UK Police Officer Annual Salary 2024-25
What are the latest salaries for police officers in the UK in 2024 and into 2025? This page provides the answers in one place, with how much officers earn as they progress through the ranks. This covers all forces across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the tables below also including the Metropolitan Police London weightings. See my police salary blog for how this has changed over time!
Police officers generally seek promotion to leave a larger legacy, develop their career and have greater impact through leadership. However, the additional income helps, while with great responsibility comes a greater reward package. This page may be useful for those wanting promotion to Sergeant, Inspector and Chief Inspector (aka Federated ranks) to get a feel for the difference in remuneration. It can be an additional motivator and shows that investment in your CPD to succeed will be worth every penny! Here I've collated all UK officer salaries in one place for the reader's convenience.
Investing in your future: When considering the return on your investment, Rank Success masterclasses, downloadable guides and coaching offers tremendous value for money. See a comparison below of raw average salary alone. Note that the following information doesn't take account of factors like the additional police pension, overtime or other benefits received at higher ranks. Graphs depict basic salary range and percentage increase in average through the Federated ranks.
You might also find this handy Excel money manager helpful to keeping on top of your finances in these difficult times.
Police officers generally seek promotion to leave a larger legacy, develop their career and have greater impact through leadership. However, the additional income helps, while with great responsibility comes a greater reward package. This page may be useful for those wanting promotion to Sergeant, Inspector and Chief Inspector (aka Federated ranks) to get a feel for the difference in remuneration. It can be an additional motivator and shows that investment in your CPD to succeed will be worth every penny! Here I've collated all UK officer salaries in one place for the reader's convenience.
Investing in your future: When considering the return on your investment, Rank Success masterclasses, downloadable guides and coaching offers tremendous value for money. See a comparison below of raw average salary alone. Note that the following information doesn't take account of factors like the additional police pension, overtime or other benefits received at higher ranks. Graphs depict basic salary range and percentage increase in average through the Federated ranks.
You might also find this handy Excel money manager helpful to keeping on top of your finances in these difficult times.
PC to SGT: £15,000 / year
SGT to INS: £10,000 / year
INS to C.INS: £5,000 / year
SGT to INS: £10,000 / year
INS to C.INS: £5,000 / year
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England & Wales Police Officer Salaries 2024-25
Latest England & Wales officer salary info is effective from 1 September 2024, following the PRRB 2024 increase of 4.75% to all police pay scales including Chief Officers. This was after the 7% increase for 2023-24 salaries, an average 5% (£1,900) pay increase for officers the year before, 0% in 2021, and 2.5% in both 2020 and 2019. Officers receive two pay rises per year until they reach the top of the pay scale: an increment to the next point of the pay scale, plus the effect of any increase negotiated by the PFEW to the pay scale itself.
Officers within the Metropolitan Police and City of London receive an additional £8.4k for the 'London Weighting' and 'London Allowance'. That's in addition to the bespoke London (L) salaries shown for the Inspecting ranks in the table below. There's a £3,000 bolt-on allowance for officers in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, and Thames Valley Police. Officers within Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and Sussex attract a £2,000 allowance on top of the below salaries. Dog Handlers get an extra £2.8k allowance for the first dog, then £1.4k for any additional dogs. The 'On-Call Allowance' is currently £25 per day. So a PC Dog Handler in London with seven years experience and one dog will be on a basic salary (aside from overtime for example) totalling nearly £60k per year.
Generally, officers progress to the next PP upon each year of service, for example it takes 6 years for Constables to reach the top of the band at £48k. The other ranks are shorter and quicker to progress through. As shown in the graph below, the UK average salary in 2024 is just under £34k, which officers currently exceed when reaching 3 years' service. In the table, 'PP(L)' means 'Pay Point (London)'.
