Current Position with Police Officer pay
Unfortunately, the position as outlined in my email of 8th November 2023 is unchanged. You will be aware from previous updates that prior to the recent appointment of The Justice Minister we had met Department of Justice (DOJ) officials. It was clear affordability of the pay award was the overriding consideration for the DOJ Permanent Secretary. We have made representations to the DOJ in relation to this and have made a number of requests to DOJ asking for the the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) report to be shared with us. To date, this request has been declined.
We have been in contact with the PRRB to express our frustrations with the delays to the PSNI pay process. We have communicated to them that it appears to us that the overriding consideration for DOJ is one of affordability with PSNI being told that they must balance their deficit budget. PRRB have assured us that they value the submission of our written evidence and they reaffirmed their request that PFNI continue to provide written and oral evidence to PRRB.
We are currently in the process of preparing this year’s submission to PRRB, however, we are at a significant disadvantage as we commence our submission. We have been asked to commence a process when we are completely unsighted to the detailed PRRB report from the previous pay round, which was provided to the Department of Justice on 20th June 2023.
In our meetings with the Chief Constable we continue to stress the importance of delivering the pay award. It is clear The Chief Constable understands the importance of the pay award and is aware of the frustrations of officers with delays year after year. His communication of 14th February underlines his determination to progress the Police officer pay award.
With the recent restoration of the devolved government in Northern Ireland, and the appointment of a Justice Minister, the budget allocation to PSNI should become clearer in the coming weeks and progress made on the PRRB recommendations. On Thursday 15th February 2024 the Finance Minister announced £688 million to prioritise public sector pay awards following Executive agreement. The Department of Justice have been allocated £75.3 million for general pressures and pay costs. PFNI have already formally requested the Justice Minister ratifies the 2023 PRRB recommendations so that the expected 7% pay uplift can be put into officers pay packets and backdated to 1st September 2023.
PSNI are in in advanced stage of preparation of the business case and arrangements are in place to process the PRRB recommendations once ratified by the Justice Minister. PFNI share the view of the Northern Ireland Executive that this process should be concluded as quickly as possible.
Pay parity with colleagues in England and Wales remains of paramount importance and one we must maintain. We are in regular consultation with the Police Federation of England and Wales as they continue with their pay campaign.
Our focus remains on advocating for fair pay awards for our members considering the unique environment in which they operate. We will continue to highlight the unacceptable delays in the pay award to both local stakeholders and the PRRB
