Hundreds of police officers will gather in Birmingham this Friday to begin voting on whether they should lobby for their right to strike over the outstanding 2007 pay settlement.
The Police Federation will host the meeting at the city centre Quayside Tower building, to coincide with the Labour Party’s spring conference, also taking place in Birmingham.
The dispute over the police 2007-08 pay settlement arose last December after the home secretary refused to backdate officer pay to September 2007, despite the decision of the independent Police Arbitration Tribunal ruling such. This effectively reduced their pay increase from 2.5% to 1.9%.
Meanwhile, police officers in Scotland received the full 2.5% pay award, backdated to September.
The federation has since campaigned for the government to backdate officers’ pay in England and Wales.
By law, the Police Service cannot strike, so it organised a march in central London, where more than 25,000 off-duty officers demonstrated their anger over the matter not being resolved.
The meeting in Birmingham will focus on the 2007 pay settlement as well as the recent Review of Policing by Sir Ronnie Flanagan.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Federation chairwoman Jan Berry said: “We consider 2007 unfinished business. There has been a clear breach of trust, and we are waiting to see how the government responds. We are looking for clear assurances that we will not be treated with such contempt again.”
The meeting takes place between 12pm and 2pm on Friday 29 February.
