Report detail

Officers and Staff Pay Offers – 2025/26 and 2026/27

On 31 July 2025, multi-year pay offers for officers and staff were made. The official side of the Police Negotiating Board for Scotland (PNBS) presented a two-year pay offer for police officers covering all ranks and pay points. The offer includes a 4% pay increase from April 2025 to March 2026 followed by a further 3.5% increase from April 2026 to March 2027. The same uplift applies to a range of allowances and expenses for officers.

On call allowance would rise to £36.40 in 2025 and to £43.68 in 2026. Maternity and adoption pay would increase to 26 weeks full pay in April 2026.

Officers would also benefit from mileage rates aligning with HM Revenue and Customs’ approved rates, enhanced overnight disruption payments for international deployment, public holiday compensation for Inspecting ranks and a rest day mileage entitlement where notice is given with less than 18 days’.

The employer offer to police staff mirrors these commitments with the same pay uplifts of 4% in 2025 and 3.5% in 2026, alongside equivalent increases to key allowances.

Staff would see an increase to on call allowance to £36.40 in April 2025 then to £43.68 in April 2026. Maternity and adoption pay would increase to 26 weeks full pay in April 2026.

The offers are above inflation and include a clause for staff and officers, ensuring that the pay awards for each year will be at least one percentage point above the average Consumer Price Index rate, safeguarding earnings against rising living costs.

The offers continue policing in Scotland’s commitment to no compulsory redundancies and have been sent to the PNBS staff side and Trade Unions.

The staff side of PNBS are now consulting police officers on the offer. This means the offer will be sent to all members and they will be asked to feed their views into branch reps. The branch reps will then be brought together to give a final view on whether the offer should be accepted or not.

For staff, the trade unions will decide whether the offer should be put to a consultative ballot of their members. For agreement to be reached, a majority of trade union members who chose to vote need to accept the offer that has been made.

If the offers are agreed, backdated pay will be included in the next possible pay.

US Presidential visits to Scotland

As Accountable Officer, I have been engaging with Police Scotland regarding the policing operation and specifically the costs of President Trumps visit to Scotland in July 2025, and Vice President Vance's visit in August 2025. These discussions involve Scottish Government officials, and I can reassure the Board that we are seeking full reimbursement for the additional costs.

Interim Guidance – Workplace facilities

Members are aware of Police Scotland’s ongoing review of sex and gender in policing and the Authority’s oversight of this. In April, the UK Supreme Court published its judgment in the case of For Women Scotland Vs Scottish Ministers confirming that the terms 'man', 'woman', and 'sex' in the Equality Act 2010 refer to biological sex (i.e. the sex of a person at birth). Police Scotland’s response to the judgement has been an ongoing area of scrutiny for the Authority, raised regularly at Board and Committee meetings over the last 4-months.

Police Scotland published interim guidance on 7 August 2025, for police officers and staff on access and use of workplace toilets, changing facilities and shower rooms. This guidance applies to facilities across the whole policing estate.

As the employer, the Authority has a duty to ensure that its workplaces comply with The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992, which include specific requirements in relation to the provision of suitable and sufficient facilities including toilets, changing facilities and shower rooms.

The Supreme Court judgment directly impacts who is allowed to use single-sex facilities and Police Scotland developed this interim guidance following extensive advice from its legal team and independent Human Rights Advisor, Jane Gordon, as well as engagement with relevant business areas and staff associations.

The guidance outlines the following requirements for the use of toilets, changing facilities and shower rooms:

• Single sex facilities designed and designated for the sole use of females or the sole use of males across workplaces in policing must be accessed and used based on a person’s biological sex (sex at birth).
• Facilities designed and designated as mixed sex (i.e. non-single sex facilities) may be used by anyone.
• Facilities designed and designated for single occupant space, which is a self-contained facility, secured by a lockable door, may be used by anyone.

2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts

The external audit of the Scottish Police Authority’s accounts for 2024-25 is now significantly progressed and I am pleased to report that we are on track to present final versions to the Audit, Risk and Assurance Committee and then to the Board prior to my retirement at the end of next month (September 2025).

Subject to the Auditors review, we anticipate laying the accounts in Parliament later in the year. I would like to thank the staff in the Authority, Police Scotland, and Forensic Services for their ongoing support of this work.

Budget Development 2026-27

Work to develop a detailed budget for policing for the next financial year (2026-2027) has begun with several meetings now taking place where the Authority, Forensic Services and Police Scotland come together to fully understand the current cost base, demands, risks and priorities for the year ahead.

This is a complex and time-consuming process with several moving parts, such as agreement on pay awards to understand the pay costs for the year ahead. I am grateful to everyone involved in this work which is essential in ensuring the budget requirements for policing in the year ahead are robust and evidenced.

Pre Budget Scrutiny

The Criminal Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament is undertaking pre-budget scrutiny in advance of the Scottish Government’s 2026-27 budget.

In previous years the Authority and Police Scotland has submitted evidence to inform the committees considerations in advance of the Scottish Budget. Committees are required to publish pre-budget reports (or correspondence) at least six weeks prior to the Scottish budget. The date of the Scottish budget has not yet been confirmed but is normally in early to mid-December.

As outlined above, work is already underway to ensure the budget requirements for 2026/27 are clearly set out and available for transparency to inform these considerations. The Authority and Police Scotland have been asked to submit evidence on or by Tuesday 9 September and I anticipate the Authority and Police Scotland will be invited to give oral evidence to the committee in due course.

Best Value Audit and Inspection

A joint audit and inspection by HMICS and Audit Scotland, commenced in May to consider the Best Value arrangements across policing. The audit is assessing several key areas: strategic direction and leadership, the effective use of resources, partnership working and performance management.

Fieldwork has now largely concluded, and I am meeting on 15 August 2025 with representatives from both bodies to discuss their emerging findings. I expect a draft report to be provided in late Autumn with a final report provided to the Scottish Parliament in early 2026. Similarly to our ARA, this report requires to remain embargoed until provided to the Scottish Parliament.

I am grateful to HMICS, Audit Scotland and all the teams who have been involved in supporting this important work.