Ever wonder, ‘how much does a Police Officer earn?’ While the specific salary of a police officer depends on where you work and what rank you achieve. The average police officer salary is around £44,000 per year in the United Kingdom. This article will take you through the Police officer’s yearly salary at all of the different ranks, so you know what you can expect.
Police Officer Starting Wage
Becoming a police officer is not a fast track to riches. The starting wage for a new police officer is just over £18,000 per year if you are starting on the PCDA route (earning a degree in policing as you train).
If you enter policing down the traditional entry route, your starting salary will be just over £21,000. London is an expensive city to live in, so if you want to work there, you’ll get a higher wage than in other parts of the country.
London Weighting for Police Officers
Officers working in London (the Metropolitan Police or City of London Police) get additional pay, known as ‘London Weighting’. Due to the cost of living in London, officers here are paid slightly higher than the rest of the country.
London allowances are; £2,373 per annum pensionable London weighting and £1,011 per annum non-pensionable London allowance.
There is the potential that as an officer living and working in London that you may qualify for rent or housing allowance. If you are not entitled to rent or housing allowance, you will receive an additional amount of £3,327, which is to compensate for the increased cost of living.
Police Officer Yearly Salary for all Ranks
The table below shows the starting wage for police officers and then the hourly rate that police officer gets paid. A full-time police officer works 40 hours per week. All of the police officer monthly and hourly pay calculations have been worked out using a 40-hour workweek and are calculated in GBP.
For a quick summary of police officer starting salaries for each police officer rank as of September 2020 check out the below;
➡️ Constable Starting Wage: £18,912
➡️ Sergeant Starting Wage: £43,965
➡️ Inspector Starting Wage: £52,698
➡️ Chief Inspector Starting Wage: £58,332
➡️ Superintendent Starting Wage: £68,460
➡️ Chief Superintendent Starting Wage: £84,849
➡️ Chief Constable Starting Wage: Varies
*taken from the Police Federations website
Within each of the ranks, there are a number of ‘scales’ or ‘spinal points’ these generally increase on an annual basis from the date that the officer is promoted into the rank. For all of the individual scales within each of the ranks, check out the tables below.
Police Salary by Rank
Police Constable Salary
| Scale | Annual | Monthly | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCDA | 18,912 | 1,576 | 10 |
| 0 | 21,402 | 1,784 | 11 |
| 1 | 24,780 | 2,065 | 13 |
| 2 | 25,902 | 2,159 | 13 |
| 3 | 27,030 | 2,253 | 14 |
| 4 | 28,158 | 2,347 | 15 |
| 5 | 30,411 | 2,534 | 16 |
| 6 | 34,950 | 2,913 | 18 |
| 7 | 41,130 | 3,428 | 21 |
Police Sergeant Salary
| Scale | Annual | Monthly | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Removed | ||
| 2 | 43,965 | 3,664 | 23 |
| 3 | 44,901 | 3,742 | 23 |
| 4 | 46,227 | 3,852 | 24 |
Police Inspectors Salary
| Scale | Annual | Monthly | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 52,698 | 4,392 | 27 |
| 1 | 54,186 | 4,516 | 28 |
| 2 | 55,671 | 4,639 | 29 |
| 3 | 57,162 | 4,764 | 30 |
Chief Inspectors Salary
| Scale | Annual | Monthly | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 58,332 | 4,861 | 30 |
| 2 | 59,502 | 4,959 | 31 |
| 3 | 60,732 | 5,061 | 32 |
Superintendents Salary
| Scale | Annual | Monthly | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 68,460 | 5,705 | 36 |
| 2 | 72,033 | 6,003 | 38 |
| 3 | 75,795 | 6,316 | 39 |
| 4 | 80,859 | 6,738 | 42 |
Chief Superintendents Salary
| Scale | Annual | Monthly | Hourly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 84,849 | 7,071 | 44 |
| 2 | 87,717 | 7,310 | 46 |
| 3 | 89,511 | 7,459 | 47 |
Chief Constables Salary
Chief Constables are paid based on the Force that they are managing. Typically, the larger forces attract a higher salary.
If you want your own printable copy of the UK Police Officer Pay Scales for all ranks click the button below!
Police Officer Yearly Salary vs Take Home Pay
Pensions
From your salary, your pension contributions will automatically be deducted. If you stay with the police pension, 14% will be deducted from your wages and automatically and automatically paid into your pension for you.
For more information on police pensions for officers joining check out this article.
Unsociable Hours
Officers that are undertaking a role that needs them to work night shifts will get additional pay for these hours.
On Call
Some specialist roles within policing will require officers to be ‘on call’. This means that the officer can be called out from their home address in order to perform specialist duties at short notice. Officers will get paid an additional wage for this.
Overtime
With budget constraints, overtime is not as available as it used to be, however, if police officers perform additional duties, they may be eligible to claim overtime for these.
Other Police Benefits: What Kind of Benefits do Police officers get?
Aside from the salary, there are a number of other benefits that come along with being a police officer.
✅ A minimum of 22 days annual leave which increases with length of service
✅ Fully-paid sick leave.
✅ Automatically enrolled on to the police pension scheme.
✅ May benefit from free local travel
✅ External to the Police – a number of companies will offer discounts to police officers through the various schemes.
For more on police pay, check out the Federation’s survey on the topic.
UK Police Officer Pay Summary
In summary, joining the police is not a get-rich-quick scheme, it is definitely a vocation.
However, that having been said, the wage you can earn as a police officer is higher than the average wage in the UK. Furthermore, there are a lot of benefits to working for an organisation the size of the Police.
