UNISON, GMB and Unite
Who Speaks For Police Staff
Status checked 29 September 2026
The short answer
All three of them. Police staff pay in England and Wales is negotiated in the Police Staff Council, where UNISON, GMB and Unite sit together as the trade union side and submit a single joint claim. Each union then ballots its own members on any employers' offer. There is nothing agreed for 2026/27 yet, so the number you care about is not set by which union you are in.
This page is neutral between the three unions. It explains what each says it does, how a pay ballot works using the real 2025/26 round, and what to do while the 2026 talks are open.
Where things stand as at 29 September 2026
- The claim: the trade union side asked for 9% or £2,700 (whichever is greater) on all pay points, 9% on standby and overnight allowances, a £15 an hour minimum, an extra day of leave on appointment and after five years, and removal of the pay point 24 overtime bar. UNISON dates the submission 9 April 2026; other sources give 7 May, so we don't rely on a single date.
- The talks: negotiators met on 19 August 2026 and adjourned to 10 September. UNISON's West Midlands Police branch told members on 1 September that talks were paused and that members would be informed when there was information. The LGA's Police Staff Council page reportedly shows the 10 September session postponed.
- The offer: we could not find a published employers' offer, a union ballot or a 2026/27 settlement. If you hear a number in your force before it appears from a national source, treat it as unconfirmed.
For the live picture, use our 2026 police staff pay rise tracker. For the arrears side, see police staff back pay explained.
Who actually negotiates your pay
Police staff (including PCSOs) are employees, and their national pay and conditions are negotiated in the Police Staff Council. The LGA, which supports the council, describes it as fourteen members split evenly between an employers' side and a trade union side.
- Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC)
- National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC)
- Home Office
- UNISON
- GMB
- Unite
Two consequences follow. First, the unions bargain as one bloc, so you won't see UNISON win one percentage and GMB another for the same pay scale. Second, the council's handbook covers police staff in England and Wales, but not every employer follows it: the Metropolitan Police, for example, sits outside the council, and some forces and bodies set pay locally. If you work for one of them, check with your HR before assuming a national award applies to you. For how the scale itself works, see the police staff pay scales guide.
Source: LGA Police Staff Council pages (the LGA site blocked our direct fetch, so we relied on the LGA's published summaries and the unions' own pages; check the LGA page for the current wording).
The three unions side by side
Only things we could source are in the table. Where a union's own page didn't say, the cell says so rather than guessing. We are not recommending one over another.
| UNISON | GMB | Unite | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seat on the Police Staff Council trade union side | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Signed the joint 2026 pay claim | Yes (joint claim) | Yes (joint claim) | Yes (joint claim) |
| How it presented the 2025/26 offer to members | Police Staff Committee did not recommend it; put out on a neutral basis, members decided | We could not confirm its recommendation from GMB's own page | UNISON's page says Unite's committee took the same line and consulted on a similar basis (a UNISON account, not Unite's own) |
| 2025/26 ballot result (4.2%, backdated to 1 Sept 2025) | "Overwhelming majority" to accept; nearly half of eligible members voted (no exact figures given) | 78% to accept; 51.5% turnout (GMB's page) | Members voted to accept (as reported by UNISON); we found no Unite figures |
| Ballot method it described for 2025/26 | Digital ballot, opened 6 Oct, closed 12 noon 24 Oct 2025 | Ballot held; dates and method not stated on the page we read | Not found |
| Support named on its own pages | Help with redundancy, disciplinary and grievance matters, IOPC investigations and post incident procedures; 24-hour PIP legal helpline for eligible members | Negotiates pay, submits claims, surveys members, holds ballots, campaigns on issues such as uniform and workplace violence | We did not find a Unite police staff page listing member support |
| Roles it says it covers | Police forces in England and Wales, plus Police Scotland, Cafcass and Probation; UNISON also lobbies on PCSOs | Crime scene investigators, PCSOs, 999 call takers, dispatchers, custody officers and counter-terrorism specialists, among others | Its own page we found names Unite members in the Met call centre (MetCC) and fleet operations; we found no full list of roles |
| How to reach or join | Via your force's UNISON branch or unison.org.uk | gmb.org.uk/join; PublicServices@gmb.org.uk (as listed on GMB's police staff page) | Via unitetheunion.org or your local Unite rep |
Sources: the unions' own pages listed at the bottom of this page. Fees and joining terms are not shown because we did not source them; check each union's website.
