Scotland’s police officers ‘undervalued’ yet paid on average 15%, £6 000 pa more than in rest of UK for less crime with far more staff

PA Media

BBC Scotland is today reporting:

Police officers in Scotland will withdraw goodwill in protest at a pay offer they said shows “contempt” for their work. Police officers feel totally undervalued by the service, and that has been apparent from the surveys that have taken place in the last six months from both Police Scotland and the SPF

The BBC Scotland report does not, of course, compare average or starting salaries across the UK.

From indeed, the Scottish average is £40 926 and the English average is £34 807 making the average Scottish police officer £6 000, 15%, better off.1, 2

Starting salaries?

Scotland – £30 039.3

England? Between £28,551 and £29,907.4

Crime rate?

Scotland – 55 crimes per 1 000 people

England – 89.7

Staffing to deal with crime?

Scotland – 316 officers per 100 000 people.

England – 228.

So, Scotland is 27.8% better staffed.

Sources:

  1. https://uk.indeed.com/cmp/Police-Scotland/salaries/Police-Officer
  2. https://uk.indeed.com/career/police-officer/salaries
  3. https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/finance/pay-and-grading-structure/
  4. https://careers.northumbria.police.uk/police-officer/benefits/#:~:text=With%20a%20top%20salary%20of,Superintendent%20%C2%A399%2C612%20%E2%80%93%20%C2%A3111%2C117
  5. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1030625/crime-rate-uk/#:~:text=The%20crime%20rate%20in%20the,just%2052.3%20by%202021/22.
  6. https://policeprofessional.com/news/england-and-wales-have-fewer-police-officers-than-any-major-european-nation/

4 thoughts on “Scotland’s police officers ‘undervalued’ yet paid on average 15%, £6 000 pa more than in rest of UK for less crime with far more staff

  1. I refer you to today’s article from The Ferret. He claims that the tory claim that most crimes went unsolved last year is ‘mostly true’.

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  2. Since police officers are not allowed a union, they have the Scottish Police Federation as their means to negotiate their salaries. And, I’m assuming this statement comes from them, they, the same as any trade union, will try the usual tactic of trying to get as much money as possible for their members. This is just an opening gambit, and with sensible negotiations, the situation will be resolved. Not that that will stop the M.S.M trying to inflame the discussions.

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