6,500 Met Police staff including counter-terror, and forensics teams due to walk out on Bonfire Night in row over pay
On one of the busiest nights of the year for emergency services, the force will have to pull thousands of police officers away from London’s streets to fill the roles, with a bill for overtime set to run to many thousands of pounds.
Almost 6,500 Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) members employed by the Met will walk out after they were refused a London allowance by management.
This includes 999 call handlers, detention officers, police community support officers, public access officers, as well as people who work in vetting, intelligence, forensics, counter terrorism, admin, finance, and HR.
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They say they are facing a double-standard – with officers paid a £1,250 London allowance that isn’t available to police staff.
Last week they voted overwhelmingly to support the strike action.
The Met Police is making plans to redeploy some of its 34,000 police officers to cover the striking police staff’s work.
PCS general secretary Fran Heathcote said: “Rent, mortgage repayments, food prices and energy bills have been rising for everyone in London – so why does the Met treat its civilian staff differently to officers?
“Removing police officers from frontline duties is both negligent and careless. The Met has deliberately ignored our practical solutions, aware that its continued commitment to a two-tier workforce would lead to strikes.
“To prevent any disruption to the vital services our members provide to the people of London every day, this payment must be paid immediately to civilian staff.”
The PCS’s Met Police group president David Parrock told LBC: “We don’t want to be on picket lines, we want to be doing our jobs.
“If we are going to take strike action we need it to have the most impact so that the message is loud and clear, and hopefully change happens.”
He accused Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley of ‘short-changing’ police staff.
“Our members have got no choice. We’ve got members using food banks, they can’t afford to not receive that £1,250.”
A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Service said: “While we genuinely value officers and staff equally, pay and allowances are completely different, reflecting the fundamental differences in roles, responsibilities and expectations.
“In a shrinking Met with a £260m budget gap, we cannot justify spending millions to give staff the £1,250 award, as there are not the same recruitment and retention challenges.
“We’ve made a reasonable alternative offer to the Trade Unions to settle the dispute and remain open to finding a solution.
“We are stepping up our plans to minimise any impact on Londoners and continue to serve the public – the foremost duty of all our officers and staff.”