What each union says it does for you
UNISON
UNISON describes itself as the largest union serving police forces in England and Wales, and it also covers Police Scotland, Cafcass and the Probation Service. On its police and justice page it lists help with redundancy and disciplinary proceedings, grievance representation, Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigations and post incident procedures, plus support through your local branch and regional committees.
It runs a 24-hour, free-to-call PIP legal helpline for UNISON police staff in England and Wales who are involved in an incident where someone dies or is seriously injured after police contact. Its page says you must have been a member for at least four weeks before the incident. It is also running a "We are police staff" campaign which, in December 2025, took three demands to Parliament: end uplift targets for officer numbers, reverse PCSO cuts, and set a strategic vision for the police workforce.
GMB
GMB's police force staff page says it represents police staff in England and Wales through the Police Staff Council, naming crime scene investigators, PCSOs, 999 call takers, dispatchers, custody officers and counter-terrorism specialists among the roles. It says it negotiates annual pay awards, submits pay claims on low pay and working conditions, surveys members on priorities, holds ballots on employer offers, and campaigns on issues such as uniform standards, maternity parity and protection from workplace violence. The page gives a joining link and a public services email address. We did not find a description of individual casework or legal help on that page, so ask GMB directly what is included.
Unite
Unite is the third union on the trade union side. The clearest recent example of what it does is its own account of the Metropolitan Police dispute: more than 170 Unite members in the Met's call centre and fleet operations took strike action on New Year's Eve 2025, later postponed a further planned strike to vote on an improved offer, and accepted it in January 2026 (4.2%, backdated to 1 August 2025, a £900 one-off payment towards London costs, and no changes to terms and conditions). We did not find a Unite page that sets out its police staff membership benefits, so ask a Unite rep what is covered before relying on anything.
Where does PCS fit in?
A lot of people search for "PCS police staff pay rise". PCS is not on the Police Staff Council trade union side, which is UNISON, GMB and Unite. PCS's police presence in the news is mostly the Metropolitan Police. PCS says it represents Met staff including PCSOs, and in 2025/26 it ran a separate Met dispute over the £1,250 London living allowance, which PCS says officers received and staff did not.
- PCS reported on 9 October 2025 that 93% voted for strike action (it did not give the turnout on that page).
- Strike action followed on 5 November 2025. PCS said this led to 80% of 999 call handling being carried out by redeployed police officers and almost all London custody suites closing.
- On 28 January 2026 PCS reported that members accepted an improved offer: 82% accepted a £900 one-off payment to settle the London allowance dispute, and 94% supported a 4.2% uplift on pay and location allowance.
That was a local Met pay dispute, not the national round. If you are a Met employee, your pay route is different from the one described in the rest of this page.
How a police staff pay ballot works, step by step
This is the general shape, based on the unions' published accounts of the 2025/26 round. Each union runs its own process and the details can change year to year.
- 1
The trade union side sets its claim
UNISON, GMB and Unite agree one joint claim after consulting their own members. In 2026 that was 9% or £2,700 (whichever is greater) on all pay points, 9% on standby and overnight allowances, a £15 an hour minimum, more leave and the removal of the Point 24 overtime bar.
- 2
The employers' side consults and responds
The employers' side (APCC, NPCC, Home Office) consults forces and police and crime commissioners, then meets the union side. UNISON's April 2026 statement said talks would follow that consultation.
- 3
Talks end in a 'full and final' offer, or they don't
A negotiation can run through several meetings and adjournments. When the employers table an offer they are not prepared to improve, it is described as full and final. That is the point at which members are asked to vote.
