Police Pay Award 2024/25: What the 4.75% Rise Meant for Your Pay Packet

The headline: 4.75%

The Police Remuneration Review Body recommended a 4.75% pay award for 2024/25, applied from September 2024. The Home Secretary accepted the recommendation in full — a rare event in recent history.

For a constable on Year 5, that moved basic pay from roughly £35,820 to £37,512 — an increase of £1,692/year.

What does 4.75% actually add to take-home?

The gross increase is not what lands in your account. Here's what happens to that £1,692 increase for a mid-scale constable:

So a headline 4.75% rise adds roughly £84/month to a mid-scale constable's take-home.

How it compares across ranks

Inspectors benefit slightly less in take-home terms proportionally because more of their pay falls in the higher-rate tax band.

Real-terms context

CPI inflation peaked at 11.1% in October 2022. The 2024 award partially closes the gap opened over 2022–23, but officers are still broadly behind in real terms compared to 2019 levels.

The PRRB noted that police pay has fallen around 14% in real terms since 2010.

Is it enough?

That depends on your cost of living. For most officers in the South East, £84/month doesn't significantly change affordability — particularly given the cost of housing near major force areas.

Use our calculator to see exactly where your pay stands after all deductions, and see the full 2025/26 pay scales for every rank and pay point. For a deeper understanding of how pension contributions interact with your take-home, the police pension explained article covers the PPS 2015 scheme in detail. To model what the 2026/27 award might mean for you, the pay rise calculator lets you enter any percentage and see the net result.

How the 4.75% landed differently across ranks

The same percentage award produces different net effects depending on where your pay sits relative to tax thresholds and pension tier boundaries.

Constables near the PP4/PP5 tier boundary: A constable on PP4 (£33,921 pre-award) whose 4.75% rise pushed them to £35,531 stayed in the 12.88% pension tier. Their net monthly increase was around £84 — reasonably close to the average.

Constables crossing the £37,035 tier boundary: Any officer whose post-award salary crossed £37,035 (moving into the 13.88% tier) saw their pension contribution jump on their entire salary — not just the new portion. That tier crossing partially offset the gross pay increase, reducing the actual net benefit by £30–40/month compared to an officer who stayed within a single tier.

Inspectors: The 40% income tax rate applied to the entire award. A PP0 inspector's 4.75% increase of roughly £2,847 delivered approximately £1,652 net (£138/month) — about 58p per gross pound, versus the ~72p basic-rate taxpayers see.

PP7 constables tipping into higher rate: Some PP7 constables (£47,952 pre-award → £50,229 post-award) found themselves within £41 of the higher-rate threshold after the award. Any overtime on top of the new PP7 rate tips them into 40% tax on the top slice. Worth knowing when deciding whether to work overtime.

What the 4.75% meant for mortgage borrowing

Pay awards directly affect how much you can borrow. For a constable on Year 5 whose salary moved from £35,820 to £37,512:

• At 4× income: borrowing capacity increases by £6,768 (£37,512 × 4 = £150,048, up from £143,280)
• At 4.5×: increase of £7,614 (£168,804 vs £161,190)

That delta can change what tier of property is reachable with a given deposit — particularly in lower-cost force areas. If you were borderline on a property before the September 2024 award, it's worth re-running your affordability figures.

Real terms: what 4.75% actually restored

The PRRB noted in its 2024/25 report that police pay has fallen around 14% in real terms since 2010. The 4.75% award, following the 7% award in 2023/24, restored a meaningful slice of that real-terms gap — but officers are still broadly behind 2010 purchasing power levels.

For context: a PP5 constable in 2010 earned approximately £29,000 gross. Adjusted for CPI inflation to 2025, that's equivalent to roughly £43,000 in today's money. The 2025/26 PP5 gross of £37,737 remains about 12% below the inflation-adjusted 2010 figure. The Federation's ongoing case for sustained above-inflation awards rests partly on this gap.

Frequently asked questions

Why did the 4.75% pay rise add less than 4.75% to my take-home?

Three reasons: income tax and NI are charged on the gross increase (so basic-rate taxpayers keep ~72p per £1, higher-rate taxpayers ~58p), pension contributions increase proportionally on the higher salary, and if the rise pushed you across a pension tier boundary (e.g. from 12.88% to 13.88%), the higher rate applied to your whole salary. Together, these typically mean a 4.75% gross rise adds 2.5–3.5% to your net monthly pay.

Was the 4.75% award the same for all ranks?

Yes — it was applied as a percentage increase across all pay points in England and Wales. The gross pound amount varied by rank (higher-paid ranks received a larger absolute increase), but the percentage was uniform. The net benefit varied because of how the 40% tax rate, pension tiers, and individual thresholds interact differently at different salary levels.

Does a pay award change my pension tier?

Only if it pushes your pensionable pay across a tier threshold (£37,035 or £79,587). If it does, your contribution rate changes on your entire pensionable pay — not just the increment above the threshold. Check the pension contribution tiers if you're near either boundary.

When did the 4.75% rise take effect?

The 2024/25 police pay award was effective from 1 September 2024. Officers received the increase in their September 2024 payslip (or in some forces, October 2024 with backpay to 1 September). The PRRB recommendation was made in June 2024 and accepted by the Home Secretary shortly after.

For the latest on the 2026/27 award, see our updated guide: Police pay rise 2026/27 — what to expect.