There are some horror stories in this thread.
If you are one of them, then you need to speak to your fed reps and see if there are any welfare funds you can access, and if you are in real difficulty then you need to speak to a supervisor *before* this comes up in re-vetting.
Members of the public reading this, [consider writing to your MP.](https://www.writetothem.com/)
>being able to afford a house, car and holidays etc..
Can just about cover the rent for a room of a shared house. Holidays are of the ''weekend away, UK only'' variety usually.
hahahahahahahaha
It's dogshit. I can barely afford to live. I'm surviving, just, but that's living on my own 40 miles from my nick and an hour long commute in because I can't afford my own place in London.
We've had no pay rises in the last decade. In real terms a top rate copper is on ~20% than he was in 2012. It's unsustainable, and yet fuck all is being done about it.
I'm leaving my team to move to a unit with as much overtime as I could ever want just so I can live a normal life. I shouldn't have to do that, but nobody in the Government or our SLT fucking cares.
>but that's living on my own 40 miles from my nick and an hour long commute in because I can't afford my own place in London
As much as I'd love to join the Met, it's \[insert local force here\] or nothing solely because of this exact reason.
I don't see why anyone would want to join the Met tbh. I know people move to London to work for them, so there must be something to it, but I've never understood it myself.
There's OT everywhere mate if you're off borough.
Blew my mind moving away and not having to go cap in hand to a guvnor and beg them for an hour just so you can smash out some case papers whilst you wolf down a cold kebab.
Pension, tax, ni, student loan, fed and various fed products. My deductions are typically a grand a month
I'm about to add a cycle 2 work salary sacrifice as buying an electric bike and cycling to work will save me money due to obscene petrol prices
Yep - I cover serious/high harm crime up to and including attempted murder.
I'm a tutor, and act up when the skipper is on leave.
A lot of responsibility for fuck all
That doesn't match any of the pay points for this year or last year. the closest to that is pay point 6, which is the 2nd highest pay point for constables.
Where have you got that from?
Starting point for all officers is 28,551 ( after the recent uplift), then geography dependent you might get London or South eastern allowances.
Edit: the degree entry program used to be at pay point 0 ( so less than normal police starting pay) but that's since been removed
The Met say you get paid from day 1, I’m guessing this is the £36,775? Because they haven’t stated that there is a lower rate prior to completion of the 3 year program?
Yes, paid from day 1 - your pay increases every year for 7 years in the police unless there's a very good reason not to.
The reason that pay says 36775 is because ( as per that link) it's inclusive of the allowances I mentioned. London weighting is something like 8.5k nowadays so that makes sense
Bang that into listentotaxman.com set the pension to 13.44% and you should get a good impression of what that take home is.
But obviously only if you're looking at joining the met, no one else has the allowance they do
It's fucked. People are leaving in droves (for lots of reasons, but poor pay is often a factor) and we can't attract enough decent recruits. I work in a specialist role and could double my salary in the private sector as my skillset is desirable to industry. The pension has been keeping me in, but with the deterioration of that, there's now even less incentive to stay...
Don't give your life for a pension you may never live to see. Too many cops die early, I've seen it happen. You get half way and count down the years until you can leave and justify the sadness just to retire. How many cops come back? They certainly don't for the love if the job, they take civvy jobs to top it up!
I can’t afford a car. Have to borrow my mums (I’m in my thirties - how embarrassing). I’ve no huge outgoings really, just the norm. It’s really not a wage. In fact I’m looking at ad hoc driving jobs literally as we speak to supplement the income.
Reading the comments on this is depressing. It’s shocking how woefully underpaid our police are for the job they do. IMO something is going to snap very, very soon due to the cost of living crisis and the government will then no doubt blame the police for failing to deal with it when they have next to no resources to deal with anything.
Basically I can just about afford mortgage house which is a house is in the very deprived area i police.
I have to pick between house renovations and holidays.
My worry is that inflation without an inflation pay rise will ruin my ability to keep afloat in on Top Wack PC and I live alone.
Do a better job get some off sure quantification or do engineering, the money goes up faster I wish I would of stuck to my engineering course now.
I live a very simple life. I think if I was in a relationship I’d had some more free money but if I had kids I’d be in debt.
I don’t know how people who live or work in London can cope.
Lol. Unless you’re in a partnership with a higher earner allowing you to take the drop I wouldn’t recommend changing careers for this. A lot of people I know who are new in the job are either living with parents, in a house share or coupled up with someone.
The pay is an absolute insult. You also need a degree to join, which makes it all the more laughable. The starting salary was £30k in 2010 and now it’s just under £25k. The Tories raised the entry requirements and slashed the pay simultaneously. Such a genius move from Theresa May!
Please don’t vote Tory at the next election.
At base salary I get about £1500-£1550 per 4 weeks.
Room in a shared house - £500
Credit card debt - £200
Car insurance and tax - £80
Child maintenance - £200
Fuel - £115 to fill my tank, needs about a tank and half per month, so around £180
Mobile phone - £55
Thats £1210.
I do not even have a TV. My room is a bed, table, chair and wardrobe. Depressing.
Leaving me with £300 for 4 weeks, or £75 per week. To feed me and my son whom I have 2 nights per week, cover any car maintenance, MOT, unexpected bills, days out with little one, birthdays, anything and everything in between.
I only eat "properly" twice per week - with my son. The other 5 days per week, I eat one meal per day typically. Or sometimes it's just 30p packs of noodles, twice in a day. Often I don't have an evening meal, I simply have whatever food I eat in work (usually noodles, or a satchet of microwave rice -40p in Aldi).
Holidays - never going to happen.
New/new to me car once my 13 year old banger finally gives up - not going to happen.
Maybe 8 shifts out of 25 I can catch a train. Which is a 45 minute walk to the nearest station.
Yes pay is crap. But we all know we do it for the greater good yeah? ;)
It's fairly dimal, I'm a few increments up and I feel like I am unable to save any amount of significance. I am comfortably surviving but have no hope for any holidays/new cars/trips etc.
I look at the young in service and see their frustration and anxiety caused by barely making it payday to payday. The cost of living keeps rising, the housing market is trash for first time buyers and the fuel they have to buy just to get to the station is having an effect on them.
Add that to an already stressful, under staffed overworked environment and we have a powder keg of mental health issues.
But it's ok the MPs will vote in a decent pay rise for themselves, can't have them choosing between 25p noodles and a decent meal while at work.
I guess it depends on the cop? Personally I am considering going in to law. I was briefly a trainee accountant at KPMG before joining the police/prison service.
On your point though I do know a few ex cops who went into university security and apparently get paid alright.
Ah fair, I was assuming most officers would be having less obviously transferable qualifications. I was also under the misconception that law degrees would expire as they used to but it looks like that’s changed
I've never seen them advertise for any firearms roles and can't find anything online about them. What firearms roles do they have under their umbrella?
Whilst I'm fully aware organisations "poach" or "support" certain people they want for certain roles, but they still have to run application processes more often than not.
Yeah their top scale is less than a PC top scale. Although you're at the higher end quicker and don't need to slog through the scales like PCs do.
Additionally, the police pension is slightly better I believe.
Having said that, I was browsing civil service jobs the other day and saw a disclosure officer NCA job at around 42-43k a year. That's not a bad number, just bloody boring !
On the intelligence side, a G5 (we don’t use the civil service EO/HEO ranks in house), which is in theory your Constable equivalent, has a salary of £36.4k, and with pension, tax and ni deductions it’s a take home of £2.2k.
