Forum Topic

Starting salary of £19,000 too low?

A starting wage of £19,000 for new policepersons is proposed.  Is this too low?  I think it's far too meagre, if we expect all future police personnel to enter the Police Service with at least 3 good A levels. Any views please?

Gerry Tan ● 4852d25 Comments

Oh yes - I couldn't agree more.I didnt say it was a good thing.I particularly despise the way it was done by lowering standards.

Tony Colliver ● 4851d

I have experience of my nephews' educational experience in the Netherlands and Germany. Neither country lowered its academic standards so much and created so many useless degrees as we did. You cannot raise the bar of academic standards by lowering entry requirements for degrees in (finger)nail technology.There was an obsession with getting young people into university by raising their expectations unrealistically and, at the same time, creating 'universities' from glorified technical colleges to meet the 'demand'. As a result we have woefully underachieving 'seats of learning' and a countless number of indebted young people who were misled by Blair's government.Neither situation exists in the Netherlads (my most recent 'experience') where it is tough to get into University, it is largely state funded and graduates are well-regarded not thrown on the 'yet another one' scrapheap.

Nigel Brooks ● 4851d

I carry no torch for the Blair government, but I think it is stretching it a bit to say "only".I think they were also attempting to play catchup with some of our European cousins who at the time were already sending a higher percentage of their kids to university.

Tony Colliver ● 4851d

Yes Tony.He's grown (I've known him since he was five) into a really nice young man with skills than he can use for the forseeable future. It really isn't all about academia despite the ridiculous targets of sending all but the very least able to university to get a worthless degree and a mountain of debt.Of course there are jobs which require the ability to prove the absorption and application of complex information but they are far rarer than the Blair government, which only set these targets to lower (delay)youth unemployment, would have had us believe.

Nigel Brooks ● 4851d

Re  Gas Safe registered and really happy on a good salary.              xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx      and doing  good service to the community and more than likely a permanent job for life, which is more than can be said for those in The City these days on either aspect.

Tony Price ● 4851d

Re  friends talk as if they are 'giving up on him'           xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx let's hope he sticks to his guns. Maybe but not certainly,  he may earn less than SOME of them but he will be enjoying his  job, a very great part of his life and consequently enjoying his life as well, plus of course he could  become quite famous.

Tony Price ● 4851d

Re    with good 'nous' and common sense who didn't have a single 'A' level               xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    quite agree. This counry was far more successful when we had an apprentice type pre working arrangement than we have now. A good many inventors were self taught more than educated genuises?. Commonsense is much overlooked these days.

Tony Price ● 4851d

No argument from me on that one. Basic literacy and numeracy is a pre-requisite for the majority of jobs.To pick up on Susan's post. I can only agree. My good friend has three sons, two area academically very bright, the older, third, sibling really struggled at school, left early and took a plumbing apprenticeship. He is now fully 'ticketed', Gas Safe registered and really happy on a good salary.

Nigel Brooks ● 4851d

I think at the very least that officers should have C or above at GCSE in English and Maths -  the process of collecting and accurately documenting evidence requires both of these.

Tony Gould ● 4851d

I agree, Nigel. There was an interesting article in the Times this morning about a middle-class couple whose son, not hot academically, is leaving school at sixteen to pursue his dream of training as a chef. He has a place on a training course, but all their friends talk as if they are 'giving up on him' and recommend forcing him to stay at school to do A levels.

Susan Kelly ● 4851d

No Gerry. 'A' levels should not be mandated. There is an obsession with academic qualifications. Ye gods, you only need three good 'A' levels to study medicine; are you really suggesting the entry bar to the police force should be the same?

Nigel Brooks ● 4851d

Please Nigel don't feel sorry for disagreeing. You suggest its an either/or requirement. I'm merely suggesting it should be BOTH - 3(possibly 4) good A levels PLUS experience of life.

Gerry Tan ● 4851d

Sorry Gerry I disagree. Maturity and experience are overarching requirements.There seems to be a predeliction to have 'three good A levels' to do any job, that simply isn't the case.I would rather have streets full of police with good 'nous' and common sense who didn't have a single 'A' level between them than academically bright individuals who have proven nothing save for the fact that they can pass examinations but who lack either 'worldliness' or the life-skills to do the  job.