- 4
Each union decides how to put it to members
Its police staff committee decides whether to recommend accept, recommend reject or go neutral. In 2025/26 UNISON's committee went neutral. Neutral means the union is not telling you how to vote.
- 5
Members vote in their own union's ballot
It is one ballot per union, not one for all police staff. UNISON used a digital ballot in 2025. Only members of that union vote in it.
- 6
The union side answers the employers at the Council
In 2025/26 the trade union side formally accepted at a Police Staff Council meeting on 30 October, after the results were in. That is the moment an offer becomes an agreed award.
- 7
Forces implement it on payroll
The Police Staff Council publishes the revised pay spine and each force applies it. Timing is local, and backdated arrears can appear in a later payslip.
The real example: the 2025/26 ballot
Here is the last full round, using dates and figures the unions published. Where only one union gave a date, we say so.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 1 May 2025 | Trade union side claim for 2025/26 submitted (GMB describes it as 7% minimum on all pay points, a £15 an hour minimum and more leave). |
| 22 September 2025 | Employers make a "full and final" offer: 4.2% on all pay points, 4.2% on standby allowance (£36.13 to £37.65), overnight away from home allowance up £10 (£50 to £60), and one harmonised essential car user rate of £1,239. |
| Late September 2025 | UNISON's Police Staff Committee says it cannot recommend the offer because it does not address low pay or annual leave. The offer goes to members on a neutral basis. UNISON says Unite's committee took the same line. |
| 6 to 24 October 2025 | UNISON's digital ballot opens on 6 October and closes at 12 noon on 24 October. GMB and Unite consult their own members in the same window (we only found published dates for UNISON). |
| 30 October 2025 | GMB says its National Police Staff Committee met after its ballot closed and agreed to accept on members' behalf. GMB adds that the trade union side then formally accepted at the Police Staff Council meeting of 30 October, after all three unions' members voted to accept. |
| 31 October 2025 | UNISON announces the award. GMB's page also carries its result (78% to accept, 51.5% turnout). UNISON says nearly half of eligible members voted. |
| November or December 2025 | Forces implement the award, backdated to 1 September 2025. UNISON told members that timing depends on the force and that local branches would confirm it. |
GMB result
78%
voted to accept, on a 51.5% turnout
UNISON result
Overwhelming majority
nearly half of eligible members voted
Unite result
Voted to accept
no figures found
What this tells you
- A neutral or lukewarm union line does not stop members accepting. UNISON did not recommend the offer, and members still accepted it by a large majority.
- Turnout is about half. The unions' own published figures are around half of eligible members, so if you don't vote, you are in the other half.
- The union side and the employers agreed within days of the ballot closing. The delay to your payslip after that was force payroll, not negotiation.
- GMB also reports 83% of its members voting to accept the 4.75% award in October 2024, so a big majority for a settled offer is not a one-off.
What if members reject an offer?
We could not find a published Police Staff Council rule that spells this out, and the two most recent rounds we checked (2024/25 and 2025/26) both ended in acceptance, so there is no recent example to point at. Here is what we can say from the sources without guessing.
- The union side accepted at the Council meeting after members voted, so the ballots are the trigger, not a formality.
- A rejected offer is not an agreed award. The sides would have to go back to talks, and no new pay would be payable in the meantime.
- Industrial action is a different step. It needs its own lawful ballot of the members concerned, and it is not automatic.
For what a delay does to the size of your arrears, see the back pay explainer.
Is a police staff strike realistic?
Legally possible, and it has happened locally. Practically, we have found no sign of a national strike in the 2026 round.
The legal position
Police staff are employees and can lawfully take industrial action, but only through the process trade union law sets: a proper ballot of the union's members and notice to the employer. Those rules have been changing under recent employment legislation, so check current gov.uk guidance or ask your union rather than relying on a fixed number from an article. Officers are different: they cannot strike at all. See the staff vs officer differences page.
