MAIN FEATURE


AT LEAST 7% RISE P.A. OR FACE COLLAPSE


The Police Federation of England and Wales has delivered to the Government its starkest warning yet: without a minimum 7 per cent annual pay rise for the next three years, the service will continue haemorrhaging experience, endangering communities and weakening policing nationwide


National Secretary John Partington


The Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) has issued its strongest warning in years: another real terms pay cut will accelerate the exodus of experienced officers and put public safety on the line. In its formal submission to the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB), the Federation demands a minimum 7 per cent pay rise every year for the next three years. A baseline increase it says is the absolute minimum required to halt a deepening crisis in recruitment, retention and operational resilience. The message delivered is loud and blunt: either policing gets a reset or the


04 | POLICE | APRIL | 2026


service continues to bleed capability at a pace that endangers communities.


“If affordability within existing budgets becomes the ceiling for police pay, we are guaranteeing a broken service.”


GOVERNMENT AND CHIEFS SIGNAL FURTHER DECLINE The alarm comes after the Government, in its remit letter to the PRRB, insisted that any recommendations must “reflect affordability within existing funding settlements” – a phrase PFEW says amounts to an instruction to deliver another real terms cut.


At the same time, the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) signalled it would back only a 3.5 per cent rise if fully funded, and as little as 2.5 per cent if forces must absorb the cost themselves. According to the


Federation, the combination of constrained


remit and diminished ambition reveals a “deep disconnect” between those setting pay policy and the lived reality of policing one of the most challenging public safety environments in decades.


A SERVICE ALREADY AT BREAKING POINT PFEW highlights a series of stark figures:


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44