Independent review of police officer and staff remuneration and conditions

Book excerpt: This review began on 1 October 2010 and the reviewer, Tom Winsor, was asked to ensure that police pay and conditions and the structures around them are the best they could be given the challenges currently facing the police service. Budget cuts will see forces being required to achieve more with less, but also need to be fair to officers and staff. The review is to report in two parts, covering short-term and long-term improvements. This is Part one and covers: the deployment of officers and staff (including shift allowances, overtime and assisting other police forces); post and performance related pay (including special priority payments, competence related threshold payments for constables and bonuses at all ranks) and how officers leave the police service. Mr Winsor says his recommendations will produce savings of £485m over three years. The recommendations if implemented will concentrate the highest pay on the front line and more demanding roles in the police service. He says police earn 10 to 15% more than other emergency workers and the armed forces and in some areas they are paid up to 60% more than average local earnings. It also recommends making savings of £60m a year in overtime and he also suggests suspending chief officer and superintendent bonuses. The independent review calls for an end to the £1,212 competence-related threshold payment, the Special Priority Payment of up to £5,000 and says no officers should move up the pay scale for two years. The government is planning to cut its funding for the police by 20% by 2014-15. The 43 forces in England and Wales currently employ about 244,000 people, comprising 143,000 police officers and 101,000 civilians.