UK Police Officer Salary 2026/27: Pay Scales & Take-Home

Overview of UK police pay

Police officer pay in England and Wales is set nationally, in a determination the Home Secretary makes under the Police Regulations 2003 (Annex F), and every force applies the same pay points. A constable in Devon and Cornwall, Merseyside or Northumbria therefore earns the same base pay as a constable in West Mercia at the same point on the scale. What varies by force is on top: officers of the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police receive London Weighting and a London Allowance, and the Met and City have their own higher scales for inspectors and chief inspectors; eight forces in the South East pay a South East England Allowance. Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own pay arrangements (Police Scotland and the PSNI) and are not covered by these scales.

The annual uplift starts with the Police Remuneration Review Body, an independent body that takes evidence from the Home Office, the Police Federation, the National Police Chiefs' Council, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and others. The PRRB recommends, the Home Secretary decides, and the new pay points are set in a determination published as a Home Office circular. For 2025/26 the award was 4.2% from 1 September 2025, implemented by Circular 011/2026. For 2026/27 the review body recommended 3.9% and the Home Secretary awarded 3.5% from 1 September 2026, in written ministerial statement HCWS264 on 15 July 2026. The revised pay points have not been published yet, so the pay figures on this page are the scale awaiting the determination that implements the 3.5% award from 1 September 2026.

Beyond base pay, the federated ranks (constable, sergeant, inspector and chief inspector) can receive an unsocial hours allowance, on-call allowance and specialist payments such as Dog Handler's Allowance and service critical skills payments; constables and sergeants are also paid overtime. Superintendents and chief superintendents are on their own incremental scales (4 and 3 pay points, Annex F Parts 6 and 7), and chief officer ranks, from assistant chief constable or commander upward, are paid under Part 8. Those ranks are on the police pay scales page rather than here. Police Community Support Officers are police staff, not officers, and are not on these scales: see police staff pay.

London Weighting, London Allowance and South East Allowance

London Weighting is paid by force, not by where an officer lives or works: every member of the Metropolitan Police and the City of London Police has annual pay increased by £3,150 (Annex F Part 10), at every rank and pay point. The same two forces also pay a London Allowance, set by the Commissioner with regard to location and retention needs, of up to £6,588 a year for officers appointed on or after 1 September 1994 who do not receive a replacement allowance (Annex U para 3). The pay tables above do not include either payment.

Eight forces outside London pay a South East England Allowance instead (Annex U para 5): up to £3,000 a year in Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Surrey and Thames Valley, and up to £2,000 a year in Bedfordshire, Hampshire and Sussex. The actual rate is set by each force's Chief Constable, with regard to recruitment and retention evidence and a local affordability assessment. HCWS264 raises London Weighting and the London and South East Allowance maxima by 3.5% from 1 September 2026; the figures here are the last determined amounts.

All three are ordinary employment income for tax: they go through PAYE and attract Income Tax and employee National Insurance like base pay, with no relief for the cost-of-living reason they exist. A constable on pay point 1 who joins the Met keeps £2,268 of the £3,150 London Weighting after Income Tax and National Insurance, or £1,943 if it also counts as pensionable pay and attracts the 12.88% contribution.

Police Pension Scheme 2015

Since 1 April 2022 every serving police officer in England and Wales has been a member of the Police Pension Scheme 2015; the legacy 1987 and 2006 schemes closed to future accrual on 31 March 2022. It is a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) defined benefit scheme. Each year an officer earns a pension of 1/55.3 of that year's pensionable earnings, and the amount built up is revalued each year by the change in prices plus 1.25% while the officer is in service. Normal Pension Age is 60.

Member contributions are banded on actual pay from 1 April 2026: 12.88% on pensionable pay of £37,035 or less, 13.88% on pensionable pay of more than £37,035 but less than £79,588, 14.22% on pensionable pay of £79,588 or more (SI 2026/267). A constable at the bottom of the scale is in the first band, a constable at the top, a sergeant or an inspector in the second, and only the superintending ranks reach the third. The contribution is deducted under the net pay arrangement: it comes out before Income Tax, so relief is given at the marginal rate, but National Insurance is still charged on the full gross.

In its evidence to the review body the Home Office put the employer contribution rate at 35.3% of pensionable pay (PRRB Report 2026, para 3.147). Added to the member rate, that is 48.2% to 49.5% of pensionable pay going into the scheme. Officers who opt out give up the employer-funded benefit along with the scheme's death and ill-health benefits.

The McCloud remedy deals with age discrimination in the 2015 reforms. When the 2015 scheme opened, older members near their normal pension age were given transitional protection from the move, while younger members were moved to the 2015 scheme; the courts held that this discriminated against the younger members. The remedy covers officers who were in pensionable public service on or before 31 March 2012 and on or after 1 April 2015, without a break of more than five years. Their service from 1 April 2015 to 31 March 2022 was rolled back into the legacy scheme, and at retirement they choose whether that period is paid on legacy or 2015 scheme terms (Home Office consultation response). Officers with no pensionable public service on or before 31 March 2012 are outside it.

Overtime, allowances and unsocial hours

Only constables and sergeants are paid overtime (Annex G of the Police Regulations 2003 determinations). Overtime is paid at time-and-a-third, and duty on a rostered rest day or a public holiday is compensated separately under Annex H, at a rate that depends on how much notice the officer was given. Inspectors and chief inspectors are not paid overtime.

The unsocial hours allowance is 10% of the officer's hourly rate for every full hour worked between 8pm and 6am, for constables, sergeants, inspectors and chief inspectors (Annex U para 10). It is a single national rate.

Other payments in Annex U, at the rates from 1 September 2025: a Dog Handler's Allowance of £2,946 a year for an officer who keeps and cares for a police dog at home, plus 50% of that for each further dog; an on-call allowance of £35 for each day on which an officer from constable to chief superintendent spends any time on call; and service critical skills payments of up to £5,000 a year, which a chief officer may award for skills in short supply or for a hard-to-fill role.

All overtime and allowance income is taxable employment income, deducted under PAYE in the month it is paid, and attracts employee National Insurance at 8% up to the Upper Earnings Limit and 2% above it.

Comparison vs similar roles

A new constable on £31,164 earns about 20% less than the UK median full-time salary (£39,039 for full-time employees, ONS ASHE 2025), and passes it at pay point 6 (£43,038). A constable at the top of the scale earns £50,256, a sergeant at the top of the scale £56,208 and an inspector at the top of the scale £68,982.

Where police pay differs most from private-sector jobs at the same gross is the pension. The employer contribution rate of 35.3% the Home Office gave the review body is worth about £17,740 a year on the salary of a constable at the top of the scale. That is what the scheme costs the force, not a pot in the officer's name: the pension itself is set by the 1/55.3 accrual rate and revaluation, and does not depend on investment returns.

• Police pay scales 2026/27 - every rank and pay point, including superintendents, the allowances table and the PRRB recommendation.
• Police constable - rank-specific landing page with constable progression detail.
• NHS Band 7 nurse - similar gross at top of band 7.
• Experienced teacher (M6-UPS3) - mid-career teacher comparable to constable point 7.
• Civil Service Grade 7 - similar gross band to sergeant / junior inspector.
• All UK professions - browse the full directory.