What has actually happened
The 2025/26 national round settled by ballot with no strike. The action we found was at the Metropolitan Police: PCS members struck on 5 November 2025, and Unite members at the Met call centre and fleet struck on New Year's Eve 2025. Both disputes ended with improved offers accepted in January 2026. Those were local disputes with their own trigger (London allowance and a conditions dispute), not the national Police Staff Council round.
The honest reading: strike action by police staff is real but rare, usually local, and typically follows a specific grievance rather than an opening claim. As at 29 September 2026 we have found no national strike ballot on the 2026/27 claim.
Does it matter which union you pick?
For the national pay award, we found no evidence that it does. The award is one figure, agreed by the joint trade union side and applied to the pay points. Where it can matter is local: who your force recognises, who is active on your site, and what support you actually get. We are not going to tell you to choose one. Use these questions.
Which unions does my force recognise?
Ask HR or check the intranet. Recognition and local agreements are set force by force, and that decides who can represent you in a meeting.
Is there an active local branch or rep on my site or shift?
Day to day help comes from the local rep, not the national office. A rep you can reach matters more than a logo.
What does the union say it covers, and are there waiting periods?
For example, UNISON's PIP legal helpline is for members who joined at least four weeks before the incident. Read the small print of whatever you rely on.
What is it costing me?
Check the current fee on the union's own website. We have not published fees here because we did not source them.
Will my pay rise differ by union?
We found no evidence of that for the national award. Don't pick a union on the assumption it will get a bigger number.
How to find your branch or rep
- Search your force intranet for "trade unions" or "staff associations". Most forces list the recognised unions and local contacts.
- Ask HR or your line manager which unions are recognised at your force. This is a normal question.
- Check the union's own site. UNISON has force-level branch sites (for example, its West Midlands Police branch posts pay circulars for members). GMB lists a joining link and a public services email on its police staff page.
- Look for a rep in your building: notice boards, induction packs and the staff directory are common places.
- If you are already a member, your membership number and the email you joined with are what a branch will ask for first.
How this differs from the Police Federation
| Police staff unions | Police officers | |
|---|---|---|
| Who represents you | UNISON, GMB, Unite (you choose whether to join) | Police Federation (constables to chief inspectors); Superintendents' Association; CPOSA for chief officers |
| Can they join a trade union? | Yes | No |
| Who sets the pay award | Negotiated in the Police Staff Council; members ballot on an offer | Recommended by the Police Remuneration Review Body and decided by the Home Secretary |
| Right to strike | Yes, subject to trade union law | No |
Read more in the Police Federation explained and the map of who represents whom. If you are wondering about the officer pay track, see the 2026/27 officer pay award.
When an offer lands: what to read first
Use the claim as a yardstick. These are the lines that changed your pay in 2025/26 or are on the 2026 claim.
Headline percentage or minimum sum
Compare with the 9% or £2,700 claim. Check whether the minimum sum helps your pay point more than a percentage would.
Effective date
The claim asks for 1 September 2026. A later effective date means less backdated pay.
Allowances
Standby and overnight away from home allowances were separate lines in both the 2025 offer and the 2026 claim.
Point 24 overtime bar
A line in the claim. If it isn't in the offer, that is worth noting for shift workers.
Annual leave
The claim asked for 24 to 25 days on appointment and 29 to 30 after five years.
Union recommendation
Read what your union's committee says, and whether it is recommending, opposing or neutral.
What to do this month
- ✓ Look at your latest payslip and note your pay point and grade, so you can check any offer against your own line rather than a headline percentage.
- ✓ Find out which union or unions your force recognises, and whether you are already a member of one. If you are not, ask a rep what the joining process and any waiting periods are.
- ✓ Give your union a personal email address and mobile number that you check. Ballot notices and digital ballot links go to the contact details the union holds for you.
- ✓ Save the tracker page and the back-pay page, so you have the status and the arrears maths in one place when an offer is published.
- ✓ If a union ballot opens, read your union's own briefing and the actual offer text before voting. Don't decide from a social media screenshot.
- ✓ Check your force's intranet for how it implemented the last award, so you know roughly how long the gap between settlement and payslip was in your force.
