sufficient numbers of detectives required to investigate crime. This is also why we have continued to fund the Police Now Detective Scheme, aiming to help bridge the gap in detective numbers. The NPCC, under the leadership of CC Matt Jukes, has also been working with the College of Policing to consider current recruitment issues and how the workforce can be supported to fill some of these ‘hard to fill’ vacancies. Workforce planning and quality of supervision are two areas where much more needs to be done. The commitment to increase officer numbers over three years is accelerating this work and we will work with the NPCC and policing partners to consider recruitment challenges ahead, to help ensure that the right skills are retained and that detective numbers are at adequate levels.

40. As a short-term measure, we amended legislation in 2019 to provide chief constables with the flexibility to make bonus payments to those in hard to fill roles in the federated ranks, and demanding superintending roles. We will continue to work with the NPCC through the Police Consultative Forum (PCF) to ensure that Chief Constables are using their discretion to make these payments to address internal recruitment and retention pressures where needed.

Diversity

41. Police forces that reflect the communities they serve are crucial to tackling crime in a modern diverse society. The latest workforce figures ^{[footnote 3]} show the police workforce continues to become more representative in terms of gender and ethnicity, however, there is still much more to be done.

42. BAME officers remain under-represented particularly at senior ranks, with 4% at the rank of chief inspector or above at 31 March 2019 compared with 8% at constable rank. The number of BAME officers at chief officer rank is low – there are five of a total of 212 - and there is one BAME officer leading a force at chief constable rank.

43. The proportion of those in senior ranks (chief inspector and above) who were women was 27.4%, compared with 32.2% of women at constable rank. At 31 March 2019 of the 212 Chief Officers, 58 were female.

44. Most forces are currently recruiting officers as part of the police uplift programme, and it is vital that they use equalities legislation, including positive action provisions, to make better progress in terms of recruitment of under-represented groups. Retention and progression also play a crucial role in improving equality and diversity, particularly in enabling officers and staff to move into more senior and more specialised ranks and roles. In the year to March 2019, 6.0% of officers leaving the police were BAME and 25% were female.

45. The College of Policing has published Positive Action Practical Advice, a document which advises forces on the use of lawful positive action to support the recruitment, retention and progression of officers from under-represented groups. New entry routes to policing, such as Police Now, continue to prove attractive and are increasing the diversity of the police workforce.

46. The NPCC has published its 2018-2025 Diversity, Equality and Inclusion strategy. This is complemented by a workforce representation toolkit which includes practical actions forces can take to increase the recruitment, retention and progression of officers from under-represented groups in policing. We welcome this initiative to increase diversity and inclusion.

IV. Police Workforce reform

47. Workforce reform has been a key consideration for the PRRB in the last two pay rounds and remains a key strand in the Policing Vision 2025, which has been agreed by Police and Crime Commissioners and Chief Constables.

Pay Reform

48. We remain keen to pursue proposals for police pay reform, as the reward framework will form the basis for future annual base pay awards and market benchmarking of pay and conditions. This will support the drive to embed continuous professional development in policing and give forces greater flexibility to choose the composition of their workforce. It will also mean the end of time-served pay for police officers. Ensuring that pay reform is implemented in a way that helps to support forces work effectively and efficiently will be crucial in the coming year, particularly given that the spend of total personnel costs is over 75 percent of the force’s budget. The introduction of robust PDR processes to support the proposed pay scale should help to improve the service and ensure that officers are better supported with professional development throughout their career, as well as providing an objective basis for holding leaders to account for their performance and management skills.

49. We have supported delivery of the programme this year, by offering an independent chair to oversee the Police Consultative Forum (the non-statutory body that considers police pay and conditions). The Home office have also actively engaged with the NPCC to help them to develop their proposals. We would now like to see further details from the NPCC of progress made over the year, how they intend to sequence of the implementation of pay reform and a timetable of legislative steps that will be needed for pay reform.

