How police pay is set
Officers in England and Wales are not employees and cannot bargain collectively. Pay, hours, leave and allowances are set out in the Police Regulations 2003 and in the Determinations made under them, which the Home Secretary can amend.
The Police Remuneration Review Body takes evidence each year from the Home Office, chief officers and the staff associations, then recommends an award for ranks up to and including chief superintendent. Recommendations are not binding. The Home Secretary decides what is accepted, and the uplift is normally applied from 1 September. Chief officer pay is handled by the Senior Salaries Review Body.
Within each rank there are incremental pay points. Progression up the points is usually annual and service based, subject to satisfactory performance. Because the scales change every year, this site does not publish figures. Your force intranet, your payslip and the Police Federation pay tables carry the current numbers.
Allowances and additional payments
Allowances are also governed by the Determinations, so what is available depends on the regulation rather than on local goodwill. The ones most commonly claimed are:
- London weighting and London allowance for officers in the Metropolitan Police, City of London and, in a reduced form, forces on the capital's boundary.
- Unsocial hours payments for rostered duty falling within defined night and weekend periods.
- Overtime, including casual overtime and the higher rates that apply when a rest day is cancelled at short notice or a public holiday is worked.
- On call allowance for officers required to be contactable and available outside rostered duty.
- Dog handlers' allowance for the care of a police dog kept at home.
- Hardship and away from home overnight allowances for mutual aid and detached duty.
Federated ranks up to chief inspector are entitled to overtime under the Regulations. Superintending ranks are not, and instead receive a different set of provisions covering time off in lieu.
Checking a claim that has been refused
Start with the wording of the relevant Determination rather than local custom. If the entitlement is clear and the claim is still refused, your federation representative can take it up through the force's pay and conditions route.
The three pension schemes
Police pensions are unfunded statutory schemes. Three of them are open to serving officers in England and Wales, and which one holds your benefits depends on when you joined and where you sat during the remedy period.
Police Pension Scheme 1987
A final salary scheme with a fast accrual rate, closed to new members from 6 April 2006. It builds to two thirds of pensionable pay after 30 years' service, with a normal minimum pension age of 50 once 25 years are served. Member contributions are the highest of the three schemes.
New Police Pension Scheme 2006
Also final salary, open to officers joining between April 2006 and March 2015. It accrues more slowly than the 1987 scheme, has a normal pension age of 55, and provides an automatic lump sum.
Police Pension Scheme 2015
A career average revalued earnings scheme, introduced by the Police Pensions Regulations 2015. Instead of a final salary calculation, a proportion of each year's pensionable pay is banked and revalued. Normal pension age is 60 and is linked to that age rather than to length of service.
The McCloud remedy
When the 2015 scheme was introduced, older members were given transitional protection that kept them in their legacy scheme. The courts found that this discriminated against younger members. The remedy that followed moved affected officers back into their legacy scheme for service between 1 April 2015 and 31 March 2022, and moved everyone who remained in service into the 2015 scheme from 1 April 2022.
Officers with service in the remedy period make a choice between legacy and reformed benefits for that period. For most people the choice is deferred until benefits are actually claimed, using a remediable service statement issued by the pension administrator. The comparison depends on your final salary, your service length and when you retire, so the figures matter more than the general rule.
Before you make a pension decision
- Ask your force's pension administrator for an up to date benefit statement and, where relevant, a remediable service statement.
- Check whether an annual allowance or lifetime tax charge is in play, particularly after promotion or a large backdated award.
- Independent financial advice from an adviser who knows public sector schemes is worth paying for. Neither this site nor your force can give it.
Ill health and injury awards
Two separate things are often confused. An ill health pension is paid from the pension scheme when a selected medical practitioner certifies that an officer is permanently disabled for the ordinary duties of a member of the force. An injury award is paid under the Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006 where the disablement results from an injury received in the execution of duty, and it is banded by degree of disablement.
Both processes turn on medical evidence and on the questions put to the selected medical practitioner. Officers can appeal a certificate to a police medical appeal board. Federation support at the referral stage, before the questions are settled, tends to matter more than support at appeal.
Scotland and Northern Ireland
The framework above describes England and Wales. Police Scotland officers are covered by separate conduct and pension regulations, with representation through the Scottish Police Federation. Officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland are covered by their own regulations and by the Police Federation for Northern Ireland. The broad structure is similar, the detail is not.
Sources: Police Regulations 2003 and Determinations, Police Pensions Regulations 2015, Police (Injury Benefit) Regulations 2006, and published Police Remuneration Review Body reports. Regulations change. Check the current version on legislation.gov.uk before relying on anything here.