Police reforms set forth by home secretary Theresa May will see pay for police recruits reduced from £22,000 to £19,000.
The reforms are part of the government’s response to the Police Arbitration Tribunal’s findings on the recommendations in Tom Winsor’s Independent review of police officer and staff remuneration and conditions.
May submitted a statement in response to Winsor’s report in May 2012 in which she announced that she had called on the Police Negotiating Board to consider proposals relating to pay for police officers in England and Wales as a matter of urgency.
But according to May, the Police Negotiating Board failed to reach agreement on some important proposals in its final report, which is why they were referred to The Police Arbitration Tribunal, which submitted its recommendations in December 2012.
May said: “[The pay reforms] continue our programme to modernise police pay and conditions so that they are fair to both officers and the taxpayer.
“They include measures to re-target pay to reward contribution, increase local flexibility and make important structural changes to enable further reform.”
The tribunal deferred proposals around compulsory severance for further negotiations, which will be considered alongside other longer-term proposals May has asked the Police Negotiating Board to consider by July 2013.
May said: “We remain committed to the review’s principles and objectives, in particular to modernising management practices and to developing the vital link between pay and professional skills.
“The development of the skills agenda is an essential part of both modernising pay and conditions and of our wider programme of police reform and developing professionalism.
May expressed her disappointment that the tribunal has not recognised the importance of linking skills and earnings in the short term, as the Winsor Report recommended, adding that she had asked Alex Marshall, the head of the new College of Policing, to take this work forward.