Police pay · England & Wales · effective 1 September 2025
UK police pay, take-home & pension
How much do police officers take home?
A UK police constable earns from £31,164 at the start (PP1) to £50,256 at the top (PP7), on the scale effective 1 September 2025. At the starting point that's a take-home of about £1,922 a month after tax, National Insurance and the 12.88% Police Pension 2015 contribution. Sergeants and inspectors earn more — pick your rank and pay point below.
Verified 12 August 2026
Your rank & take-home
Choose your rank and pay point. We apply the Police Pension 2015 tier, income tax and National Insurance, plus London allowance if it applies.
Police constable take-home, broken down
Here's where the money goes at the starting pay point of £31,164, using the Police Pension 2015 rate and 2025/26 income tax and National Insurance:
Figures are estimates on basic pensionable pay and exclude overtime, unsocial-hours premia and allowances. Your force's exact pensionable-pay definition and tax code may shift the take-home slightly.
The Police Pension 2015 tier cliff
Like other public-sector schemes, the Police Pension 2015 charges its rate on your whole pensionable pay, not just the part above each threshold. So crossing a tier boundary can cost you: moving from just under £37,035 (12.88%) to just over (13.88%) adds about 1% of your entire salary to your pension deduction. It's still an exceptionally valuable scheme — the employer contributes around 35% — but the boundary is worth knowing about at promotion time.
2026/27 pay (confirmed +3.5%)
A 3.5% award is confirmed for 1 September 2026. Applied to the current scale, that lifts a PP1 constable to about £32,255 and a PP7 constable to about £52,015. Official new tables are published by the Home Office when the award takes effect.
Scotland & Northern Ireland
These are England & Wales scales (Sept 2025 PRRB circular). Police Scotland and PSNI have separate arrangements — PSNI officers receive the Northern Ireland Transitional Allowance (about £4,300) on top. For the exact current Scotland and NI figures, check your force's official pay circular.
Information, not financial advice. England & Wales federated ranks, 1 September 2025 Home Office / PRRB circular. Constable PP1–PP7 corroborated across multiple pay sources; Police Pension 2015 CARE tiers 12.88% / 13.88% / 14.22%. Verified 12 August 2026. How we calculate.