PSNI
Pay Scales 2026

The pay scale in force for PSNI officers throughout 2026 is the 2025/26 scale, which took effect from 1 September 2025. It followed a 4.2% award that was announced in December 2025 and paid in January 2026 salaries, backdated. No 2026/27 award had been published when we checked on 23 October 2026.

• Constable: £31,163 at point 1 to £50,257 at point 7 (PSNI published figures).
• NITA: £4,283 a year on top for every officer, taxable but not pensionable.
• Starting package: £31,163 plus £4,283 is £35,446 a year (our arithmetic). The PSNI calls this "over £35k".
• Top of the constable scale with NITA: £54,540 (our arithmetic). The PSNI says "up to £54k at Constable level".
• Sergeant: £53,568 to £56,208.
• Inspector: £63,768 to £68,982.
• Chief inspector: £70,344 to £73,149.
• Superintendent: £84,177 to £99,015.
• Chief superintendent: £103,797 to £115,785.
• 2026/27: not published at 23 October 2026. See our PSNI pay rise 2026/27 tracker.

Ranks above constable are the PRRB's recommended figures from 1 September 2025. The Department of Justice confirmed that the recommended 4.2% award was paid to officers, so these are the figures the award was based on. The PSNI's own recruitment pages publish only the constable scale.

Want the number that lands in your bank account? Our free PSNI take-home pay calculator works out tax, National Insurance and the PSNI pension on your pay point with NITA added.

PSNI pay is not set by the Home Secretary. It goes through its own Northern Ireland process, in three steps:

1. The Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) takes evidence and makes recommendations to the Minister of Justice for Northern Ireland. The Minister's remit letter asks it to work under "the principle of broad alignment of PSNI officer pay with their counterparts in England and Wales".
2. The Minister of Justice decides what to accept and announces the award.
3. A business case has to be approved by the Department of Justice and the Department of Finance before the money is paid.

The PSNI pay year runs from 1 September. That is why every figure on this page is described as "from 1 September 2025". The 2025/26 award was backdated to 1 September 2025 even though it was paid months later.

The PSNI's recruitment page adds simply that "these pay scales are reviewed on an annual basis".

The current scale comes from the PRRB's Eleventh Report on Northern Ireland. It recommended "a consolidated increase of 4.2% to all police officer pay points for all ranks up to and including chief superintendent" from 1 September 2025 and a 4.2% uplift to NITA.

• 7 July 2025: the PRRB report was presented.
• 19 December 2025: the Justice Minister announced that officers "will receive the recommended 4.2% pay awards in January salaries".
• 7 January 2026: the report was published on GOV.UK.
• January 2026: the award was paid in January salaries.
• 24 February 2026: the Minister confirmed "payments have been made to officers, backdated to 1 September 2025".

So officers were paid on the old scale from September to December 2025, then received the new rate plus arrears for those months. NITA rose from £4,110 to £4,283, an increase of £173 a year (our arithmetic).

For context, the PRRB report records a Policing Board comment that the starting package in the January 2025 recruitment campaign was £34,000, which was before the 4.2% award. The October 2026 campaign advertises "£35k".

This is the scale for constables appointed after 1 September 2025, which covers every student officer now joining. The PSNI publishes it on its recruitment site and in the 2026 Guidance for Applicants. The PRRB's own table, which the 4.2% award was based on, is shown alongside it.

The scale has seven points. The steps between them are not equal, so the bigger rises come later in the scale. These are the differences in basic salary, before NITA:

The PSNI publishes when the first increment happens (after twelve months, see below). It does not publish the timing of later increments on its recruitment pages, so we have not given a timetable for points 3 to 7.

Every PSNI officer gets NITA on top of salary, so the figure most people mean by "PSNI wages" is salary plus £4,283. This table adds them together. The monthly figure is the annual total divided by 12, before tax, National Insurance and pension.