Officers within the Metropolitan Police and City of London receive an additional £8.4k for the 'London Weighting' and 'London Allowance'. That's in addition to the bespoke London (L) salaries shown for the Inspecting ranks in the table below. There's a £3,000 bolt-on allowance for officers in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey, and Thames Valley Police. Officers within Bedfordshire, Hampshire, and Sussex attract a £2,000 allowance on top of the below salaries. Dog Handlers get an extra £2.8k allowance for the first dog, then £1.4k for any additional dogs. The 'On-Call Allowance' is currently £25 per day. So a PC Dog Handler in London with seven years experience and one dog will be on a basic salary (aside from overtime for example) totalling nearly £60k per year.
Generally, officers progress to the next PP upon each year of service, for example it takes 6 years for Constables to reach the top of the band at £48k. The other ranks are shorter and quicker to progress through. As shown in the graph below, the UK average salary in 2024 is just under £34k, which officers currently exceed when reaching 3 years' service. In the table, 'PP(L)' means 'Pay Point (London)'.
POLICE CONSTABLE |
SERGEANT |
INSPECTOR |
CHIEF INSPECTOR |
PP0 - Removed |
PP1 - Removed |
PP0 - £61,197 |
PP1 - £67,709 |
PP1 - £29,907 |
PP2 - £51,408 |
PP1 - £62,865 |
PP2 - £68,823 |
PP2 - £31,164 |
PP3 - £52,458 |
PP2 - £64,527 |
PP3 - £70,200 |
PP3 - £32,427 |
PP4 - £53,943 |
PP3 - £66,201 |
- |
PP4 - £33,690 |
- |
PP(L)0 - £63,783 |
PP(L)1 - £70,116 |
PP5 - £36,216 |
- |
PP(L)1 - £65,454 |
PP(L)2 - £71,427 |
PP6 - £41,304 |
- |
PP(L)2 - £67,134 |
PP(L)3 - £72,798 |
PP7 - £48,231 |
- |
PP(L)3 - £68,808 |
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Police Scotland Officer Salaries 2023-24
Police Scotland officers now start at £30k and exceed the national average salary within a year. The latest Police Scotland officer salaries were agreed in September 2023, for which the pay scales were bumped up by 7% and backdated to April 2023. This followed a 5% increase in the 2022 negotiations.
This 7% increase is of course in addition to the usual 3%-5% or so increase officers experience each year, as they progress through the Pay Points (PP) within each rank, until reaching the top of the band. Read more about Police Scotland salaries, including Chief Officer pay.
Officers in Scotland are immediately better off than other forces, and exceed the UK average salary within just 2 years of service. Conversely, it takes longer to reach the top of the officer pay scale at the Constable rank. Sergeants are now comfortably beyond the higher 42% tax bracket (currently set at £43k in Scotland), and Chief Inspectors peak at nearly £67k after four years.
This 7% increase is of course in addition to the usual 3%-5% or so increase officers experience each year, as they progress through the Pay Points (PP) within each rank, until reaching the top of the band. Read more about Police Scotland salaries, including Chief Officer pay.
Officers in Scotland are immediately better off than other forces, and exceed the UK average salary within just 2 years of service. Conversely, it takes longer to reach the top of the officer pay scale at the Constable rank. Sergeants are now comfortably beyond the higher 42% tax bracket (currently set at £43k in Scotland), and Chief Inspectors peak at nearly £67k after four years.
