Chief superintendent salary & take-home pay 2026/27
A chief superintendent in England and Wales earns £107,430 to £119,838 in 2026/27, about £5,308 to £5,773 a month after tax, NI and pension. Gross pay is above £100,000 at every point, but the personal allowance taper is measured after the pension contribution.
Take-home
£5,308–£5,773 a month
Gross £107,430–£119,838 a year · pension 14.22%
Chief superintendent pay scale 2026/27
Net after PPS 2015 pension, income tax and NI. Tap a pay point to open it in the calculator and add overtime, a student loan or part-time hours.
Chief superintendent take-home with London & South East allowances
Met/City officers receive £10,079 a year (only the £3,260 Weighting is pensionable). South East forces set their own allowance, up to £3,105; the column shows £3,000. Tap a pay point to open it in the calculator and add overtime, a student loan or part-time hours.
* PP2–PP4 are linearly interpolated between the confirmed minimum and maximum. Confirm exact figures with your force HR or pay circular.
Source: Police Regulations 2003, Annex F · PRRB report 2026 · Police Federation pay scales (calculated from the announced award, official tables pending) · Checked 23 October 2026 · How we calculate
- The £100,000 taper is measured on pay after pension. Outside London it bites from PP4; at PP5 the personal allowance falls to about £11,172.
- AVCs and the taper: salary sacrifice AVCs reduce adjusted net income directly, so they can pull income back below the £100,000 trigger.
- London: with the Met/City payments, a PP1 chief superintendent is already in the taper, with about £11,686 of personal allowance left.
Plan your retirement income
See what your PPS 2015 pension could pay at retirement, with the official early-retirement factors, the tax-free lump sum and your net monthly income.
The £100,000 personal allowance taper
For every £2 of adjusted net income above £100,000, the £12,570 personal allowance falls by £1, so income in that band carries an effective 60% income tax rate.
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The allowance is fully withdrawn at £125,140: income between £100,000 and £125,140 pays 40% income tax plus a further 20% from the lost allowance.
Outside London, the 14.22% pension contribution keeps the lower points out of the zone: adjusted net income is £92,153 at PP1 and £102,797 at PP5. From PP4 upwards, the top slice of a chief superintendent's income is taxed at 60%, and allowances, overtime or London payments push more income into it.
Pension contributions reduce adjusted net income, the figure used for the taper, so they partially mitigate it. This is one situation where proper tax advice is genuinely worth getting.
London payments and the taper
Met and City chief superintendents receive £10,079 in London allowances. At PP1 that takes gross pay to £117,509 and adjusted net income, after pension, to about £101,769.
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Only the £3,260 Weighting is pensionable: the 14.22% contribution on £110,690 is £15,740.
That is above the £100,000 trigger. Before the 2026 award the same officer sat just below it and kept the full personal allowance. They now lose about £884 of it, leaving roughly £11,686: worth double-checking if your force's payroll hasn't modelled it correctly.
At PP5 the London payments give a gross of £129,917. Pension contributions (£17,505) bring adjusted net income to approximately £112,412: firmly in the taper zone, with a personal allowance of roughly £6,364 instead of £12,570.
Pension at 14.22% and AVCs
All chief superintendent pay is in the 14.22% tier: £15,277 a year at PP1 and £17,041 at PP5, a net cost of roughly £7,680 a year at PP1 after tax relief.
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That PP1 net cost is about £640 a month; the tier starts above £79,587.
The employer also contributes 35.3% of pensionable pay: at PP1, around £37,923 a year from the force into your pension.
Additional Voluntary Contributions through salary sacrifice reduce adjusted net income directly. A chief superintendent on £102,000 adjusted net income who makes a £3,000 AVC brings it to £99,000 and keeps the full £12,570 personal allowance. The AVC costs £1,200 net after 40% relief, and the restored allowance saves a further £2,514 in income tax: £3,714 of tax saved for a net cost of £1,200, before any investment growth.
This is a well-known strategy at this salary level and worth discussing with a tax adviser or your force's pension team. The numbers are right, but the implementation depends on your exact circumstances.
Frequently asked questions
What is a chief superintendent salary in 2026/27?
In England and Wales, the 2026/27 chief superintendent pay scale runs from £107,430 on Pay Point 1 to £119,838 on Pay Point 5.
How much does a chief superintendent take home a month?
After PPS 2015 pension (14.22%), income tax (including any £100,000 personal allowance taper) and National Insurance, monthly take-home pay outside London ranges from £5,308 (PP1) to £5,773 (PP5).
Does the £100,000 personal allowance taper affect chief superintendents?
The £100,000 taper is measured on adjusted net income (gross pay minus your 14.22% pension contribution). At PP1 outside London, adjusted net income is £92,153 (below £100,000), while at PP5 it reaches £102,797, reducing the personal allowance to around £11,172.
Figures are estimates for guidance only. Assumptions: PPS 2015 pension, tax code 1257L, no student loan, no salary sacrifice, England & Wales. Confirm exact pay with your force HR.