Two cautions when you read the totals. First, NITA is not pensionable, so the pension contribution is worked out on the salary column only. Second, the monthly figure is gross. After income tax, National Insurance and a 13.66% pension contribution on salary, the amount paid into your account is noticeably lower. The take-home pay calculator does that sum for you.

The PSNI says: "All Student Officers appointed after 1st September 2025 will enter at point 1." Point 1 is described as the rate "on commencing service as a PSNI trainee", so it is the rate you are paid as a student officer in training.

• Salary at point 1: £31,163.
• NITA: £4,283.
• Starting package: £35,446 a year (our arithmetic), or about £2,954 a month before deductions.

The PSNI rounds this to "over £35k" on its Why Join page and "£35k" in the October 2026 campaign launch. Both are the same package.

Can you start above point 1?

The PRRB report notes that the Chief Constable has discretion to start new constables at pay point 2, but that this discretion was not used in 2024 or 2025. The PSNI's own page for the current campaign says new student officers enter at point 1. Plan your finances on point 1.

The exception is previous police service, covered below.

There are two ways PSNI pay rises: moving up a pay point (an increment) and the annual award that lifts every point.

The first increment

A Department of Justice circular of 9 December 2024, quoted by the PRRB, says: "With effect from 1 September 2024 all constables receive their first incremental progression to pay point 2 after twelve months from joining the service."

In practice that means a student officer on £31,163 moves to £32,473 after a year, a rise of £1,310 in salary (our arithmetic). NITA stays the same.

The annual award

Separately, when a new pay year's award is made, every point on the scale moves up. In 2025/26 that was 4.2% on every point. The 2025/26 award arrived late and was backdated to 1 September 2025.

If you have served in another police force, the PSNI says your pay point is based on confirmed reckonable service and that this is discussed only at the offer stage. It does not publish a table of how many years of service move you to which point, or which service counts as reckonable.

• Gather proof of your service dates now, so it can be confirmed quickly at offer.
• Do not assume you will start at the same point you hold in your current force. Ask at the offer stage.
• If you were in a police pension scheme before, contact PSNI Pensions Branch before you join. See our PSNI pension guide.

Serving constables and detective constables in other forces can also use the Transferee Scheme that reopened on 12 October 2026. See our PSNI Transferee Scheme guide. The PSNI sends its eligibility details on request; it has not published pay protection rules for transferees.

NITA is the allowance that makes PSNI pay different from every other UK force. The PRRB describes it as "a taxable non-pensionable allowance received by all police officers", paid "in recognition of the fact that in Northern Ireland, police officers and their families must live with the constant threat of a terrorist attack and the other adverse effects of the political context". It is unique to the PSNI.

• Rate from 1 September 2025: £4,283 a year (PSNI). The PRRB table shows £4,284.
• Previous rate: £4,110.
• Who gets it: all police officers, from student officer upwards.
• Tax: taxable. Income tax and National Insurance are paid on it.
• Pension: not pensionable. No pension contribution is taken from it and it does not build pension.
• History: the PRRB traces it back to a Special Duty Allowance introduced in 1974.
• Under review: the 2026/27 remit letter asks the PRRB to look at NITA again.

Why NITA matters more than it looks

On the starting point it adds £4,283 to £31,163, which is 13.7% on top of salary (our arithmetic). That is the main reason the PSNI can advertise "over £35k" from a point 1 salary that is lower than the England and Wales starting point.

Because it is not pensionable, NITA also keeps some officers in the lower pension contribution band. Bands are set on pensionable pay, so a sergeant at £56,208 plus NITA has a total of £60,491 (our arithmetic) but still pays the 13.66% rate on salary, because pensionable pay is under £60,000.

The PRRB report recorded that the Northern Ireland terrorism threat level was reduced from SEVERE to SUBSTANTIAL on 6 March 2024. That is historic context from the report, not a statement of the current level.

