Two out of five police workers could see their pay drop by up to £4,000 a year, if recommendations of a radical pay review are carried out.
But the plans would reward those working unsocial hours on the front line with up to £2,000 extra per year. The radical plans, which would cut £465 million from the police budget in 3 years, were drawn up by former rail regulator Tom Winsor, at the behest of the Home Secretary.
Mr Winsor said that the police were paid about 10 per cent above other equivalent public service jobs, and that by reducing the pay increments for longer serving staff, and other efficiency savings, £635 million could be used to compensate frontline officers working unsocial hours.
But while the plans were welcomed by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Police Federation, which represents rank and file officers, said that if implemented they would have a “devastating effect” on policing.
Some of the savings in the plans are made by cutting into the overtime payments.
The report recommends that weekend working should no longer be rewarded with time-and-a-half or double time, and that public holidays be reduced to double time only.
Payments of time-and-a-third for ordinary overtime should be cut to plain time, and double time payments for working on a rest day should be cut to time-and-a-half. (Police officers are obliged to work on rest days if called upon.)
Mr Winsor also recommends that the automatic progression up the payscales be frozen for two years, and a new system introduced.
He recommends suspending the bonus scheme for chief officers and superintendents and chief superintendents.
Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, said in a statement: “Police officers are likely to suffer a 15–20 per cent reduction in the value of their pay. Officers and their families are paying the price for the failure of the Home Secretary to safeguard policing from the 20 per cent cut on the service imposed by the Treasury.
“Today ACPO has revealed plans that will see a loss of 12,000 police officers; this will have a detrimental effect on the service we are able to provide to the public - particularly as frontline police officers will also have to complete backroom tasks currently done by police staff colleagues as they too see a reduction in their numbers.”
Mr McKeever said that police officers were “furious” with the plans. “Whilst they are used to being attacked, it is ordinarily from criminals but they did not expect the biggest blow to come from government.”
He urged the Home Secretary not to implement the recommendations.
The ACPO welcomed the report, saying that the key to reviewing pay and conditions is fairness.
“Change must take account of the impact on individual members of staff, but people will accept change if it is seen to be fair,” the association said in a statement.
“Bonuses for chief officers have been unpopular all the way through and we are pleased they are suspended. We are also pleased to see that Winsor found no evidence to suggest abuses of overtime are prevalent in the way has been suggested in some parts of the media.
“We have a great workforce that is very dedicated to the public. We want to allow frontline staff to build expertise and be rewarded for doing that.”
The review comes just after it was revealed that 28,000 police posts (including 12,000 officers) are expected to be axed, according to a leaked memo from the ACPO published in the Guardian newspaper.
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