Police constable salary & take-home pay 2026/27

Most officers go up one point a year while performance is satisfactory, but if a formal concern is flagged, progression can be paused.

PP5 (£39,058) and PP6 (£44,544) are where the bigger jumps land, particularly PP6, which represents a significant consolidation of the historic scale structure and has an outsized effect on your pension accrual for that year under the CARE formula.

Since April 2025, chief officers may assign new recruits directly to PP2 under updated NPCC guidance.

Officers who joined before April 2013 sit on a different scale permanently: the 2013 Police Regulations reforms created new entry terms but protected those already in service. Pre-2013 officers generally entered at a higher point; the top of the two scales aligns because pay awards apply equally to both.

The tiers (effective 1 April 2026) are 12.88% up to £37,035 and 13.88% from £37,036 to £79,587.

So a constable moving from PP4 (£36,335) to PP5 (£39,058) crosses the boundary, and the rate rises on the entire salary, not just the amount above £37,035: an extra £391 a year in pension deductions. The gross pay increase covers it comfortably, but it is worth knowing before you budget around the gross figure in the pay circular.

Part-time officers can be caught by the reverse effect: drop below £37,035 in pro-rated pay and you fall back to the 12.88% tier, which reduces your deductions but also slightly reduces the pension you build that year.

London Weighting is pensionable, not a bonus. Of the £10,079 Met and City of London officers receive, the £3,260 London Weighting is pay under the Police Regulations and counts toward your CARE pension like basic salary; the £6,819 London Allowance is taxed but builds no pension. The pension built on the Weighting is revalued by CPI+1.25% each year until you draw it.

£50,270 is both the higher-rate income tax threshold and the National Insurance upper earnings limit, and the pension comes off before income tax.

Your 13.88% contribution (£7,220 a year) leaves a PP7 constable with taxable pay of £44,795. That leaves about £5,475 of basic-rate headroom for overtime and allowances before any of it is taxed at 40%. What the threshold does change is National Insurance: NI is charged on full gross pay, and above £50,270 it falls from 8% to 2%.

For a PP7 constable doing a 6-hour rest day at short notice (time-and-a-half), the gross addition is around £225. At a 20% marginal income tax rate plus 2% NI, roughly £176 of that reaches the account.

With the Met/City London payments, a PP5 constable on £39,058 basic is on £49,137 in total, with taxable pay of £43,263 after the pension contribution: still a basic-rate taxpayer. At PP7 a Met constable's taxable pay reaches £54,422, so overtime is taxed at 40% plus 2% NI.