Nigel Brooks ● 4851d

I don't know what the educational requirements are to become a police officer, but feel that 3 good A levels and some experience of life would be essential.

Gerry Tan ● 4851d

Also preferably, given my son'n friend's experience, some time spent either as a 'Special' or as a PCSO. Familiarity with procedures counts as well as experience. His friend was a Special for three years while at university and is likely to join the fast track and is currently a PCSO waiting for the intake.

Nigel Brooks ● 4852d

The 23 age qualification came from something a spokesman had said a couple of years ago on televsion. whilst it may say 18 on the website it would appear that at the interview/application process they want people over 23.

Peter Chadburn ● 4852d

Is there a plan to introduce a requirement for three "good" A levels? If so, that would be a significant leap in the requirements. As far as I know, you don't even need one bad GCSE to qualify as a PC.I may be wrong, but I don't think there are any educational requirements at all for a PC.http://www.metpolicecareers.co.uk/eligibility_requirements.html(Also Peter, if you're reading this: according to that site the minimum age is 18 for all the positions described except non-officer staff, where it may in some cases be 16.)

M Duley ● 4852d

Re  Some Police Officers are even offered free meals in certain restaurants!          xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx    probably a clever  move by the restaurant owners Jean. Security  and good publicity at  very low cost, unless of course they get swamped with coppers alone!

Tony Price ● 4852d

An "ordinary" PC gets 2/3 of final salary after 30 years service / age 48. So basically works 30 years and gets an index linked pension for the next 40 or so years after that based on current life expectancy - officers retiring this year will receive around £28K a year pension.

Tony Gould ● 4852d

My spleen almost went into automatic vent mode for a moment there...  but then I thought - cheif constable - that's a pretty responsible job really - surely equivelant to any captain of industry?Do you know what an ordinary PC can look forward to in retirement?

Tony Colliver ● 4852d

as an aside, Chief Constables can retire at the age of 48 with 30 years service and get £1/2m tax free lump sum and an annual pension of £75K a year. That represents an equivalent money purchase pension pot of between £2.5 to £3m - they are getting close to £60K of pension contributions a year on top of salary.

Tony Gould ● 4852d

Some Police Officers are even offered free meals in certain restaurants!My friend's son is a Police Officer and he is doing extremely well on his salary, mind you he has now been in the job for a few years.I still wouldn't like that job at any price.

Jean F Fernandez ● 4852d

It's not £19K.It's a minimum of £19K on top of which additional payments can be made to reflect experience, so if the new officer has previously been a volunteer officer or has other relevant experience the Met can pay more for this - up to £23K.On top of that as other posters have already said comes free travel in London (worth £2K in gross salary - it's untaxed), overtime and a pension contribution worth around 40% of salary (the employee puts in 13.9%). That means even the £19K base salary represents an overall starting package of around £19K base salary, £7,600 in employers contribution, £2K of travel perks PLUS overtime. That's already £30K minimum, which for an unskilled job is £4K over the national median salary.Compare the above to other jobs that carry a level of risk / antisocial hours e.g. army, paramedic, firefighter and it still represents a very good deal - not least as most graduates start on similar base pay only after paying for 3 years of education and without the pension and travel perks.

Tony Gould ● 4852d

With the lowered stating salary Met Police Constables will still satrt on £25,501 plus free bus/tube heavilly discounted rail commuter travel plus a great pension scheme plus high street discounts plus access to key worker housing including a low-cost £50,000 equity loan.  (source: Met Police website).It's not a bad package but I wouldn't want their job at any price!

Nigel Brooks ● 4852d

Difficult to judge. considering that many people are on minimum wage and part time this may seem a fortune!! do we want people people to join the police based on just academic qualifications. other skills in dealing with people and situations are very important. my niece who is 19 and in part time work would love to be a policewoman but of course they want people over 23 so that they have people skills and life experience. She would love £19K!!

Peter Chadburn ● 4852d