50. Over the last year, there have been a number of wider workforce developments on key areas impacting the police service:

Entry routes

• The College’s Policing Educational Qualifications Framework (PEQF) continues to raise the bar for police recruitment as well as recognise the high level at which the existing workforce operates. Its focus is on nationally accredited qualifications and the transferable skills required in a modern, agile service ensuring that policing can attract the brightest and best new recruits with a well-rounded career offer.
• Apprenticeships are a crucial strand of the PEQF initiative, to provide a fair entry route into policing for those who do not hold a degree.
• The other two other entry routes under the PEQF are for graduates of an accredited pre-join degree in policing and for other degree holders. When added to the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) these entry routes elevate police recruitment and initial training to graduate level. This recognises that changes in crime now demand officers to be able to apply transferable skills to a range of situations, applying problem-solving strategies and exercising personal judgement to these challenges which is a graduate level skill set.
• Forces began to recruit PCDA officers from September 2018. 42 forces are expected to recruit officers through the PDCA route by the end of April 2020.
• The Constable to Inspector Fast Track scheme is now an established part of the talent picture.
• Police Now has continued to provide a further route into policing and the new Police Now Detective Scheme pilot is now in progress. This aims to help bridge the gap in detective numbers, complementing work in local forces to address a reported shortage in detectives. 90 detectives are now operating in forces as a result of the Police Now Scheme.

Workforce morale and wellbeing

• We continue to support officers’ wellbeing, acknowledging the difficult and demanding job they undertake. In July 2017, the Government awarded £7.5 million from the PTF over three years to develop a national police wellbeing service to complement the support already delivered at force level to serving police officers and staff, focussed on prevention and early intervention.
• As a result, the National Police Wellbeing Service (NPWS) was launched in April 2019 and has helped to developed evidence-based guidance, advice, tools and resources which can be accessed by forces, as well as individual officers and staff. These include resources to help forces better support officers and staff who are experiencing mental health problems. We continue to work with the NPWS to evaluate their progress.
• The Home Office also supported the Emergency Service Workers (Offences) Act 2018 which came into effect on 13 November 2018. This Act seeks to protect emergency workers by creating a new offence which doubles the maximum sentence from six to 12 months in prison for ‘common assault or battery’ against an emergency worker. This offence also includes lower level assaults like pushing, shoving and spitting which were not previously included.
• In September 2019, the Home Secretary set out her vision for a new police covenant, recognising the bravery and commitment of officers who work night and day to keep us safe and focussing on physical protection for officers, their health and wellbeing and support for their families.
• The development of a Police Covenant follows the conclusion of the Home Office’s Front Line Review in July 2019 which highlighted concerns of police officers and staff and proposed a package of measures to reduce their workloads, ensure their wellbeing and give them a stronger voice in decision making.

Talent management

• Policing needs modern and responsive leadership at all levels in order to provide adequate levels of support and guidance to the workforce. This will be more crucial than ever with crime demands consistently shifting and as a cohort of new officers are recruited across all 43 forces.
• The College has developed and launched a Senior Leaders Hub supported by funding from the Police Transformation Fund. The hub has three functions; overseeing chief officer Continued Professional Development and career development, supporting senior appointments and progression of under- represented groups. The College and NPCC will also have a strategic overview of the talent pipeline with data tracking offering a more proactive approach development, attraction and promotion. The Hub includes professional bespoke College support to PCCs and chiefs on recruitment and attraction.
• With the development of the Senior Hub and the data tracking tool there will be a mechanism to track the number and length of temporary promotions across forces and a greater ability to ensure there is consistency and fairness in the approach.

• Attracting and retaining skilled and principled Chief Constables is key to a successful police service and will be crucial to the police uplift programme. On 3 September, HMICFRS published a report on police leadership ‘Leading Lights: An inspection of the police service’s arrangements for the selection and development of chief officers’. The report found that a lack of consistency, fairness and transparency is having a detrimental effect on police forces’ ability to identify and support those with the most potential to become chief officers.

• The report highlighted three major areas of concern:

1. Police forces are not able to identify potential chief officers as quickly and effectively as they should be.

2. Training and development opportunities for chief officers are not sufficiently comprehensive or coherent.

3. The appointment of chief officers is managed in an often-haphazard manner.

• Mike Cunningham, CEO of the College of Policing, has taken a lead in ensuring the APCC, NPCC and College work constructively together and agree a sector plan for addressing the key barriers to effective chief officer recruitment. This has led to a plan being developed and jointly led by the NPCC, APCC and College which includes driving changes that will address some key issues related to chief officer applications.
• We strongly support the ongoing body of work to look at the leadership of the service and the way in which leaders are selected and developed and welcome the HMICFRS report.