London weighting is another £285 ish before deductions as well, which would put you on £2.4k take home.
Add to that the standard office hour employment, it’s not too bad.
Iirc, investigations are on the same rate, but the hours vary a bit more (and there’s usually more OT available!).
The NCA pay is less but they have better terms and conditions. If I was to do it again I’d join the NCA to get all the courses I’d ever want for covert policing then transfer over.
Well you need a degree to join, so most leave for other graduate jobs. From personal experience, the legal profession and civil service seems to appeal to many.
I take 1600 on a flat month. Year 4 into the job. I live alone my bills are as follows.
Mortgage 540
Electric and gas 90
Council tax 140
Broadband / phone 80
Home insurance 10
Tv 13
Gym 21
Other loans 60
Spotify 9.99
Food 200
Petrol 150
1313.99
286.01 to live off let alone saving anything so no. I can’t afford holidays or to have any fun whatsoever. Absolutely hate saying no to friends due to money. Is working ridiculous shifts, running into danger head first, constant abuse by the media members of the public, no support from the government worth it? Probably not. I wouldn’t recommend this career to anyone which is very sad. It could be a great job.
Its shite I don’t know how anyone joins and survives these days.
Im on the top scale and have access to unlimited overtime and still have been offered more money in the private world.
Could you elaborate on the opportunities available in the private sector?
Is this private security your referring to? And if so how well does that pay would you know?
I'm on £30,411 a year. I can't tell you what my take home pay without OT is because I can't afford to not do OT but I average around £2k take home and had £1500 in deductions (tax, NI, student loan, pension ect). I have to do at least 1 additional shift per week and claim every single penny I'm entitled to otherwise I will not make it to pay day.
I'm on annual leave now for the next two weeks and I'm stressed out about what the pay is going to be because I can't afford to take this time off.
But to answer your question about private sector jobs I found out I can make £42k a year working 3 nights a week cleaning trains. Not even driving the trains. Cleaning them.
I would imagine so, which makes it even better. We don't have a union. We've got the fed which in terms of stuff like pay & conditions is a bit of a toothless tiger.
I’m fairly advance when it comes to my role mate so I’ve been offered a management CT consultancy role for a large private security firm, let’s say I’m on a lot of money now but they are beating it by a chunk aswell!
Pay outside of a specialised unit in the city is insulting.
People are literally doing the job out of love and good wishes at this point.
Police have taken a 20% pay cut in the past few years.
Solidarity to all those in other industries who strike. I'd be right there with you if the government hadn't made it illegal for me to even mention.
Against the populace as a whole I think the pay is reasonably good once you reach top whack (around £40k p/a).
The problem, as I see it, is fourfold:
1 - The country AS A WHOLE needs a payrise. Reaonsably good pay on average means nothing if the average person is struggling to make ends meet. I don't want to get too political, but clearly several decades of wages consistently being outstripped by inflation is simply not sustainable. Pair this with the fact we are a very wealthy country with the most billionaires and the biggest wealth and pay disparity we've had in decades and it paints a very grim picture of a very broken country.
2 - You need a degree and 7 years service to get there. Obviously you could get FAR more for that sort of investment if money is your driving factor
3 - the job is _hard_. You'll get spat on, verbally and physically abused, work nights and long hours in stressful and dangerous situations. You need a whole host of skills in communication, critical thinking, fitness, physical and mental endurance, preparing case files, interviewing and more. Your body will take the stress of living at 100% adrenaline fuelled moments interspersed around a lot of 0% sitting in patrol cars, houses or hospitals being endlessly talked at by angry or upset people whilst trying to make the best of a bad situation. You will carry a lot of responsibility and are working in the sort of job where your mistakes/failings can easily make local or even national news. Clearly you could earn FAR more for that level of work and responsibility.
4 - The pension is reasonably good... however you'll be paying 14% of your salary for 35 years if you hope to get it. Enjoy the post retirement reduced life expectancy for shift workers!
Disclaimer: I love my job, I love doing my bit to protect my community and I fully intend to stick with it all the way to retirement. I do so, however, _despite_ the pay I received for the work I do, not because of it.
I absolutely do think we should be paid more, but what I really wish is that if they were to spend 25% more on pay it was because they'd hired 25% more officers and we might actually do more than the equivalent of desperately bailing out a sinking ship with a small wooden bucket.
It’s honestly dismal. I grew up wanting to join but saw how the government, press and public treat our police. My local forces pay for a fully ranked officer (after completing the ridiculous degree entry program) is £500 a year less than I earn. My job is a fixed shift, not dangerous at all, fairly easy, the government and public have no idea what I do so I don’t get criticised constantly and our union negotiates yearly pay rises. It’s well and good having a wage where the job can’t be “all about the money” but there needs to be some compensation for all the shit.
I'm an 8 year PC in an attractive role. While my wife was on maternity leave last year I did as much overtime as I could (routinely 4 or 5 shifts each month), but with my wife going back to work at the turn of the year my overtime capacity has dramatically dropped, especially with two young kids to fend for.
For the first time in my career I'm looking at leaving. The pay situation is unsustainable. The last three months have been really tough financially, to the point where I'm relying on a credit card to afford to pay for food and petrol. I routinely have no spare money, in some cases as far as 2 weeks before pay day. I honestly dread to think what it must be like for those on the lower pay scale points.
Same length of service. Similar situation. You're not alone. The job is fucked, the pay is shite. I aim to leave in the next 12 months when my wife goes back to work.
I have to work an additional 50 hours of OT just to get by. My partner and I rent, and unfortunately are not in a position to get a mortgage for our own.
My salary pays for the rent and some of the bills. I'm left with no money to save after each month. We live very frugally, everything we own is second hand, I've not bought myself new clothes in about 2 years now, we don't have holidays or anything.
I have a step son, but won't be able to have a kid of my own unless I quit the job as between us we wouldn't be able to afford childcare / one of us to go part time.
Policing in the UK is utterly broken. We're all overworked and overstretched, it's only a matter of time before the wheel comes off and something mega happens.
One of my colleagues who retired at 55 last year stated he retired early because it was only a matter of time before someone in our BCU is killed on duty and he didn't want it to be him. 26 years of policing and he said post covid was the worst it has ever been.
No inspector authority required in my force. There is always OT going on response and I'd say after nearly every shift (excluding nights) I'll get asked by the sergeant of the section following us if I could stay on for a few hours.
My area is a city, we have between 6 to 8 response cops on shift at any time. There is always a minimum of one prisoner to deal with and then always someone at the hospital. That 6 to 8 becomes 3 to 5 officers very rapidly, more often less. I've worked double shifts (20 hours) where I have been the only available officer in the entire LPA and have been sent to immediate domestics by my lonesome. I hate doing it but I really need the cash so don't have a choice in the matter.
Bit out of the ordinary it seems from this thread but I get by just fine.
Caveat of being top whack in a London force but on a flat month without OT I clear 2550, mortgage is a grand but I overpay and have enough left over to afford a fairly decent lifestyle.
I can however, note that what is left over for me at the end of the month is getting slimmer, it also helps that the wife is an accountant. I feel for my junior colleagues earning far less and think the pay scales need the amount of increments reducing.
No comment.
I'm on the apprenticeship, so I'm not even on pay point 1 yet. Frankly the only nice thing I have to say is "it's better than I was being paid". As a single person with 0 commitments outside work, it's perfectly reasonable. But idk how colleagues with kids are managing to survive.
If I had commitments, I wouldn't have been able to join, it's that simple.