POLICE CONSTABLE |
SERGEANT |
INSPECTOR |
CHIEF INSPECTOR |
PP0 - £30,039 |
PP1 - £49,059 |
PP1 - £59,629 |
PP1 - £67,222 |
PP1 - £32,685 |
PP2 - £49,878 |
PP2 - £61,287 |
PP2 - £68,594 |
PP2 - £35,331 |
PP3 - £50,923 |
PP3 - £62,949 |
PP3 - £70,445 |
PP3 - £37,441 |
PP4 - £52,402 |
PP4 - £64,610 |
PP4 - £71,553 |
PP4 - £38,593 |
PP5 - £53,926 |
PP5 - £66,134 |
- |
PP5 - £39,813 |
- |
- |
- |
PP6 - £40,926 |
- |
- |
- |
PP7 - £41,913 |
- |
- |
- |
PP8 - £43,913 |
- |
- |
- |
PP9 - £45,803 |
- |
- |
- |
PP10 - £46,713 |
- |
- |
- |
PP11 - £48,236 |
- |
- |
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Police Service Northern Ireland (PSNI) Officer Salaries 2024
The PSNI Chief Constable announced in 2023 that PSNI officers will receive a 7% pay increase. The 'no-nonsense' news was welcomed by the Police Federation Northern Ireland. and has now been implemented as per below for 2024 (there was a delay while the Chief Constable sought the funds to fulfil the increase).
PSNI follows closely the salary of their England and Wales counterparts and mirrors increases there over recent years. So it's reasonable to assume the 4.75% increase will also be applied here in due course; I'll update this page when it is!
Generally, officers progress to the next Pay Point (PP) upon each year of service. But for the first two probationary years, PSNI state that officers stay at PP1 (source). Note that the basic salary information excludes the supplementary allowances given to all officers on top of basic. For example, the Competency Related Threshold Payments (CRTP) of £1.2k is paid to officers the year after reaching top PP, while the PSNI 'Transitional Allowance' of £3.6k is paid throughout. That means you can in practical terms add £3.6k to all the below figures, then another £1.2k for those at the top pay point (PP).
For longer-term context, both 2019 and 2020 pay reviews resulted in a 2.5% pay increase across all Federated officer PPs, with the latter also increasing the initial salary of Sergeants for newly promoted officers. There was no increase in 2021, 5% in 2022 and 7% for the 2023-24 pay year. The core salary structure is similar to England & Wales forces, with the biggest jump coming for those making their first move into a formal police leadership position. In the longer term, policing as a career clearly compares favourably to average wages in Northern Ireland; especially for promotion.
PSNI follows closely the salary of their England and Wales counterparts and mirrors increases there over recent years. So it's reasonable to assume the 4.75% increase will also be applied here in due course; I'll update this page when it is!
Generally, officers progress to the next Pay Point (PP) upon each year of service. But for the first two probationary years, PSNI state that officers stay at PP1 (source). Note that the basic salary information excludes the supplementary allowances given to all officers on top of basic. For example, the Competency Related Threshold Payments (CRTP) of £1.2k is paid to officers the year after reaching top PP, while the PSNI 'Transitional Allowance' of £3.6k is paid throughout. That means you can in practical terms add £3.6k to all the below figures, then another £1.2k for those at the top pay point (PP).
For longer-term context, both 2019 and 2020 pay reviews resulted in a 2.5% pay increase across all Federated officer PPs, with the latter also increasing the initial salary of Sergeants for newly promoted officers. There was no increase in 2021, 5% in 2022 and 7% for the 2023-24 pay year. The core salary structure is similar to England & Wales forces, with the biggest jump coming for those making their first move into a formal police leadership position. In the longer term, policing as a career clearly compares favourably to average wages in Northern Ireland; especially for promotion.
POLICE CONSTABLE |
SERGEANT |
INSPECTOR |
CHIEF INSPECTOR |
PP1 - £28,550 |
PP1 - Removed |
PP0 - £58,420 |
PP1 - £64,448 |
PP2 - £29,750 |
PP2 - £49,076 |
PP1 - £60,012 |
PP2 - £65,700 |
PP3 - £30,957 |
PP3 - £50,077 |
PP2 - £61,601 |
PP3 - £67,016 |
PP4 - £32,164 |
PP4 - £51,496 |
PP3 - £63,196 |
- |
PP5 - £34,575 |
- |
- |
- |
PP6 - £39,432 |
- |
- |
- |
PP7 - £46,044 |
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