Police officers protesting about the staging of their pay deal have been boosted by messages of support from fellow trade unionists.

Thousands of police officers are planning a day of action in Westminster to protest about pay today (23 January).

Officers are angry at home secretary Jacqui Smith's decision to ignore the advice of the Police Arbitration Tribunal to increase pay by 2.5%.

Instead the government refused to ratify the decision and back-date pay to September 2007, in effect leaving officers with a 1.9% pay rise.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber has sent a message of support from the unions to Police Federation chair, Jan Berry.

Barber said that the government had made a "disastrous mistake" when it decided to ignore the recommendation of a 2.5% pay award last year.

"The government is plain wrong in seeking to impose across the public services below inflation pay rises, undermining in the process the integrity of the independent pay determination machinery that has contributed so much to industrial relations stability," Barber wrote.

Last week police support staff and police community support officers accepted a 2.5% pay deal. Unlike their colleagues, staff in England and Wales will see their pay backdated to September 2007.