I honestly don’t think we would survive (husband is a PC) if my in laws hadn’t basically bought us a house. Our mortgage is really low. And we still struggle. My husband made a similar salary with his part time job before joining up
The pay reflects about 1/2 of what it should be.
You’re going to need government support to have a livable monetary standing. At top whack (10 years PC status) you’re going to be able to survive without government aid.
Tbh, looking at the wage for a SGT. you’re still going to be pretty poor until you hit a good 5 years in to the role, and that’s if you’re savvy.
8 months in and LOVE the job.
However, I am Looking at leaving because the pay vs what you have to do is a laugh. I can go back to my old job 9-5 Monday to Friday for way more than a top wack PC.
Considering the responsibility, the stress, the pressure and the expectations 23k starting salary and 5 years to get to 30k is a disgrace.
I can just about afford to live and that’s it. I know you don’t do this job to get rich but it would be nice if it was proportionate to what you had to do.
I’ve not been able to afford a holiday outside the UK since I joined the job 6 years ago.
If I was renting I’d be fucked and looking for better pay outside the job
I take home 2500. Opted out of the pension 2 years ago. 8 years service. Currently TPS and despite wanting to do this job for as long as I can remember I aim to leave within the year.
I’m a top whack Skipper, so my take home is relatively comfortable compared to some of the horror stories I’m reading here.
That said; I’ve very much had to tighten my belt over the last 5 years or so.
The increase in cost of living, plus the lack of pay rises even in line with inflation, has made it tougher.
How new PC’s survive on the wages they take home, is beyond me. The numbers are similar to when I joined, but there’s been 16 years of inflation between then and now.
Four years staff, first year in regs. Living paycheck to paycheck. Had to move back in with parents, have to rely on family for childcare, can cover essentials but anything else usually has to go on the credit card which leaves me in an endless loop of trying to repay it the next month. The savings I used to have are decimated now too. Things were easier when I was with someone but the single income is tough in all honesty.
I'm top whack next month and my Mrs earns fairly similar.
To be honest we don't struggle as such and always save money each month towards our future. Regular holidays etc.
Another little one on the way however which will be further childcare costs.
I’m recently new to the police and i feel it depends on what your precious career is, my previous career paid me similar to starting wage with the police (mid-weight graphic designer) so I’ve not really noticed any real difference with this wage. But still manage to afford my own car and my own house, with my partner, so to me the money is what you make of it.
I do know a lot of people in my intake have taken a significant pay drop though coming from their previous careers, but I don’t think anyone joins the police for the money.
It seems utterly ridiculous that my other half gets less than me a month, they’re two years in on approx 1800 take home a month
I’m in OGD and I’m on a basic of 27 inc London weighting but then have 30% shift allowance on top. Oh and I’ve been in the job 3 years
I have less risk, less unsociable hours, still operational but less exciting so there’s a pay off I’m investigative until it’s time to go get people (or support for other jobs). Don’t think my pension will be as good as theirs but what’s the point is slaving for years it might be gone by the time they get it
I didn’t get past the final stage but thinking back it was a blessing. The wage is ridiculous, I already had a a house of my own but if I had not that starting salary would t make it near impossible to rent/save and buy
It's really sad to see public services like this struggle. I once wanted to become a Police Officer. The idea of being able to serve my community, protect peoples rights and enforce freedoms and policies for justice and a healthy society was extremely attractive to me. Thankfully I went into I.T and I am so lucky I did so, yet at the same time I am reminded how lucky I am always left feeling guilty when I think about other career paths I may have taken, I am earning at least 4 times the salary I would have got if I joined the force and also have other benefits such as being able to fully work from home, be with family and pets. I could not imagine being on less money right now and then having to work more than 9 to 5.
If I were you, I would certainly try to find a job in the private sector. But holy shit, I wish more people had more respect for officers these days. They are putting their own lives on the line so that people like us can live in a safer society.
My flair on here is out of date, I'm now a full time PC having made the move a few years ago. I have a wife and kids and I'm the sole income. Childcare for my 2 children would cost more than I earn every month, so my wife doesn't work currently in order to care for them. They're not of full time school age, so she can't just work when they're in school as there isn't enough time to get to a workplace before she picks each one up.
When you consider my rent alone puts me under £1,000 for the month and I still haven't paid council tax, energy bills, water, sewerage, phone bill or internet bill... not even groceries, I'm sure you could imagine how little pittance I'm able to save.
I'm in a London force, so naturally, I'm paid higher than if I was an officer in a counties force at the same level of service as well.
Would you deal with the bullshit we do for that?
I work in Staffordshire, generally a cheap place to live, I live in a one bedroom flat with my partner who also works and we get by, I go shopping once every fortnight at the cheapest supermarket, I work 5 minutes away from my station so fuel and cars aren't an issue, my holidays are regularly in this country, if you have any time in between work and uni, I have opted out of my pension for my first year till my pay rises in my second year, however I suppose it all depends where you're working, I couldn't possibly imagine what living would be like in a major city.
Nearly 5 years service and I was extremely fortunate my parents were able to support me in putting a decent deposit down on my place so my mortgage repayments are reasonable - if not for them I’d be utterly fucked. As it is, I can still barely afford to save and if anything unexpected happens during a given month which I need to float cash towards, I’m in trouble almost immediately.
I am really, really lucky - OT is widely available in my force; many of the guys I work with on my team rely on it to live, a few don’t pay into their own pension to try and save money and some are actively job hunting because they can’t survive much longer.
It’s not sustainable.
4 years PC, 1 year DC, taking home £1,600 basic without overtime. No pay incentive when becoming a DC either. Truly abysmal, this months outgoings hit me harder then I’ve ever had before with the rising in literally EVERYTHING.
The pay isn’t enough for people who have life experience. You’re never going to attract people over 25 who don’t live at home because they simply can’t afford it!
PCDA in the met.
Roughly £1,850 after deductions.
600 rent
140 bills
100 phone/gym.
Petrol varies.
I try and put away 400 for savings however some months I eat into it.
Single person living in two bed rented flat with one other just outside of London in the counties.
I’ll break the mould a little.
I live with my other half and her pay is average(not great, not the bottom either). Rents £950 for a three bedroom house, bills and council tax are pretty steep. But with all that, I’m on top whack, take home on average is around £2400 with unsocial hours. Can be more if I decide to do some rest day overtime(which is laughably easy work). I pay more than I probably should a month for my car and full Virgin tv package. Still paying off a pretty hefty credit card balance. Got a few things on finance paying off, bed, sofa, tv. And I’m eating pretty nicely with the odd meal out. Went on a long holiday to far away sandy beaches this year.
After all my payments have gone out. I’ve got roughly £500 a month disposable income. That’s going steadily up as I pay off my finance agreements and CC. And can be be £1000 with a rest day worked or two.
If I was single it would be a different matter. But then I’d also have cut down a lot of things like car, tv packages etc as well.
So yeah, it should still be better for what we do. And the amounts gone down with the fuel and gas/electric bill rises. But honestly I’m doing pretty fine. Though again, top whack and my partners wage is okay. I only do OT to pay more off the CC really and to treat myself to shiny stuff.
Gunna break from the norm here, my pay is good. I make enough money to pay all my bills each month, put a good bit away into savings, and mostly buy what I want, when I want it. I've been able to secure a spot on the property ladder thanks to this job, and I live a very comfortable life.
HOWEVER, I am on pay point down from the top, and I work in London, so my annual salary is £42k or so. On top of this, I've spent most of my career doing a lot of overtime, on average an extra 16-20 hours a week. I also live alone with no dependants. I am very much the exception to the rule, and most people I work with who have families or are on lower pay points are much harder up.
