Police pay scales 2026

Police officer pay in England and Wales is set nationally by the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) and applies to all 43 forces. The figures below are the confirmed scales effective 1 September 2025. A further 3.5% award is confirmed for 1 September 2026— we'll update these figures the moment the official new pay-scale tables are published; until then you can see what the 3.5% adds to your take-home.

What the gross figures don't show is what actually lands in your account. A constable at PP1 earns £31,164 gross — but after a 12.88% pension contribution (deducted before income tax), income tax, and National Insurance, take-home is roughly £1,896/month. That's around 80p in the pound. At PP7 the gross is £50,256 and take-home is around £2,844/month.

Worth knowing before September: PP7 currently sits just £14 below the higher-rate threshold, so overtime is already taxed at 40%. From 1 September the 3.5% award takes PP7 to £52,014, putting basic pay itself above the frozen £50,270 threshold for the first time.

The tables below show estimated net monthly pay at standard assumptions (PPS 2015 pension, tax code 1257L, no student loan, no regional allowance). Use the take-home calculator to personalise for your specific circumstances — including London Weighting, overtime, part-time hours, and student loan deductions.

How pension tiers affect every rank

Under PPS 2015, pension contributions are charged on your entire pensionable pay at a single rate — whichever tier your pay falls into. The three tiers (effective 1 April 2026) are: 12.88% up to £37,035; 13.88% up to £79,587; and 14.22% above that. The rate isn't marginal — crossing a boundary moves your whole salary into the new tier.

This matters at two specific points: a constable crossing from PP4 (£35,106) to PP5 (£37,737) enters the 13.88% tier, adding an extra £378/year in pension deductions on top of the gross pay increase. And superintendents at all pay points (£84,177 and above) are in the 14.22% tier from day one of the rank. The full-rank editorial pages below each explain how this interacts with take-home at that specific level.

London Weighting and regional allowances

Metropolitan Police and City of London officers receive a combined London Weighting and London Allowance of £9,738/year — and crucially, it's pensionable. That means pension contributions apply to it, it builds CARE pension accrual, and it's counted in full by most mortgage lenders as contractual income. The net take-home benefit of the £9,738 allowance is roughly £506/month after all deductions for a basic-rate taxpayer — less for officers in the 40% band. South East forces receive between £1,500 and £3,000/year (non-pensionable in most cases).