At Mayor’s Question Time today, Tony Arbour AM condemned the £29.4m of bonuses paid by the Metropolitan Police last year to officers for “doing their jobs”.
London Assembly Member for Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow, Mr Arbour said: “It’s outrageous that millions of pounds of public money has been paid in bonuses to police officers for ‘good attendance’ and ‘working as a team’. These are basic parts of working life – bonuses should not be handed to officers just for doing their jobs.”
In 2009/10, bonuses the Met handed out to rank-and-file officers included £12.4m in ‘competency-related threshold payments’ (CRTP) for:
- Good attendance;
- Working as a team;
- Promoting equality;
- Commitment to health & safety requirements;
- Willingness to use new technology;
- Willingness to learn.
The Met also gave officers £15.7m in ‘special priority payments’ (SPP), for reasons which include ‘working in area with a high crime rate ‘.
Mr Arbour: “The Met paid out more in bonuses to rank-and-file officers than any other police force in the country. In these difficult financial times these need to be brought under control quickly.”
He raised the bonuses with Mayor Boris Johnson, who responded by saying: “I do agree that bonuses are not appropriate . . . People should not just be given bonuses for doing their job.”
The Mayor said that bonuses were being reduced from £29.4m in 2009/10 to £21.5m in 2010/11.
ENDS
Notes to the editors:
Nationally, bonuses have risen nationally every year since they were introduced in 2003. CRTP rose 75 per cent in England & Wales increased by 71 per cent from 2005 to 2010, and SPP payments over same period.