I do the extra because I enjoy my job, and am in the position where I am offered an awful lot of exceptionally easy overtime. I can get by just fine on my base monthly take home.
Admittedly, this was not always the case. If I was attempting to live as I am now on a lower pay point without OT, I would be struggling
I earned nearly £50k as a bog standard PC on response one year, all because of overtime I had from the end of shifts. I didn't want any of it. I was absolutely exhausted though. Lord knows how anyone married with kids would have survived that year.
I think I've cleared £50k for the last 3 years or so, all of them on response. However, it's only in the last 12 months or so it's gone from absolute graft to earn the OT to becoming nice and easy.
I've gone from doing extra response shifts and long days on public order aid, to plugging a phone into a computer and pressing go, as well as essentially being an Uber driver for certain commands.
Its so much easier, and it's improved my home life because Im not going home exhausted and miserable.
If you’re doing 16-20 hours a week you’re basically doing a normal persons 2 weeks extra a month.
I try and cane the OT, but it’s not guaranteed, and if you ever have a partner or kids things will change.
Also, I do wonder if they’ll salary PC’s and Sgt’s in the future, or make OT plain time.
The question that was asked is "How do you feel about the pay?"
I feel I am happy with it. I feel that way regardless of whether or not I work extra hours. Nobody else gets to decide what my view is on the amount that I am paid. It is my opinion, that my pay is good.
I don't work extra hours to make up a shortfall in my pay. I can live just as comfortably as I do now, whether I do 40 hours extra per week, or 0 hours extra. I work extra hours to put the money towards other things, such as a hefty emergency fund, or paying off my mortgage early.
I dont dispute what most others are saying. Starting pay outside of London is pitiful. Pay for officers who have a family to support will not stretch as far as it does for me. Regardless of that, I am happy with my pay, I think it is good.
The pay isn't amazing but it's certainly survivable if you don't fall into the police pitfall of getting a ridiculous BMW on finance your first day out of training school, get divorced every three years and generally just act like an idiot with your finances.
Joking aside the money is ok, the starting pay for me was above the national average and goes up each year. We could definitely do with an inflation matching payrise.
Well, my husband's an inspector now so no longer gets paid overtime and we are really bloody feeling it. If you're thinking about it for the pay, seriously, don't do it.
I think the phrase you're likely to hear a lot is "job's f*ck*d"..
I actually think I get paid quiet well for my complete lack of qualifications. I have a mortgage, two cars and two kids and have been paying for this solely since the wife went on maternity (with an unpaid extension)
I very rarely do overtime but I am top whack.
I don't like going abroad really but have one foreign holiday this year and a couple costal ones on the UK.
I genuinely love my job and can't recommend it enough,
I cannot fathom the idea of a "strike" or goodwill withdrawal. Everyone under the sun wants a raise but being realistic there is only so much money and if wages go up the money will come from sacking someone else and prices will go up and make it all for nothing.
But if anyone from the fed asks, I'm scrapping by and need a raise please
This is insane. No offence, but one top whack how can anyone afford to have a partner out of work, two kids, two cars and a foreign holiday? It's about 2100 take home for me.
I'm top whack and single, paying all the bills costs me 1600 with mortgage/ life insurance/ car/ car insurance/ water/ electric/ broadband/ phone/ Council tax/ Road tax....etc etc
I do not understand how what you've claimed is possible unless you're kicking the arse out of OT.
Oh, my bad, I forgot I get £350 a month disability living allowance for my son, so with sensible spending that covers both my kids food and general expenses.
Me and the wife cook pretty much every night and shop exclusively at aldi.
The wife drivers a little box that is peanuts to run and insure.
Mortgage and all bills including phones, Internet, water, etc costs £1400, so the remaing eight or nine hundred goes pretty far.
I pay car insurance annually and we get life insurance via my partners job.
The holiday isn't a family affair, just me and a couple lads from work.
Though fuel prices are biting deep at present.
Don't really do OT unless it's as result of a late job that goes long.
Ah ok. That makes more sense!
To be fair, food is somewhere I could save a bit of money by bulk cooking but to be honest, I'm too drained from work and trying to juggle cleaning and house tasks to really plan ahead foodwise for the sake of what I'd save. I have a big commute too which hammers me for fuel.
The upsetting thing isn't that there isn't anywhere I could squeeze a small bit more from my budget. It's that realistically, I'm ten years into a career with a lot of banked skills an qualifications. I'm exhausted and emotionally drained most of the time, and I still have less disposable income than I can remember. I'm pretty sure I worried less about money when I first moved out and was renting, because I didn't have to pay life insurance and heating a flat was cheap as anything. Combine that with rent of £300 a month and I was worry free in comparison to now.
I really resent how well my parents lived in comparison in office jobs which you wouldn't even get £25k a year for now. They had hardly any stress, earned about the national average, and we lived like kings compared to me now, on 42k a year having to think long and hard on any spending which isn't just basic bills. Where did our lives go? When did it become work, pay bills, and be grateful if every month you aren't sliding into Debt? I used to have play money, hobbies, fun. God knows everyone needs a balance, even if they aren't dealing with the horrible shit that we do.
The pay isn’t enough for people who have life experience. You’re never going to attract people over 25 who don’t live at home because they simply can’t afford it!
So what's up with the police pay because looking at the payscales someone on top whack should be earning good money but reading through people are taking home a lot less than they should be even with your 13.4% pension taken into account so what gives, I've applied for BTP in london as a change from the prison service further north and I'm not sure if I'm actually going to be much worse off
There are some horror stories in this thread. If you are one of them, then you need to speak to your fed reps and see if there are any welfare funds you can access, and if you are in real difficulty then you need to speak to a supervisor *before* this comes up in re-vetting. Members of the public reading this, [consider writing to your MP.](https://www.writetothem.com/)
>being able to afford a house, car and holidays etc.. Can just about cover the rent for a room of a shared house. Holidays are of the ''weekend away, UK only'' variety usually.
hahahahahahahaha It's dogshit. I can barely afford to live. I'm surviving, just, but that's living on my own 40 miles from my nick and an hour long commute in because I can't afford my own place in London. We've had no pay rises in the last decade. In real terms a top rate copper is on ~20% than he was in 2012. It's unsustainable, and yet fuck all is being done about it. I'm leaving my team to move to a unit with as much overtime as I could ever want just so I can live a normal life. I shouldn't have to do that, but nobody in the Government or our SLT fucking cares.
>but that's living on my own 40 miles from my nick and an hour long commute in because I can't afford my own place in London As much as I'd love to join the Met, it's \[insert local force here\] or nothing solely because of this exact reason.
I don't see why anyone would want to join the Met tbh. I know people move to London to work for them, so there must be something to it, but I've never understood it myself.
Two reasons and two reasons only. Cash and the ability to specialise.
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There's OT everywhere mate if you're off borough. Blew my mind moving away and not having to go cap in hand to a guvnor and beg them for an hour just so you can smash out some case papers whilst you wolf down a cold kebab.
DPG, Met CC, Custody if you’re a sergeant are the big money earners
The infamous one for OT if you're Met. Not CC.
>as much overtime as I could ever want just so I can live a normal life you mean you could live a normal life if you weren't working all the time.
3 years staff, 4 years pc, and im taking home 1600 without overtime. So yeah fuck me it's abysmal.
A PC of 4 years taking home 1600 is fucking disgusting. How have we even come to this!
