Correspondence

SSRB remit letter from the Home Secretary: 2025 to 2026 (accessible)

Published 30 September 2024

Home Secretary
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

Chair
Senior Salaries Review Body
Windsor House
50 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0TL

30 September 2024

Dear Chair

Senior Salaries Review Body Remit 2025/26 – Chief Police Officers

I would once again like to take this opportunity to thank the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) for the work it undertook in considering the pay for the chief police officer ranks in the last pay round.

I write to you now to formally commence the 2025/26 pay round and ask for the SSRB to make recommendations on how to apply the pay award for the chief police officer ranks.

I also ask that you consider proposals resulting from year one of the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s review of allowances, for those that apply to the chief officer ranks, taking into account the views of policing stakeholders.

During this pay round, you will receive evidence from my department, HM Treasury and key stakeholders. My department’s evidence will, as usual, cover the recruitment and retention context for police officers, alongside pay and earnings data, and the expected position following the implementation of the 2024/25 pay award. It will also set out the funds available to the Home Office for 2025/26, which will be finalised through the Spending Review and announced at the Autumn Budget on 30 October. This comes against the backdrop of the challenging financial position this Government has inherited, including a £22 billion pressure against the spending plans set out for departments at Spring Budget 2024.

My department will continue to strive to deliver mission-led public services to ensure they are equipped to efficiently deliver the vital, high quality public service we rely on, whilst ensuring value for money for taxpayers.

We know that public sector workers delivering our vital public services deserve timely pay awards, so as the Chancellor said in her July Statement, the Government’s intention is to announce pay awards as close to the start of the pay year as possible for 2025/26. For chief police officers, this is 1 September.

To this end, where possible, I would be grateful if the SSRB can deliver recommendations to the Government on the 2025/26 pay award for chief police officers at the earliest point that allows you to give due consideration to the relevant evidence. To support with this, the Government will provide its written evidence as soon as possible after the provisional police funding settlement is published, as this will inform the affordability position.

I look forward to receiving your report in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Rt Hon Yvette Cooper MP, Home Secretary