Home Office accused of lack of respect over pay award process
13 March 2019
The late publication of the Home Office’s response to the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) does nothing to instil confidence in Federation members, says West Midlands Police Federation chair Rich Cooke.
The response came more than a month later than expected.
In February, the Police Federation of England and Wales, in a joint submission with the Superintendents’ Association, put forward its evidence for a three-year pay deal, comprising of a five per cent uplift in officer pay this year, in 2020/21 and in 2021/22, as a start to putting right years of below-inflation pay awards.
Rich said: “The Home Office has shown a distinct lack of respect by making everyone wait a month for its response. It does not fill anyone with any confidence that it is taking the process seriously.”
In its submission, the Home Office said it will only make £70 million available. This equates to a pay rise of just 1.3 per cent if spent over a 12-month period, and less than the 2.7 per cent increase recently awarded to MPs.
National Federation chair John Apter said: “I wish I could say it was worth waiting for. I wish I could say it had taken the additional weeks to read our published evidence and concede that, in the face of such comprehensive research and analysis, it had decided to agree with us and suggest officers receive five per cent per year for each of the next three years. I wish I could, but I can’t.
“Unfortunately, we have waited an additional month to see nothing more than a Home Office PR list of supposed achievements, and no firm recommendations on police pay.”
He continued: “Even the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) has done better than 1.3 per cent, as its submission includes options of up to 4.5 per cent this year. Given that the NPCC says this, maybe we can take some hope from the fact the Home Office states it will ‘undertake another assessment of affordability’.”
The Federation has written to the PRRB to express its anger and disappointment.
