Middle and back-office police roles will not receive additional pay and could see a reduction of up to £3,000 per year in their allowances, as recommended by the first major review into police pay in over 30 years.
Part one of Independent Review of Police Officer and Staff Remuneration and Conditions, conducted by Tom Winsor, a partner at law firm White and Case, recommends that some skilled police officers who work unsocial shifts will receive up to around £2,000 per year.
If implemented, Winsor’s recommendations are estimated to save £217 million by April 2014.
Winsor stated that the recommendations are directed towards the concentration of pay on frontline shift workers and highly-skilled officers of a high order: “These changes, if implemented, will affect police officers in different ways, depending on the work they presently do, and the changes they may make in their roles and how they work.”
Winsor recommended that officers in federated ranks, including inspectors and chief inspectors, receive a 10% supplement on their basic pay for hours between 8.00pm and 6.00am on any day of the week.
Winsor has not recommended the abolition of overtime, but stated that police staff should not receive additional shift premium, (paid at time and a half or double time), for weekend day working if it is part of their normal contracted hours, and the rate for routinely working on a public holiday should be reduced to double time only.
Other recommendations include a pay freeze for police officers and all members of police staff below the top of their pay scale for a two-year period from September 2011 and the chief officer bonus scheme and the bonus scheme for superintendents and chief superintendents suspended for two years commencing September 2011.
Peter Fahy, development lead chief constable at the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), said: “Chief officers welcome Tom Winsor’s first report and hope it will lay lasting foundations for the police service.
“The key to reviewing pay and conditions is fairness. Change must take account of the impact on individual members of staff, but people will accept change if it is seen to be fair.
“Bonuses for chief officers have been unpopular all the way through and we are pleased they are suspended.
“We are also pleased to see that Winsor found no evidence to suggest abuses of overtime are prevalent in the way has been suggested in some parts of the media.
“We have a great workforce that is very dedicated to the public. We want to allow frontline staff to build expertise and be rewarded for doing that.
“There are hugely difficult decisions to be taken in forces across the country but the majority of the police service are realistic that sacrifices will have to be made. There is a huge amount of detail in this report and we will take time to study it carefully.”
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