Paid to do the Job Twice

Plod are being paid bonuses totalling more than £150 million a year for what they admit is “just doing their job”, according to TTel.  Individual officers are receiving tens of thousands of pounds a year in “incentive” payments and performance bonuses for superintendents, who earn around £70 000 a year, are worth an annual £2.5 million and have risen by 70% since 2007 in some Farces.  Bonus payments across all ranks have risen 6% over the past three years.


The extra payments were introduced in 2002 by the then home secretary to offer incentives for performance.  Five types of bonus are available, including extra payments for officers who show “professional competence” or carry out “demanding work”.  But the awards have been called “a bonus for doing your duty” by the leader of the country’s rank-and-file officers, who also blame them for encouraging senior officers to concentrate on the pursuit of targets.  The chairman of the Dibble Federation said:

“Bonuses are being given for the job we should be doing anyway and have not increased productivity.  They are also divisive, because they are not received by all officers.”

He suggested that the bonuses could be included in basic officer salaries.