Why I’ll be on strike on 5 November

PCS members working as civilian police staff in the Met Police will take strike action on 5 November over the Met’s refusal to pay them a £1250 consolidated allowance to meet the cost of living in London, that has been paid to police officers.

The same threats but not the same pay

One member explained how they feel under-valued by Met management despite the difficult and vital jobs that civilian police staff do.

“I work in counter terrorism. I read the most distressing online content and watch the most distressing videos to the point of going home in tears.  Yet I do not deserve to be able to afford to travel to work.

“My friend is a scenes of crime officer, working in an area with a high gang crime rate. He deals with dead bodies on a weekly basis and he said he thinks about death every day. Yes, we’ve got wellbeing support but it’s not about that.

“When police officers got their pay rise, management put an article on the intranet saying how valued police officers were, they wanted them to not just live, but to thrive, and that’s why they were giving them the pay rise.

“Police staff investigators go into locations where they could be injured, taking statements in vile homes sometimes, and being confronted by unhappy members of the public just the same as police officers do.  PCSOs go out on patrol trying to protect the public and are subject to the same threats as police officers.  Detention officers get spat at, bitten, and beaten up in just the same way police officers do.  Front counter staff are in the same danger as their police officer front counter staff.  Where is the Met’s desire to allow them to thrive?”

“complete contempt” for staff

A disabled member explained the impact of losing out on the allowance and subsidised travel costs.

“As a disabled member my costs are already higher than my colleagues. The charity Scope estimates a disabled person needs an extra £1000 a month to live, and while I receive some benefits to help with my costs, they do not cover the true costs of working.

The commissioner's decision that police staff will not receive the same additional location-based allowance as officers, who also receive subsidised travel, shows his complete contempt for us.

Every penny of the salary I receive makes a big difference to me. I have had to choose between heating and eating, and have faced eviction as I couldn’t afford a significant rent increase. Police staff colleagues are not making an unreasonable demand, we just want to be paid the same location-based allowances as our police officer colleagues, as we have the same costs.”