The Northern Ireland Department of Justice has announced that it will award additional funding for Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) recruitment and a full recommended pay uplift for police officers.
Naomi Long, the Justice Minister, confirmed the announcement following the December monitoring round.
The allocated funding totals £11.6 million and includes £7 million for PSNI recruitment and £4.7 million for a pay rise for police officers. An additional £7 million will be used to meet the full cost of the first year of the PSNI’s workforce recovery plan.
According to the department, the funding is an acknowledgement of the dedication and professionalism of PSNI officers, who it said demonstrate the best of policing under significant pressure. It added that officers and staff regularly show resilience in keeping communities safe in difficult circumstances and it is grateful for their service and commitment.
Long said: “It is crucial that the PSNI can recruit and retain highly skilled and motivated people, and pay plays an important role in achieving this. I am, therefore, pleased that following my representations, police officers have been recognised on the same basis as our health and education employees in the December monitoring round. As a result I am now able to fund this year’s police pay uplift in full. This is a welcome step forward and I will work with the Chief Constable to get this much-deserved uplift into officers’ pockets as quickly as possible.
“I have been absolutely clear that rebuilding policing capacity is one of my highest priorities and am pleased to have been able to secure this funding to meet year one of the PSNI’s workforce recovery plan. Looking ahead, policing requires sustained multi-year funding, to enable the service to plan, recruit, train and retain with confidence, and I will continue advocating for this as part of the three-year budget setting process.”