Other developments

On-Call payments to the superintending ranks

51. We asked the PRRB to review proposals from the NPCC in relation to making payments to the superintendent ranks for undertaking each 24 hour on-call period as part of last year’s pay round. The Police Superintendents’ Association had suggested that this should be a priority for review in 2019/20, ahead of the wider review of allowances that is being carried out by the NPCC.

52. Since last year’s pay award, and following a consultation on the matter, the NPCC achieved consensus amongst policing partners that an on-call allowance of £20 per hour of overtime for each 24 hour period on call for superintendents should be introduced. It is intended that payments will take effect from 1 September 2019.

Defining superintendent hours and Days in off in lieu

53. As part of a measure to promote flexible working, we sought views from all staff associations on introducing legislative changes to determinations allowing part time working and compressed hours amongst the superintending ranks. The aim is to clearly define the hours for superintendent rank within the regulations. We also sought views on increasing the threshold for allowing cancelled rest days in lieu to be taken up to a period of 12 months from the date of cancellation to 18 months. This would help prevent rest days being lost as quickly and would help support a better work life balance.

54. We are considering consultation responses received and subject to full consideration of the consultation outcome, we intend to implement the necessary legislative changes.

Re-joiners

55. On 22 February 2019 amendments to Police Regulations 2003 took effect enabling police forces in England and Wales to recruit former officers at the same rank to which they were last appointed, or to higher or lower ranks, irrespective of the amount of time that has elapsed since they left the service. Regulation 10B provides a power which allows former police officers to re-join, so long as they passed probation in the rank of constable or other period of probation on the condition that it is within 5 years since they last served.

56. Amending Regulation 10B has ensured greater police workforce flexibility as well as ensuring individuals who re-join continue to receive the governance and protection arrangements as for other officers. It provides clarity to forces as to the terms and conditions which apply to re-joiners, including the probation terms and reckoning of service. People who left and have since gained further experience, skills and knowledge can now be recruited back at higher ranks – so long as they have relevant skills, qualifications and knowledge. In addition, it is also possible to re-join at a lower rank than the rank the re-joiner last served in.

The Front Line Review

57. The Front-Line Review provided frontline police officers and police staff an opportunity to feed back to Government on their lived experience of operational policing. In doing so, the review sought to harvest new ideas for change directly from the frontline, with a view to identifying systemic issues which currently act as barriers and could be remedied. The review also sought to improve the frontline access, availability and experience of support and development services, under three pillars: leadership; professional development; and wellbeing. The review did not consider pay, demand, workload or resourcing. This was on the basis that work was already underway, led by the NPCC and its partners, to consider these issues.

58. The findings were published in July 2019, with implications for the Government and its policing partners. The feedback was that officers are concerned that they are not able to do their jobs properly due to increased demand and not enough resource.

59. The Home Office has set out 6 recommendations for priority action. The FLR Steering group, as well as frontline officers and staff, were engaged directly in developing the recommendations. Home Office officials have been working with key policing stakeholders, including the Police Superintendents Association and Police Federation for England and Wales, on a delivery plan.

60. FLR Steering Group members including the PSA, PFEW, NPCC and HMICFRS also signed a Statement of Co-operation signalling their continuing commitment to address the issues and the former Policing Minister committed to the Home Office providing a ‘one year on’ FLR stocktake review in July 2020.

V. Overall remuneration package

Starting Salaries

61. The starting salary for police officers is between £20,880 and £24,177 for constables, depending on skills and experiences. Chief constables have the flexibility to appoint those joining on the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship scheme on a starting salary of £18,000.

62. In 2019/20, median basic pay for a police constable was £41,000. This figure reflects the fact that the majority of police constables have reached the top of their pay scale.

63. A table setting out the headcount and salaries for each rank is provided in Annex C.

Additional Allowances

64. In addition to basic pay, police officers in London receive regional allowances of up to £6,843 per annum. Officers in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey or Thames Valley constabulary may receive regional allowances of up £3,000 per annum. Those in Bedfordshire, Hampshire or Sussex constabulary may receive a regional allowance of up £2,000 per annum.

