Police pay rose 3.5% on 1 September, but the new scale is not published
The Home Secretary awarded 3.5% from 1 September 2026, below the 3.9% the review body recommended. The determination setting the actual pay points has not been issued.
Officers in England and Wales are owed 3.5% from 1 September 2026. The statutory determination that sets the new pay points has not been published, so nobody can yet state what any rank is paid.
- Effective from
- 1 September 2026
- Who it affects
- Police officers in England and Wales, constable to chief superintendent
The pay year for police officers in England and Wales turned over on 1 September 2026. The award is 3.5 per cent, announced by the Home Secretary in written ministerial statement HCWS264 on 15 July 2026.
The number is known, the scale is not
Those are two different things, and the gap between them is the whole story.
The Police Remuneration Review Body recommended 3.9 per cent. The Home Secretary awarded 3.5 per cent instead, described as the highest award manageable within existing police force and Home Office budgets. So the review body’s published figures are not what anyone will be paid, and any table you find quoting them for 2026/27 is quoting a recommendation that was declined.
What sets the pay points is a statutory determination under the Police Regulations 2003, and it has not been issued. The most recent circular, 011/2026, published on 31 July 2026, carries an Annex F determination made on 11 June 2026 and amends Annex F to give effect to the 2025 award. Its pay points took effect a year ago, on 1 September 2025, and they are the ones still published.
The practical consequence: from 1 September 2026 nobody can state what a constable at pay point 4 is paid, because the figure does not exist in a published document yet. The rise is owed and will be backdated when the determination lands.
What we are showing meanwhile
Our police pay scales page shows the pay points from the 2025 determination, and says on every rank that these are the scale the 3.5 per cent uplifts, pending publication of the determination that sets the new points.
That wording changes itself on the day the determination is published: the page reads a single flag, and flipping it switches thirteen strings at once. We would rather show a figure that is real and label it accurately than compute the new one ourselves. Multiplying last year’s pay points by 3.5 per cent would produce numbers that look authoritative and are our arithmetic, not a national pay scale.
London weighting is in the same position
London Weighting was £3,150 on the 2025 scale. The review body recommended raising it to £3,273. The Home Secretary uplifted it by 3.5 per cent rather than the recommended amount, and the revised figure has not been published either.
If you are checking your own pay
Two dates matter. 1 September 2026 is when the increase takes effect. Your incremental progression date is separate: officers move up a pay point on the anniversary of appointment or promotion, subject to meeting the Pay Progression Standard, so a rise in your pay may be one, the other, or both.