The PSNI's recruitment pages only publish the constable scale. The figures below are the PRRB's recommended pay points from 1 September 2025 in Appendix F of its Northern Ireland report. The Justice Minister confirmed that the recommended 4.2% award was paid, backdated to 1 September 2025. The pay point labels are as the PRRB table numbers them.

The last column shows which pension contribution rate applies to that salary on its own: 13.66% where annualised pensionable earnings are under £60,000 and 14.00% at £60,000 or more. Every inspector point and above is in the higher band.

For the full rank structure, see our PSNI ranks guide. The PRRB's recommendation covers ranks up to and including chief superintendent, so chief officer pay (assistant chief constable and above) is not on this page.

A common question is whether promotion is worth it. This table compares the top of each rank with the first point of the next. It is basic salary only: NITA is the same at every rank, so it does not change the gap.

Three things to weigh alongside the headline gap:

• Pension band: promotion to inspector moves you past £60,000, so your contribution rate rises from 13.66% to 14.00% on all of your salary.
• Overtime: we have only read the PRRB's comparison table, not the full PSNI Determinations, so check how overtime applies to your new rank before relying on overtime income.
• Pension built: a higher salary builds more pension each year at 1/55.3 of pensionable pay. See the PSNI pension guide.

Our England and Wales guide is promotion worth it? covers the general trade-offs. Its figures are for Home Office forces, not the PSNI.

Appendix F of the PRRB report also has a separate, older constable scale for officers who joined before a cut-off date. Its range from 1 September 2025 is £32,820 at point 0 to £50,256 at point 7.

New joiners are not affected: everyone appointed after 1 September 2025 is on the new scale and starts at point 1.

Apart from NITA, the PRRB's Appendix F lists these allowance rates recommended from September 2025. The Department of Justice confirmed the 4.2% pay award was paid, but the sources we read did not separately confirm that each allowance was implemented at exactly these figures. Treat them as the recommended rates and check your own payslip.

• CRTP is worth knowing about because it is pensionable, unlike NITA. It no longer exists in England and Wales. The PRRB records it as retained in Northern Ireland.
• Dog Handlers' Allowance is named in the 2026/27 remit letter, so a change may come with the next award.
• On-call: the £35 rate applies to evenings, weekends and Northern Ireland public holidays. Our general on-call allowance guide is written for England and Wales.

The PRRB's Northern Ireland report includes a comparison of PSNI terms with England and Wales (Appendix G, June 2025). The main differences and similarities:

Points worth drawing out:

• No Unsocial Hours Allowance. Officers in England and Wales get an unsocial hours payment; PSNI officers do not. NITA is a different payment for a different reason.
• No regional allowances. There is no London-style weighting anywhere in Northern Ireland.
• CRTP retained. A pensionable payment that England and Wales abolished.
• 4-hour minimum recall payment retained. England and Wales abolished it.
• Double time with fewer than 3 days' notice when a rest day is cancelled. Northern Ireland changed this from 5 days to 3.

For the England and Wales picture, see our police pay scales explained guide and our police allowances guide. Police Scotland has its own scales: see our Police Scotland officers hub.

We have read only the PRRB's comparison table on overtime, not the full PSNI Determinations, so this section sticks to what that table records:

• Casual overtime: time and one third, the same as England and Wales.
• Rest day cancelled with fewer than 15 days' notice: time and a half, the same as England and Wales.
• Rest day cancelled with fewer than 3 days' notice: double time. Northern Ireland changed this from 5 days to 3.
• Recall to duty: a 4-hour minimum payment, retained in Northern Ireland and abolished in England and Wales.

The PSNI's commitment statement tells recruits that overtime may be required "at a short period of notice" and that they may be required to work anywhere in Northern Ireland. Overtime is not guaranteed income, so do not build a budget around it.

The PSNI says officers below the rank of superintendent with less than 6 years' relevant service are entitled to 25 days' annual leave, based on an 8-hour working day. On shifts that is converted to hours: 200 hours a year. That is the same starting entitlement as in England and Wales.