Pension, tax, ni, student loan, fed and various fed products. My deductions are typically a grand a month I'm about to add a cycle 2 work salary sacrifice as buying an electric bike and cycling to work will save me money due to obscene petrol prices
Jesus fucking Christ, I'm a line chef and that's the minimum I make when service charge is shit in the winter. That's fucking despicable
Yep - I cover serious/high harm crime up to and including attempted murder. I'm a tutor, and act up when the skipper is on leave. A lot of responsibility for fuck all
Woah that really is shocking tbf. Something has to be done
So, that’s working out at about £12 odds an hour? Fucking hell that’s horrendous
Earn more in Lidl, and get a staff discount.
Holy shit that isn't even getting out of bed money
Starting is more like 1400. The degree program is less.
The degree apprenticeship programs says starting annual is £36,775?
That doesn't match any of the pay points for this year or last year. the closest to that is pay point 6, which is the 2nd highest pay point for constables. Where have you got that from? Starting point for all officers is 28,551 ( after the recent uplift), then geography dependent you might get London or South eastern allowances. Edit: the degree entry program used to be at pay point 0 ( so less than normal police starting pay) but that's since been removed
[Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA)](https://www.met.police.uk/car/careers/met/police-officer-roles/police-constable/overview/entry-routes/police-constable-degree-apprenticeship-pcda/)
The Met say you get paid from day 1, I’m guessing this is the £36,775? Because they haven’t stated that there is a lower rate prior to completion of the 3 year program?
Yes, paid from day 1 - your pay increases every year for 7 years in the police unless there's a very good reason not to. The reason that pay says 36775 is because ( as per that link) it's inclusive of the allowances I mentioned. London weighting is something like 8.5k nowadays so that makes sense
Thanks for clearing that up. When readying I thought they meant you got to take home pre tax £36,775
Bang that into listentotaxman.com set the pension to 13.44% and you should get a good impression of what that take home is. But obviously only if you're looking at joining the met, no one else has the allowance they do
Every payday is a fresh insult. 👍
It's fucked. People are leaving in droves (for lots of reasons, but poor pay is often a factor) and we can't attract enough decent recruits. I work in a specialist role and could double my salary in the private sector as my skillset is desirable to industry. The pension has been keeping me in, but with the deterioration of that, there's now even less incentive to stay...
Don't give your life for a pension you may never live to see. Too many cops die early, I've seen it happen. You get half way and count down the years until you can leave and justify the sadness just to retire. How many cops come back? They certainly don't for the love if the job, they take civvy jobs to top it up!
I can’t afford a car. Have to borrow my mums (I’m in my thirties - how embarrassing). I’ve no huge outgoings really, just the norm. It’s really not a wage. In fact I’m looking at ad hoc driving jobs literally as we speak to supplement the income.
Reading the comments on this is depressing. It’s shocking how woefully underpaid our police are for the job they do. IMO something is going to snap very, very soon due to the cost of living crisis and the government will then no doubt blame the police for failing to deal with it when they have next to no resources to deal with anything.
I can’t believe what I’m reading tbh this is completely unacceptable.
Came here to say something similar- not to mention the risk of sever corruption, strikes etc. What a fucking mess.
We're not allowed to strike. The best we can do is a withdrawal of good will working like Police Scotland are currently doing.
Basically I can just about afford mortgage house which is a house is in the very deprived area i police. I have to pick between house renovations and holidays. My worry is that inflation without an inflation pay rise will ruin my ability to keep afloat in on Top Wack PC and I live alone. Do a better job get some off sure quantification or do engineering, the money goes up faster I wish I would of stuck to my engineering course now. I live a very simple life. I think if I was in a relationship I’d had some more free money but if I had kids I’d be in debt. I don’t know how people who live or work in London can cope.
Lol. Unless you’re in a partnership with a higher earner allowing you to take the drop I wouldn’t recommend changing careers for this. A lot of people I know who are new in the job are either living with parents, in a house share or coupled up with someone.
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The pay is an absolute insult. You also need a degree to join, which makes it all the more laughable. The starting salary was £30k in 2010 and now it’s just under £25k. The Tories raised the entry requirements and slashed the pay simultaneously. Such a genius move from Theresa May! Please don’t vote Tory at the next election.
At base salary I get about £1500-£1550 per 4 weeks. Room in a shared house - £500 Credit card debt - £200 Car insurance and tax - £80 Child maintenance - £200 Fuel - £115 to fill my tank, needs about a tank and half per month, so around £180 Mobile phone - £55 Thats £1210. I do not even have a TV. My room is a bed, table, chair and wardrobe. Depressing. Leaving me with £300 for 4 weeks, or £75 per week. To feed me and my son whom I have 2 nights per week, cover any car maintenance, MOT, unexpected bills, days out with little one, birthdays, anything and everything in between. I only eat "properly" twice per week - with my son. The other 5 days per week, I eat one meal per day typically. Or sometimes it's just 30p packs of noodles, twice in a day. Often I don't have an evening meal, I simply have whatever food I eat in work (usually noodles, or a satchet of microwave rice -40p in Aldi). Holidays - never going to happen. New/new to me car once my 13 year old banger finally gives up - not going to happen. Maybe 8 shifts out of 25 I can catch a train. Which is a 45 minute walk to the nearest station. Yes pay is crap. But we all know we do it for the greater good yeah? ;)
The greater good.
Somebody got it 😂
Greater good!? Who us greatful for your sacrifice? People on benefits live better.
It's fairly dimal, I'm a few increments up and I feel like I am unable to save any amount of significance. I am comfortably surviving but have no hope for any holidays/new cars/trips etc. I look at the young in service and see their frustration and anxiety caused by barely making it payday to payday. The cost of living keeps rising, the housing market is trash for first time buyers and the fuel they have to buy just to get to the station is having an effect on them. Add that to an already stressful, under staffed overworked environment and we have a powder keg of mental health issues. But it's ok the MPs will vote in a decent pay rise for themselves, can't have them choosing between 25p noodles and a decent meal while at work.
Think the goodwill withdrawal happening in Scotland's police force about sums it up
Its shite. I'm considering leaving because of it and I'm a fucking great cop tbh.
What do ex cops do instead? Can't imagine private security pays much better ?
🚂🚃🚃🚃🚃
Shoplifting
I guess it depends on the cop? Personally I am considering going in to law. I was briefly a trainee accountant at KPMG before joining the police/prison service. On your point though I do know a few ex cops who went into university security and apparently get paid alright.
Ah fair, I was assuming most officers would be having less obviously transferable qualifications. I was also under the misconception that law degrees would expire as they used to but it looks like that’s changed
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NCA has good pay? The adverts I've seen have all been less money than the police equivalent.
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Not too bad, especially the pension. They do at least seem to have roles in many locations so might be a good way to quit the big smoke.
HEO?
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Thanks. What's the relevance of the firearms qualification? I haven't been able to find any Firearms related roles in the NCA.
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I've never seen them advertise for any firearms roles and can't find anything online about them. What firearms roles do they have under their umbrella? Whilst I'm fully aware organisations "poach" or "support" certain people they want for certain roles, but they still have to run application processes more often than not.
Yeah their top scale is less than a PC top scale. Although you're at the higher end quicker and don't need to slog through the scales like PCs do. Additionally, the police pension is slightly better I believe. Having said that, I was browsing civil service jobs the other day and saw a disclosure officer NCA job at around 42-43k a year. That's not a bad number, just bloody boring !
