Independent Review of
Police Officer and Staff Remuneration and Conditions - Part 1 Report
Issued by the News
Distribution Service on behalf of the Independent Police Pay and
Conditions Review.
Radical overhaul of police pay recommended.
The results of the first part of a comprehensive review of police
pay and conditions designed to improve service for the public and
maximise value for money were published today.
The independent study, commissioned by Home Secretary Theresa May
in October, will help bring modern management practices into
policing and increase operational flexibility for the
country's 43 territorial forces.
The review was led by former Rail Regulator Tom Winsor, a partner
at global law firm White & Case. He was supported by
former West Midlands Chief Constable Sir Edward Crew and leading
labour market economist Professor Richard Disney.
The review found that police officers are comparatively well
paid, 10 to 15 per cent higher than some other emergency workers
and the armed forces, as well as up to 60 per cent higher than the
average local earnings in regions such as Wales and the North East.
In the short term, Tom Winsor recommends that a power to make
officers compulsorily redundant is not necessary. This makes
police officers unique in the public sector and this protection
comes at a price, namely:
* suspension of all chief officer and superintendent
bonuses;
* abolition of the £1,212 Competence-Related
Threshold Payment (CRTP);
* abolition of the discredited
Special Priority Payments (SPP), of up to £5,000;
* freezing
progression up the pay scale for two years for all officers and
staff; and
* savings of up to £60 million in the annual
overtime budget.
Introducing the report, lead reviewer Tom Winsor said:
"I have always had immense respect for police officers
and staff and the vital work they do. Every day those on the
frontline can face difficult and dangerous situations and
throughout this review, I have been guided by the overriding
principle of fairness - fairness to individual police officers and
staff, and fairness to the taxpayer.
"These recommendations will allow the police to provide
a more efficient, economical and effective service to the public
while providing officers and staff with a fairer pay deal.
"People should be paid for what they do and how well
they do it and the service needs modern management tools to
operate with the greatest efficiency and economy in a time of
considerable national financial pressure and restraint."
The projected savings and costs arising from this review suggest
that if implemented from September 2011, these recommendations
will produce net savings of £485 million over three years.
Other key recommendations include the reinvestment of £635
million targeted at the frontline, including:
* officers who work unsocial hours should receive an extra 10 per
cent of their basic pay on an hourly rate (between 8pm and 6am).
This will primarily benefit frontline public-facing roles and
operational specialists; and
* a new Expertise and
Professional Accreditation Allowance of £1,200 for most
detectives, firearms, public order and neighbourhood policing officers
The following principles have been applied in the development of
this review's recommendations:
* fairness is an essential part of any new system of pay and
conditions;
* the office of constable is the bedrock of
British policing;
* the demands of policing - full and proper
weight must be given to the particular and onerous demands which
their occupation places on police officers and their
families;
* people should be paid for what they do, the skills
they have and are applying in their work, and the weights of the
jobs they do;
* people should be paid for how well they work;
* a single police service - distinctions in pay and other
conditions of service between police officers and police staff
should be objectively justified having regard to the conditions
which exist today, not on the basis of history or tradition;
*
simple to implement and administer - the review's
recommendations should not unjustifiably add to the bureaucratic
burden on individuals and police forces; and
* phased
introduction - some reforms should be introduced over time, so
that police officers and police staff do not feel threatened and
the system has time to adjust.
Notes to editors
1. The Independent Review of Police Officer and Staff
Remuneration and Conditions - Part 1 Report can be found here: http://review.police.uk The
Review is due to report in two stages; short term recommendations
have been published today and long term recommendations will be
published in June.
2. Tom Winsor is a partner in White & Case, the global
law firm. He was the Rail Regulator between 1999 and 2004, which
included the period of dismantling Railtrack and the creation of
Network Rail. In his period in office he carried out two major
reviews of the national railway infrastructure (October 2000 and
December 2003), and helped reform the industry. Since 2004, he has
been a partner in global law firm White & Case in its City
of London office. He qualified as a lawyer in 1981.
3. Sir Edward Crew was Chief Constable of West Midlands Police
from 1996 to 2002 and Chief Constable of Northamptonshire Police
from 1993 to 1996. He had been a serving officer for more than 40
years when he retired in 2002.
4. Richard Disney is Professor of Labour Economics at Nottingham
University. He has also worked at the Universities of London, Kent
and Canterbury, Reading, Strathclyde and Addis Ababa. He is a
Research Fellow of the Institute for Fiscal Studies and has worked
with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
5. The Review covered both police officers and civilian staff,
including Police Community Support Officers.
6. For further details please contact Zoe Paxton on 020 7035 3823.
Contacts:
NDS Enquiries
Phone: For enquiries please contact the issuing dept
ndsenquiries@coi.gsi.gov.uk