Question to the Home Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average cost of a police constable with four years service in (1) the Metropolitan Police Service, (2) a police force in the Home Counties, and (3) a police force elsewhere in England and Wales.
The Home Office has calculated the total salary costs of constables on the pay scale in place since April 2013. These include the employers’ portion of National Insurance and pension contributions and the London Weighting payment where applicable. At pay point 4, which typically approximates to four years service, the cost would be £36,900 in London and £33,700 in other forces.
Police officers may receive other allowances and overtime which are not captured in these costs. These include London and South East Allowances which may be paid annually to officers in London and some South East forces at a level set by the relevant chief officer, to meet recruitment and retention needs. These allowances are capped at the following levels: In London, at a maximum of £4,338 per officer; in Bedfordshire, Hampshire and Sussex at a maximum of £1,000 per officer; and in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Thames Valley at a maximum of £2,000 per officer.
Four years’ service may not be equivalent to being at pay point four. The general expectation is that officers will progress up the scale by one pay point every 12 months subject to satisfactory performance, but there may be variations to this. A constable with four years service is likely to fall between pay point three and pay point five. These are shown in the table below:
| Salary costs (rounded to the nearest £100) | |
Pay point | London (includes a London Weighting payment at £2,349 per officer) | All other forces (including forces in the South East) |
0 | 28,600 | 25,400 |
1 | 32,700 | 29,600 |
2 | 34,100 | 30,900 |
3 | 35,500 | 32,300 |
4 | 36,900 | 33,700 |
5 | 39,700 | 36,500 |
6 | 45,300 | 42,100 |
7 | 52,900 | 49,800 |
Notes:
(1) The employers’ portion of pension contributions has been calculated at a rate of 21.3%.
(2) The employers’ portion of National Insurance contributions has been calculated at a rate of 13.8% on earnings above the secondary threshold. NI employer contribution has been calculated using the new contribution due to the Single Tier Pension (Introduced in April 2016).
(3) London Weighting is a pensionable payment, and applies to all officers working in London forces.
(4) An officer may be appointed at pay point 1 rather than pay point 0 if they possess a Policing Qualification or relevant experience. An officer appointed at pay point 0 will move to pay point 1 on completion of initial training.