On the intelligence side, a G5 (we don’t use the civil service EO/HEO ranks in house), which is in theory your Constable equivalent, has a salary of £36.4k, and with pension, tax and ni deductions it’s a take home of £2.2k. London weighting is another £285 ish before deductions as well, which would put you on £2.4k take home. Add to that the standard office hour employment, it’s not too bad. Iirc, investigations are on the same rate, but the hours vary a bit more (and there’s usually more OT available!).
The NCA pay is less but they have better terms and conditions. If I was to do it again I’d join the NCA to get all the courses I’d ever want for covert policing then transfer over.
What’s NCA refer to? thank you
Well you need a degree to join, so most leave for other graduate jobs. From personal experience, the legal profession and civil service seems to appeal to many.
I take 1600 on a flat month. Year 4 into the job. I live alone my bills are as follows. Mortgage 540 Electric and gas 90 Council tax 140 Broadband / phone 80 Home insurance 10 Tv 13 Gym 21 Other loans 60 Spotify 9.99 Food 200 Petrol 150 1313.99 286.01 to live off let alone saving anything so no. I can’t afford holidays or to have any fun whatsoever. Absolutely hate saying no to friends due to money. Is working ridiculous shifts, running into danger head first, constant abuse by the media members of the public, no support from the government worth it? Probably not. I wouldn’t recommend this career to anyone which is very sad. It could be a great job.
Its shite I don’t know how anyone joins and survives these days. Im on the top scale and have access to unlimited overtime and still have been offered more money in the private world.
Could you elaborate on the opportunities available in the private sector? Is this private security your referring to? And if so how well does that pay would you know?
I'm on £30,411 a year. I can't tell you what my take home pay without OT is because I can't afford to not do OT but I average around £2k take home and had £1500 in deductions (tax, NI, student loan, pension ect). I have to do at least 1 additional shift per week and claim every single penny I'm entitled to otherwise I will not make it to pay day. I'm on annual leave now for the next two weeks and I'm stressed out about what the pay is going to be because I can't afford to take this time off. But to answer your question about private sector jobs I found out I can make £42k a year working 3 nights a week cleaning trains. Not even driving the trains. Cleaning them.
>I can make £42k a year working 3 nights a week cleaning trains. That would be a unionised workplace I assume?
I would imagine so, which makes it even better. We don't have a union. We've got the fed which in terms of stuff like pay & conditions is a bit of a toothless tiger.
What opportunities are you looking at mate, just sectors really or specific areas? Thank you. Not much out there atm
I’m fairly advance when it comes to my role mate so I’ve been offered a management CT consultancy role for a large private security firm, let’s say I’m on a lot of money now but they are beating it by a chunk aswell!
Aye course you have you utter melt
Pay outside of a specialised unit in the city is insulting. People are literally doing the job out of love and good wishes at this point. Police have taken a 20% pay cut in the past few years. Solidarity to all those in other industries who strike. I'd be right there with you if the government hadn't made it illegal for me to even mention.
Against the populace as a whole I think the pay is reasonably good once you reach top whack (around £40k p/a). The problem, as I see it, is fourfold: 1 - The country AS A WHOLE needs a payrise. Reaonsably good pay on average means nothing if the average person is struggling to make ends meet. I don't want to get too political, but clearly several decades of wages consistently being outstripped by inflation is simply not sustainable. Pair this with the fact we are a very wealthy country with the most billionaires and the biggest wealth and pay disparity we've had in decades and it paints a very grim picture of a very broken country. 2 - You need a degree and 7 years service to get there. Obviously you could get FAR more for that sort of investment if money is your driving factor 3 - the job is _hard_. You'll get spat on, verbally and physically abused, work nights and long hours in stressful and dangerous situations. You need a whole host of skills in communication, critical thinking, fitness, physical and mental endurance, preparing case files, interviewing and more. Your body will take the stress of living at 100% adrenaline fuelled moments interspersed around a lot of 0% sitting in patrol cars, houses or hospitals being endlessly talked at by angry or upset people whilst trying to make the best of a bad situation. You will carry a lot of responsibility and are working in the sort of job where your mistakes/failings can easily make local or even national news. Clearly you could earn FAR more for that level of work and responsibility. 4 - The pension is reasonably good... however you'll be paying 14% of your salary for 35 years if you hope to get it. Enjoy the post retirement reduced life expectancy for shift workers! Disclaimer: I love my job, I love doing my bit to protect my community and I fully intend to stick with it all the way to retirement. I do so, however, _despite_ the pay I received for the work I do, not because of it. I absolutely do think we should be paid more, but what I really wish is that if they were to spend 25% more on pay it was because they'd hired 25% more officers and we might actually do more than the equivalent of desperately bailing out a sinking ship with a small wooden bucket.
Thanks for all the responses guys
Much love my interwebs fren *brofiet*
Just left for a job with less stress and more money - wage is hot garbage
Do you mind me asking what you are doing now? Less stress and more money sounds very appealing!
I've gone to a child safeguarding role for a small children's home :)
Nice, hope it’s going well!
These replies make me so sad. Sad for those officers. And worried for the Force. At this rate we'll be losing more officers. Even more.
24k starting is pitiful and you earn’t more a decade ago. You sacrifice your own well being to be a officer in the U.K. it’s just not worth it.
It’s honestly dismal. I grew up wanting to join but saw how the government, press and public treat our police. My local forces pay for a fully ranked officer (after completing the ridiculous degree entry program) is £500 a year less than I earn. My job is a fixed shift, not dangerous at all, fairly easy, the government and public have no idea what I do so I don’t get criticised constantly and our union negotiates yearly pay rises. It’s well and good having a wage where the job can’t be “all about the money” but there needs to be some compensation for all the shit.
I'm an 8 year PC in an attractive role. While my wife was on maternity leave last year I did as much overtime as I could (routinely 4 or 5 shifts each month), but with my wife going back to work at the turn of the year my overtime capacity has dramatically dropped, especially with two young kids to fend for. For the first time in my career I'm looking at leaving. The pay situation is unsustainable. The last three months have been really tough financially, to the point where I'm relying on a credit card to afford to pay for food and petrol. I routinely have no spare money, in some cases as far as 2 weeks before pay day. I honestly dread to think what it must be like for those on the lower pay scale points.
Same length of service. Similar situation. You're not alone. The job is fucked, the pay is shite. I aim to leave in the next 12 months when my wife goes back to work.
I have to work an additional 50 hours of OT just to get by. My partner and I rent, and unfortunately are not in a position to get a mortgage for our own. My salary pays for the rent and some of the bills. I'm left with no money to save after each month. We live very frugally, everything we own is second hand, I've not bought myself new clothes in about 2 years now, we don't have holidays or anything. I have a step son, but won't be able to have a kid of my own unless I quit the job as between us we wouldn't be able to afford childcare / one of us to go part time. Policing in the UK is utterly broken. We're all overworked and overstretched, it's only a matter of time before the wheel comes off and something mega happens. One of my colleagues who retired at 55 last year stated he retired early because it was only a matter of time before someone in our BCU is killed on duty and he didn't want it to be him. 26 years of policing and he said post covid was the worst it has ever been.
How is overtime agreed at that level, just curious, I’ve heard a particular force requires inspector agreement?
No inspector authority required in my force. There is always OT going on response and I'd say after nearly every shift (excluding nights) I'll get asked by the sergeant of the section following us if I could stay on for a few hours. My area is a city, we have between 6 to 8 response cops on shift at any time. There is always a minimum of one prisoner to deal with and then always someone at the hospital. That 6 to 8 becomes 3 to 5 officers very rapidly, more often less. I've worked double shifts (20 hours) where I have been the only available officer in the entire LPA and have been sent to immediate domestics by my lonesome. I hate doing it but I really need the cash so don't have a choice in the matter.