65. Officers meeting the relevant criteria may also receive additional allowances, for example:

• Unsocial Hours Allowance – 10% of hourly rate
• Away from Home Overnight Allowance - £50
• On Call Allowance – £20
• Hardship Allowance – £30
• Replacement Allowance (only available to officers who joined before September 1994, and rates have been frozen since then) – between £1,777.66 and £5,126.70
• Dog Handler’s Allowance - £2,293

66. All allowances are currently under review as part of NPCC’s reform of pay and reward structures.

Pay progression

67. Federated and superintending ranks, assistant chief constables, and commanders in the Metropolitan Police currently receive pay progression. However, policing is moving towards competence-based pay and ending the link between pay and time served. Chief constables and deputy chief constables receive a spot rate salary, which is determined by the size of the force and level of crime demand.

68. Police officers who have not reached the top of their pay scale receive annual incremental pay of at least 2% in addition to any annual pay awards depending on rank and experience. This is dependent upon an officer’s performance having been graded as either ‘satisfactory’ or above in the annual appraisal. Dependent on satisfactory performance, a constable will typically reach the top of their pay scale in 5-7 years; other ranks in 3-4 years.

69. However, as most officers are on the top pay point, they no longer receive progression pay. Further, the new pay and reward framework that is being developed by the NPCC will end automatic pay progression. Most police officers enter as police constables. A typical constable will receive a salary of £40,128 within 7 years of joining.

Pension

70. Police officers are entitled to membership of a defined benefit pension scheme. Members benefit from employer contributions of 31% ^{[footnote 4]} of their pay towards their pensions on top of their own contribution. Each year a member earns a slice of pension, currently at the rate of 1/55.3 of their pay for that year. All contributing members can retire with their pension by age 60. The majority can take a pension sooner, but this may be partial or with a reduction for early payment.

71. The pension also comes with ancillary benefits, for example, spouse/partner pensions, child pensions and a death in service lump sum.

McCloud/Sargeant Legal Cases

72. The Court of Appeal in McCloud/Sargeant legal cases ruled that transitional protection arrangements in the 2015 public service pension schemes gave rise to unlawful age discrimination in the judges’ and firefighters’ pension schemes. The Government announced that it accepted that the judgment applies to all main public service pension schemes, including the police pension scheme. Claims against the police pension scheme (the Aarons case) which had been previously stayed behind the McCloud/Sargeant judgment have now been unstayed and a case management hearing was held on 28 October 2019.

73. The Home Office is actively working with the NPCC to develop messaging for the police workforce to help them understand the Tribunal’s latest decision and what it means for officers as. Any resulting changes to the pension schemes will be subject to consultation with policing partners.

Other

74. Officers receive a minimum of 22 days of annual leave, rising with service to 30 days, plus bank holidays as well as flexible working schedules and career breaks.

75. Further benefits include enhanced maternity pay and leave and parental support pay (up to two weeks), paid allowances to compensate for disruption to family life and the demands of the role, and sick leave on full pay for up to six months.

VI. Data provision

Published data

76. Published police workforce data: Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2019 second edition.

77. The Home Office have also published updated force by force diversity profiles on the number of BAME and female officers in all 43 police forces on police.uk. The profiles allow the public to directly compare the diversity of their police force with the population it serves.

Police Workforce and Pay Census

78. The Police Workforce Census collects data on the number of police officers at each pay point by rank and the numbers receiving allowances and overtime, as at the end of March each year. This data is not currently published but is provided to the PRRB secretariat separately.

79. We have continued to engage with police practitioners to improve the quality of census and workforce data returns and resolve issues around completion. We are grateful to payroll and Human Resources staff in forces for contribution to the process and working hard to resolve data and IT issues.

Improving police workforce data

80. We are committed to improving the quality of workforce data. We have established a Police Workforce Data Collection Working Group, chaired by the NPCC, which is attended by representatives from the Home Office, the APCC, the PFEW, the PSA, the PRRB secretariat, HMICFRS and the College of Policing. The group continue to meet regularly to focus on the types of data currently collected from forces, when and for what purpose; and to identify where there are gaps in terms of what is collected, or its quality. The aim is to reduce the burden on forces and ensure that data collection is simplified where possible.

