POLICE STAFF ENGLAND & CYMRU
2026 PAY CLAIM
Following consultation with members, the Trade Union Side of the Police Staff Council (PSC) has submitted the following joint pay claim on behalf of police staff members in England and Cymru for 2026:
- A one-year award
- An increase of 9%, or £2,700, on all PSC pay points, whichever is the greater
- An increase of 9% on standby allowance and overnight away from home allowance
- A minimum pay rate of £15 per hour
- An Increase in the minimum annual leave on appointment from 24 to 25 days and from 29 days to 30 days after 5 years’ service
- Removal of the current overtime bar at pay point 24 so that all police staff are eligible for overtime payments at premium rate regardless of pay grade
A table showing the impact of the claim on the existing Police Staff Council Pay Spine can be found here.
EXPLAINING THE CLAIM
The Trade Union Side believes strongly that the claim is justified for the following reasons:
- If police staff pay had risen by the cost of living (RPI measure), it would have been 79.8% higher at the end of 2025 than in 2011
- In fact, police staff pay rose by only 41.1% over the fourteen years since 2011
- This represents a 27.4% real terms cut in average pay. Our pay claim seeks to begin the process of restoring this lost earning power.
- Low pay is an on-going problem in the police service:
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- The Real Living Wage rate for 2026 is £13.45/hour which equates to an annual salary of £25,947. To achieve this as a minimum hourly rate for police staff would require the deletion of pay points 9,10 & 11
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- Police Scotland has already done the decent thing and introduced a minimum hourly rate exceeding £15/hour for its police staff
- Police officers got an increase in their annual leave on appointment to 25 days in 2025. 12 police forces still award less than this to their police staff on appointment. This is simply unfair and needs to change.
- Police staff who earn more than pay point 24 (£35,772) are not eligible to earn overtime at premium rates. This overtime bar was set back in 1996 and no longer reflects the fact that many operational police staff now earn basic salaries above the overtime bar. In line with the fact that police sergeants are eligible for overtime at premium rates, our claim seeks the abolition of the overtime bar for police staff.
WHAT NEXT?
Pay talks will take place later this summer once the Police Staff Council Employers Side has consulted over the claim with police forces and police and crime commissioners/elected mayors. More information on the talks will be published in due course.