Question
To ask the Chief Constable what arrangements are in place to offer officers additional payments for working unsocial hours, such as night shifts - and how the PSNI regime benchmarks against forces in GB and AGS?
Answer
There are currently no arrangements to offer additional payments for working unsocial hours at present, however, we have engaged with the Police Federation, the Department of Justice (DoJ) and the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) in this regard.
By way of background, an Unsocial Hours Allowance was introduced for police officers in England and Wales (E&W) as part of the Winsor Reforms following the withdrawal of the Competency Threshold Payment (CRTP) in 2011. In E&W, police officers in federated ranks (Constable/Sergeant/Inspector/Chief Inspector) are paid this allowance at 10% of their basic salary on an hourly basis, where they work between 20:00 and 06:00. Unlike police services in E&W, the Police Service of Northern Ireland did not abolish payment of CRTP in 2011 but continued to pay the allowance at a rate of £1,224 per annum.
In 2018, the Service considered the implications of implementing the Unsocial Hours Allowance as an alternative to CRTP and it was indicated that there would be a substantial increase in financial costs to the Service, with the cost of introducing an Unsocial Hours Allowance being in excess of £13.7m. In comparison, this figure significantly exceeds the projected base cost for CRTP for this financial year, which is expected to be £6.1m.
Following representation by the Police Federation on behalf of its membership, the Strategic Management Board agreed to postpone the removal of CRTP along with the implementation of any alternative allowance i.e. the Unsocial Hours Allowance for E&W.
A review of police officer allowances, commissioned by the DoJ, included a review of CRTP along with a replacement allowance. In our ninth submission to the PRRB (submitted on 20 March 2023), we highlighted that any proposals from this review for a replacement allowance to CRTP would require further consultation and engagement to consider the impact on our workforce before any action can be taken.
We are keen to uphold the principle of parity in pay and allowances with E&W, and engage and benchmark regularly with other UK police services. The continued maintenance of pay parity ensures that the base pay of police officers in Northern Ireland is not less favourable than our UK counterparts and does not negatively affect attraction, recruitment and retention of the utilisation of mutual aid. It is essential that pay parity exists with E&W to ensure that police officer pay mirrors that of our counterparts to avoid police officers being discouraged when performing the same tasks at a different rate of pay. We also keep abreast of any pay reforms in the wider GB and AGS police services.
Mike Nesbitt - UUP