81. We will continue to work with forces to promote the census and to drive up the quality of data. In the last three financial years, we have been able to provide forces with a tailored highlight report, summarising the pay data they have provided and how this compares with other forces. This includes data on officer demographics, total pay, basic pay, overtime and allowances. We hope that this will raise awareness of the census dataset at a senior level and make forces aware of the benefits of completing it.

Annex A – Home Secretary’s remit letter to the PRRB for the 2020/21 pay round

Home Secretary
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
www.gov.uk/home-office

Anita Bharucha (Chair)
Police Remuneration Review Body
Office of Manpower Economics
Fleetbank House
2-6 Salisbury Square
London
EC4Y 8JX

5 November 2019

Dear Anita

POLICE REMUNERATION REVIEW BODY REMIT 2020/21

Thank you for your considerations and recommendations for the 2019/20 Police pay award, which as you will be aware, the Government accepted in full.

I am now writing to ask the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) to conduct its annual review of police officer pay and associated allowances. This will include a formal recommendation on how to apply the police officer pay award for 2020/21 to all ranks, including chief officers, and to include a review of London Weighting and Dog Handler’s allowance.

This will be based on available evidence and should be considered in the context of government’s recent commitment to an increase of 20,000 officers over three years. This reflects the most significant officer uplift in a decade and reflects the Government’s support for a service that we value so highly. I want to empower the service to get the resources and tools it needs to get the job done. I want to make sure that the service encourages the right people to join and remain on the job and that it has a pay system that supports this.

NPCC proposals for a revised pay structure will therefore form a critical part of PRRB’s consideration. We therefore ask that the PRRB consider the following proposals, commenting in particular on their suitability and robustness:

• proposals for independent benchmarking, which will have been completed for all officer grades, including Chief Officers;
• defining and valuing the ‘P-Factor’, recognising those elements of the role which are unique to policing;
• the rationale and proposals for a range of pay interventions to support operational delivery through targeting roles that are hard to fill or critical to retain; and
• wider workforce data which is available to support the uplift of 20,000 officers

You will be aware that the NPCC has been leading the design of police pay reform, implementation for which is now due to begin from spring 2021, to ensure that forces can manage immediate requirements of a growth in their workforce ahead of implementing pay reform proposals. We have asked for their revised proposals to be set out in their evidence submission to the review body. I would welcome your observations on these proposals which will cover the impact of pay reform, consideration of proposed salaries, an assessment of level of force maturity to meet the requirements of proposed assessment points to determine officer pay.

The NPCC also intends to set out a proposed timetable for regulatory implementation taking account of requirements for consultation with interested parties.

The Government must balance the need to ensure fair pay for public sector workers with protecting funding for frontline services and ensuring affordability for taxpayers. We must ensure that the affordability of a pay award is taken into consideration to ensure that police forces are able to maximise the additional officers that they can recruit.

As in previous years, in considering the appropriate level of pay for police officers I would also ask you to have regard to the standing terms of reference for the PRRB and to consider each matter for recommendation in the context of future reform plans. I request the report by 30 April 2020.

Thank you for your hard work in this important area and I look forward to receiving your recommendation and observations.

Yours sincerely,

Rt Hon Priti Patel MP

Annex B - Police officer numbers and salaries by rank

	Minimum	Maximum
Police constables	£20,880 - £24,176 depending on skills and experience.	£40,128
Sergeants	£41,499	£45,099
Inspectors	£51,414 £53,664 (in London)	£55,767 £58,038 (in London)
Chief Inspectors	£56,910 (£59,175 in London)	£59,250 (£61,509 in London)
Superintendents	£68,460	£80,859
Chief Superintendents	£84,849	£89,511
Assistant Chief Constables	£100,509	£113,475
Deputy Chief Constables*	£119,637	£152,871
Chief Constables*	£142,896	£199,386

*Pay for these chief officer ranks is largely determined by the size of force.

Footnotes

1. Crime in England and Wales: year ending June 2019 ↩

2. Police Workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019 second edition, Statistical Bulletin 11/19, 18th July 2019 ↩

3. Police Workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2019 second edition, Statistical Bulletin 11/19, 18th July 2019 ↩

4. From 1 April 2019 ↩