Police officer G8 mutual aid pay package finally agreed

POLICE officers deployed to Northern Ireland for the G8 Summit have finally had their remuneration package confirmed – they will be paid “in accordance with the existing regulations and determinations”.

Around 3,500 officers from England, Wales and Scotland converged for G8 as part of the 7,000-strong team delivering the largest policing operation in the history of Northern Ireland, taking place on 17 and 18 June.

But many officers deployed without being told what they would be paid, as negotiations stalled between the Government and Police Federation of England and Wales.

The National Fed has confirmed that PCs and sergeants who policed the event will be paid for all hours worked. Overtime will be paid at a rate of time and a third and all travel should be counted as duty time.

A £50 “Away from Home Overnight Allowance” will be paid to all federated officers for each night they were away.  Officers will receive a further payment of £30 per night if “proper accommodation” was not provided, which is anything less than a single occupancy room with use of en-suite bathroom facilities.

Officers required to work between the hours of 8pm and 6am are eligible for the unsocial hours allowance paid at an hourly rate of 10 per cent of the officer’s hourly pay. Officers who volunteered to be on-call while not on duty should also receive an allowance of £15 for each daily occasion of on-call.

Inspectors are still waiting to find out if they will receive an additional discretionary payment.

On Wednesday 19 June, a PFEW spokesman said the Federation had yet to be formally notified of the additional payment for the inspecting ranks. “However, details of an additional payment were included within a letter from assistant chief constable Alistair Finley [Police Service of Northern Ireland G8 Gold commander] to chief constable Ian Learmonth, the ACPO lead. Therefore we would expect forces to make the payment,” he added.

It is understood that the Home Office would not agree to the package the Federation had put forward in negotiations leading up to the summit. PFEW has previously said it shared the disappointment of officers that the package had not been confirmed earlier.

The delay in pay agreement was branded as “ridiculous” by South Yorkshire Police Federation’s chairman. Neil Bowles said: “A number of officers from South Yorkshire had already deployed for G8 and dozens more subsequently went over. Yet we still didn’t know what remuneration they would get for the hours they worked or for the hours for which they were restricted,” he said. “It was a ridiculous state of affairs.”

Officers deployed to G8 were praised for their “fantastic job” by the Secretary of State on Security. Theresa Villiers said: “We can now look back at one of the smoothest and safest G8 Summits in memory. But the lack of any serious public order incidents did not happen by chance – it’s a real credit to the excellent preparations put in place by the PSNI and its partners, who have done a fantastic job in ensuring the Summit was secure and peaceful.”

Steve Williams, chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, added: “The deployment was a huge accomplishment with each of you playing a pivotal role to ensure the event went peacefully and safely.

“You are a credit to the British police service and I am extremely proud of your hard work, dedication and commitment in making it the success it was.”