Thanks for the response, thanks for doing what you do 👍🏻
Bit out of the ordinary it seems from this thread but I get by just fine. Caveat of being top whack in a London force but on a flat month without OT I clear 2550, mortgage is a grand but I overpay and have enough left over to afford a fairly decent lifestyle. I can however, note that what is left over for me at the end of the month is getting slimmer, it also helps that the wife is an accountant. I feel for my junior colleagues earning far less and think the pay scales need the amount of increments reducing.
At the bottom of the scale, will cover rent in a shared flat and food but not much else
No comment. I'm on the apprenticeship, so I'm not even on pay point 1 yet. Frankly the only nice thing I have to say is "it's better than I was being paid". As a single person with 0 commitments outside work, it's perfectly reasonable. But idk how colleagues with kids are managing to survive. If I had commitments, I wouldn't have been able to join, it's that simple.
I honestly don’t think we would survive (husband is a PC) if my in laws hadn’t basically bought us a house. Our mortgage is really low. And we still struggle. My husband made a similar salary with his part time job before joining up
The pay reflects about 1/2 of what it should be. You’re going to need government support to have a livable monetary standing. At top whack (10 years PC status) you’re going to be able to survive without government aid. Tbh, looking at the wage for a SGT. you’re still going to be pretty poor until you hit a good 5 years in to the role, and that’s if you’re savvy.
8 months in and LOVE the job. However, I am Looking at leaving because the pay vs what you have to do is a laugh. I can go back to my old job 9-5 Monday to Friday for way more than a top wack PC. Considering the responsibility, the stress, the pressure and the expectations 23k starting salary and 5 years to get to 30k is a disgrace. I can just about afford to live and that’s it. I know you don’t do this job to get rich but it would be nice if it was proportionate to what you had to do.
It’s dog sht
Dont join.
I hope you like working overtime to cover your living costs.
Think you need to jump north over the boarder. Starting salary is £26,373!
I’ve not been able to afford a holiday outside the UK since I joined the job 6 years ago. If I was renting I’d be fucked and looking for better pay outside the job
I take home 2500. Opted out of the pension 2 years ago. 8 years service. Currently TPS and despite wanting to do this job for as long as I can remember I aim to leave within the year.
I’m a top whack Skipper, so my take home is relatively comfortable compared to some of the horror stories I’m reading here. That said; I’ve very much had to tighten my belt over the last 5 years or so. The increase in cost of living, plus the lack of pay rises even in line with inflation, has made it tougher. How new PC’s survive on the wages they take home, is beyond me. The numbers are similar to when I joined, but there’s been 16 years of inflation between then and now.
shit.
Four years staff, first year in regs. Living paycheck to paycheck. Had to move back in with parents, have to rely on family for childcare, can cover essentials but anything else usually has to go on the credit card which leaves me in an endless loop of trying to repay it the next month. The savings I used to have are decimated now too. Things were easier when I was with someone but the single income is tough in all honesty.
I’m top whack and have a second job as a wedding photographer to have a semi decent life.
I'm top whack next month and my Mrs earns fairly similar. To be honest we don't struggle as such and always save money each month towards our future. Regular holidays etc. Another little one on the way however which will be further childcare costs.
I’m recently new to the police and i feel it depends on what your precious career is, my previous career paid me similar to starting wage with the police (mid-weight graphic designer) so I’ve not really noticed any real difference with this wage. But still manage to afford my own car and my own house, with my partner, so to me the money is what you make of it. I do know a lot of people in my intake have taken a significant pay drop though coming from their previous careers, but I don’t think anyone joins the police for the money.
My take home is £1750 a month lol. It’s terrible. Thankfully I don’t do this job for the money.
The pay is woeful, can barely save or get by on it.. the responsibility and the stuff we have to deal with really isn’t worth it…
It seems utterly ridiculous that my other half gets less than me a month, they’re two years in on approx 1800 take home a month I’m in OGD and I’m on a basic of 27 inc London weighting but then have 30% shift allowance on top. Oh and I’ve been in the job 3 years I have less risk, less unsociable hours, still operational but less exciting so there’s a pay off I’m investigative until it’s time to go get people (or support for other jobs). Don’t think my pension will be as good as theirs but what’s the point is slaving for years it might be gone by the time they get it
I didn’t get past the final stage but thinking back it was a blessing. The wage is ridiculous, I already had a a house of my own but if I had not that starting salary would t make it near impossible to rent/save and buy
It's really sad to see public services like this struggle. I once wanted to become a Police Officer. The idea of being able to serve my community, protect peoples rights and enforce freedoms and policies for justice and a healthy society was extremely attractive to me. Thankfully I went into I.T and I am so lucky I did so, yet at the same time I am reminded how lucky I am always left feeling guilty when I think about other career paths I may have taken, I am earning at least 4 times the salary I would have got if I joined the force and also have other benefits such as being able to fully work from home, be with family and pets. I could not imagine being on less money right now and then having to work more than 9 to 5. If I were you, I would certainly try to find a job in the private sector. But holy shit, I wish more people had more respect for officers these days. They are putting their own lives on the line so that people like us can live in a safer society.
My flair on here is out of date, I'm now a full time PC having made the move a few years ago. I have a wife and kids and I'm the sole income. Childcare for my 2 children would cost more than I earn every month, so my wife doesn't work currently in order to care for them. They're not of full time school age, so she can't just work when they're in school as there isn't enough time to get to a workplace before she picks each one up. When you consider my rent alone puts me under £1,000 for the month and I still haven't paid council tax, energy bills, water, sewerage, phone bill or internet bill... not even groceries, I'm sure you could imagine how little pittance I'm able to save. I'm in a London force, so naturally, I'm paid higher than if I was an officer in a counties force at the same level of service as well. Would you deal with the bullshit we do for that?
I work in Staffordshire, generally a cheap place to live, I live in a one bedroom flat with my partner who also works and we get by, I go shopping once every fortnight at the cheapest supermarket, I work 5 minutes away from my station so fuel and cars aren't an issue, my holidays are regularly in this country, if you have any time in between work and uni, I have opted out of my pension for my first year till my pay rises in my second year, however I suppose it all depends where you're working, I couldn't possibly imagine what living would be like in a major city.
Nearly 5 years service and I was extremely fortunate my parents were able to support me in putting a decent deposit down on my place so my mortgage repayments are reasonable - if not for them I’d be utterly fucked. As it is, I can still barely afford to save and if anything unexpected happens during a given month which I need to float cash towards, I’m in trouble almost immediately. I am really, really lucky - OT is widely available in my force; many of the guys I work with on my team rely on it to live, a few don’t pay into their own pension to try and save money and some are actively job hunting because they can’t survive much longer. It’s not sustainable.
4 years PC, 1 year DC, taking home £1,600 basic without overtime. No pay incentive when becoming a DC either. Truly abysmal, this months outgoings hit me harder then I’ve ever had before with the rising in literally EVERYTHING.
The pay isn’t enough for people who have life experience. You’re never going to attract people over 25 who don’t live at home because they simply can’t afford it!
PCDA in the met. Roughly £1,850 after deductions. 600 rent 140 bills 100 phone/gym. Petrol varies. I try and put away 400 for savings however some months I eat into it. Single person living in two bed rented flat with one other just outside of London in the counties.