There are also 8 public holidays, plus substitute days when one falls at a weekend:

The list includes St Patrick's Day and the 12th July, so the holiday calendar is not the same as an England and Wales force's. The PSNI does not publish the steps in annual leave above 25 days on its recruitment pages, so we have not listed them.

During the 22-week Student Officer Development Programme, the PSNI says leave is pre-allocated: 8 days of annual leave plus an intake day (a Sunday), 9 days in all, with no holidays booked during the course.

Gross pay is salary plus NITA plus any allowances and overtime. Three main deductions come off before it reaches your account:

1. Pension contribution on pensionable pay only (salary and pensionable allowances such as CRTP, not NITA): 13.66% under £60,000 or 14.00% at £60,000 or more, for 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2027.
2. Income tax on all taxable pay, including NITA.
3. National Insurance on earnings, including NITA.

As a simple illustration of the first deduction only: at point 1 the pension contribution is 13.66% of £31,163, which is £4,257 a year or about £355 a month (our arithmetic). It is taken on salary only, not on NITA. Pension contributions attract tax relief, so the real cost after tax is lower than that figure.

Tax and National Insurance depend on your tax code and the year's rates, which is why we leave that to the PSNI take-home pay calculator. For the pension side, see our PSNI pension guide.

All figures below are our arithmetic from the 2025/26 scale. They are gross pay and the pension contribution only, before income tax and National Insurance.

1. A new student officer in the October 2026 campaign

• First year: £31,163 salary plus £4,283 NITA is £35,446.
• Pension contribution at 13.66% on salary only: £4,257 a year.
• After twelve months, point 2: £32,473 plus NITA is £36,756, before any new annual award.

2. A sergeant at the top point

• Salary £56,208 plus NITA is £60,491, which is over £60,000 in total.
• Pensionable pay is the salary alone, £56,208, which is under £60,000, so the rate is 13.66%: £7,678 a year.

3. A newly promoted inspector

• Salary at the first inspector point is £63,768; plus NITA that is £68,051.
• Pensionable pay is over £60,000, so the rate is 14.00%: £8,928 a year.
• Salary rise from the top sergeant point: £7,560. The pension contribution rises by £1,250 a year, before tax relief.

To turn any of these into a monthly take-home figure, use the PSNI take-home pay calculator.

If you want to check you are being paid the right amount, work through these in order:

1. Find your pay point and compare the annual salary with the tables above. Remember the £1 differences between the PSNI and PRRB figures.
2. Check that NITA is being paid at £4,283 a year (about £357 a month, our arithmetic).
3. Check the pension deduction is worked out on salary, not on salary plus NITA, at 13.66% or 14.00%.
4. If you have passed twelve months' service, check you have moved from point 1 to point 2.
5. If you joined with previous police service, check the pay point matches what you were told at offer.
6. After any new award, check that arrears for the months back to 1 September have been paid.

If something looks wrong, ask PSNI HR first. For pension questions the contact is PSNI Pensions Branch.

• Using England and Wales scales. Many UK pay tables online are for Home Office forces. PSNI point 1 is different and PSNI officers get NITA, not Unsocial Hours Allowance.
• Quoting "£35k" as salary. It is salary plus NITA. The salary on its own is £31,163.
• Working out pension on NITA. NITA is not pensionable, so the 13.66% or 14.00% is taken from salary only.
• Assuming the PSNI gets the England and Wales 3.5% for 2026/27. That is the England and Wales award. No PSNI figure had been published at 23 October 2026.
• Treating the PRRB table as payroll figures. The PSNI's figures differ by £1 on 5 points. Your payslip is the authority.
• Forgetting the legacy scale. Long-serving constables may be on a different scale, starting at point 0.
• Assuming all allowances were paid as recommended. Only the pay award and NITA are confirmed by the sources we read.