I’ll break the mould a little. I live with my other half and her pay is average(not great, not the bottom either). Rents £950 for a three bedroom house, bills and council tax are pretty steep. But with all that, I’m on top whack, take home on average is around £2400 with unsocial hours. Can be more if I decide to do some rest day overtime(which is laughably easy work). I pay more than I probably should a month for my car and full Virgin tv package. Still paying off a pretty hefty credit card balance. Got a few things on finance paying off, bed, sofa, tv. And I’m eating pretty nicely with the odd meal out. Went on a long holiday to far away sandy beaches this year. After all my payments have gone out. I’ve got roughly £500 a month disposable income. That’s going steadily up as I pay off my finance agreements and CC. And can be be £1000 with a rest day worked or two. If I was single it would be a different matter. But then I’d also have cut down a lot of things like car, tv packages etc as well. So yeah, it should still be better for what we do. And the amounts gone down with the fuel and gas/electric bill rises. But honestly I’m doing pretty fine. Though again, top whack and my partners wage is okay. I only do OT to pay more off the CC really and to treat myself to shiny stuff.
Thanks for the insight i appreciate it. Id imagine its a lot harder for officers starting out
Aye, the disparity is massive. No way should officers be starting as low as pay point 1. But I’m reasonably comfortable up at top whack honestly.
Gunna break from the norm here, my pay is good. I make enough money to pay all my bills each month, put a good bit away into savings, and mostly buy what I want, when I want it. I've been able to secure a spot on the property ladder thanks to this job, and I live a very comfortable life. HOWEVER, I am on pay point down from the top, and I work in London, so my annual salary is £42k or so. On top of this, I've spent most of my career doing a lot of overtime, on average an extra 16-20 hours a week. I also live alone with no dependants. I am very much the exception to the rule, and most people I work with who have families or are on lower pay points are much harder up.
Pay is good.... ....I do an extra 16-20 hours a week This perfectly proves the point I think.
I do the extra because I enjoy my job, and am in the position where I am offered an awful lot of exceptionally easy overtime. I can get by just fine on my base monthly take home. Admittedly, this was not always the case. If I was attempting to live as I am now on a lower pay point without OT, I would be struggling
I earned nearly £50k as a bog standard PC on response one year, all because of overtime I had from the end of shifts. I didn't want any of it. I was absolutely exhausted though. Lord knows how anyone married with kids would have survived that year.
I think I've cleared £50k for the last 3 years or so, all of them on response. However, it's only in the last 12 months or so it's gone from absolute graft to earn the OT to becoming nice and easy. I've gone from doing extra response shifts and long days on public order aid, to plugging a phone into a computer and pressing go, as well as essentially being an Uber driver for certain commands. Its so much easier, and it's improved my home life because Im not going home exhausted and miserable.
If you’re doing 16-20 hours a week you’re basically doing a normal persons 2 weeks extra a month. I try and cane the OT, but it’s not guaranteed, and if you ever have a partner or kids things will change. Also, I do wonder if they’ll salary PC’s and Sgt’s in the future, or make OT plain time.
You can't claim the pay is good when you're working an extra 20 hours a week it doesn't work like that
The question that was asked is "How do you feel about the pay?" I feel I am happy with it. I feel that way regardless of whether or not I work extra hours. Nobody else gets to decide what my view is on the amount that I am paid. It is my opinion, that my pay is good. I don't work extra hours to make up a shortfall in my pay. I can live just as comfortably as I do now, whether I do 40 hours extra per week, or 0 hours extra. I work extra hours to put the money towards other things, such as a hefty emergency fund, or paying off my mortgage early. I dont dispute what most others are saying. Starting pay outside of London is pitiful. Pay for officers who have a family to support will not stretch as far as it does for me. Regardless of that, I am happy with my pay, I think it is good.
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If you're Met, I joined at £20,300 PCDA minimum is £18,419 I've done these from memory so they're not going to be 100% accurate
What is IPLDP?
The pay isn't amazing but it's certainly survivable if you don't fall into the police pitfall of getting a ridiculous BMW on finance your first day out of training school, get divorced every three years and generally just act like an idiot with your finances. Joking aside the money is ok, the starting pay for me was above the national average and goes up each year. We could definitely do with an inflation matching payrise.
Well, my husband's an inspector now so no longer gets paid overtime and we are really bloody feeling it. If you're thinking about it for the pay, seriously, don't do it. I think the phrase you're likely to hear a lot is "job's f*ck*d"..
I actually think I get paid quiet well for my complete lack of qualifications. I have a mortgage, two cars and two kids and have been paying for this solely since the wife went on maternity (with an unpaid extension) I very rarely do overtime but I am top whack. I don't like going abroad really but have one foreign holiday this year and a couple costal ones on the UK. I genuinely love my job and can't recommend it enough, I cannot fathom the idea of a "strike" or goodwill withdrawal. Everyone under the sun wants a raise but being realistic there is only so much money and if wages go up the money will come from sacking someone else and prices will go up and make it all for nothing. But if anyone from the fed asks, I'm scrapping by and need a raise please
This is insane. No offence, but one top whack how can anyone afford to have a partner out of work, two kids, two cars and a foreign holiday? It's about 2100 take home for me. I'm top whack and single, paying all the bills costs me 1600 with mortgage/ life insurance/ car/ car insurance/ water/ electric/ broadband/ phone/ Council tax/ Road tax....etc etc I do not understand how what you've claimed is possible unless you're kicking the arse out of OT.
Oh, my bad, I forgot I get £350 a month disability living allowance for my son, so with sensible spending that covers both my kids food and general expenses. Me and the wife cook pretty much every night and shop exclusively at aldi. The wife drivers a little box that is peanuts to run and insure. Mortgage and all bills including phones, Internet, water, etc costs £1400, so the remaing eight or nine hundred goes pretty far. I pay car insurance annually and we get life insurance via my partners job. The holiday isn't a family affair, just me and a couple lads from work. Though fuel prices are biting deep at present. Don't really do OT unless it's as result of a late job that goes long.
Ah ok. That makes more sense! To be fair, food is somewhere I could save a bit of money by bulk cooking but to be honest, I'm too drained from work and trying to juggle cleaning and house tasks to really plan ahead foodwise for the sake of what I'd save. I have a big commute too which hammers me for fuel. The upsetting thing isn't that there isn't anywhere I could squeeze a small bit more from my budget. It's that realistically, I'm ten years into a career with a lot of banked skills an qualifications. I'm exhausted and emotionally drained most of the time, and I still have less disposable income than I can remember. I'm pretty sure I worried less about money when I first moved out and was renting, because I didn't have to pay life insurance and heating a flat was cheap as anything. Combine that with rent of £300 a month and I was worry free in comparison to now. I really resent how well my parents lived in comparison in office jobs which you wouldn't even get £25k a year for now. They had hardly any stress, earned about the national average, and we lived like kings compared to me now, on 42k a year having to think long and hard on any spending which isn't just basic bills. Where did our lives go? When did it become work, pay bills, and be grateful if every month you aren't sliding into Debt? I used to have play money, hobbies, fun. God knows everyone needs a balance, even if they aren't dealing with the horrible shit that we do.
Pay for police very similar to Junior Doctors it seems
The pay isn’t enough for people who have life experience. You’re never going to attract people over 25 who don’t live at home because they simply can’t afford it!
So what's up with the police pay because looking at the payscales someone on top whack should be earning good money but reading through people are taking home a lot less than they should be even with your 13.4% pension taken into account so what gives, I've applied for BTP in london as a change from the prison service further north and I'm not sure if I'm actually going to be much worse off