- ✓ Keep a note of your normal overtime and standby hours for the past few months. It makes the Point 24 and allowance lines of any offer easy to price.
Free tool
Try the pay rise scenarios before an offer exists
Put in your pay point and see what a lower or higher settlement than the 9% claim would do to your salary. It is a what-if tool, not a prediction of the final award.
Salary calculator · Police staff mode
Work out your take-home on today's pay
Common questions
When will the UNISON police staff pay rise 2026 be paid?
There is no payment date yet, because there is no agreed award. As at 29 September 2026 we could not find a published employers' offer, a union ballot or a settlement for 2026/27. The claim's proposed effective date is 1 September 2026. Once the Police Staff Council settles, each force has to put it through its own payroll, so the money arrives force by force. In 2025/26 the 4.2% award was backdated to 1 September 2025 and, per UNISON, reached payslips in November or December 2025 depending on the force. Nothing guarantees the same pattern this year.
Which union negotiates police staff pay: UNISON, GMB or Unite?
All three, together. Pay for police staff in England and Wales is negotiated in the Police Staff Council, which has an employers' side (the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, the National Police Chiefs' Council and the Home Office) and a trade union side made up of UNISON, GMB and Unite. They submit one joint claim and respond to one employers' offer, although each union consults its own members separately.
Does the GMB police staff pay rise 2026 differ from UNISON's or Unite's?
We found nothing to suggest it does. The 2026 claim (9% or £2,700 whichever is greater, a £15 an hour minimum, more leave and removal of the Point 24 overtime bar) was submitted jointly by the trade union side. A national award is a single figure applied to the Police Staff Council pay points, not a separate figure per union. What differs between the unions is how each one balloted its own members in 2025/26 and the extras each offers, not the percentage.
What about the PCS police staff pay rise and Unite police staff pay?
PCS is not one of the three unions on the Police Staff Council trade union side. Where PCS appears in police news it is mostly about Metropolitan Police staff, who have had their own local dispute (PCS members accepted an improved Met offer in January 2026). Unite is on the trade union side, and Unite members at the Met also had a separate local strike dispute in 2025/26. Neither of those Met disputes is the national Police Staff Council pay round.
Do I have to be in a union to get the pay award?
We could not find a published rule that ties the national award to union membership, and in practice a Police Staff Council award is applied to the pay scale rather than to individual members. Union ballots decide whether the union side accepts an offer, not who gets paid it. Check with your force's HR if you want it in writing for your own contract, because a few forces set staff pay locally rather than following the national agreement.
What happens if union members reject the pay offer?
We could not find a published Police Staff Council rule that spells this out, so we will not invent one. What the 2025/26 example shows is the order of events: the unions consulted members, and only after the results were in did the trade union side formally accept at a Council meeting. If members had voted to reject, the offer would not have been accepted and the sides would have had to return to talks. Industrial action is a separate step that needs its own lawful ballot.
Can police staff go on strike?
Police staff are employees, so unlike police officers they are not banned from industrial action. Any strike still has to follow trade union law, which means a properly run ballot of the union's members and notice to the employer, and the rules have been changing recently, so check current gov.uk guidance or ask your union. We found no national strike ballot for the 2026 police staff pay round as at 29 September 2026. The recent strikes we found were local disputes at the Metropolitan Police.
Can police officers join UNISON, GMB or Unite?
No. Police officers cannot join a trade union and have no right to strike. Officers are represented by the Police Federation and, for senior ranks, by the Superintendents' Association and the Chief Police Officers' Staff Association. Police staff and PCSOs can join a union, and that is the group this page is about.
Sources (checked 29 September 2026)
- UNISON: police staff pay claim 2026
- UNISON: police staff pay award announced (31 October 2025)
- UNISON: Police Staff Pay Consultation 2025
- UNISON: police and justice overview
- UNISON: PIP legal helpline
- UNISON: 'We are police staff' campaign
- UNISON West Midlands Police branch, 1 September 2026
- GMB: police force staff
- Unite: Met Police strikes called off (January 2026)
- PCS: Met Police members accept improved offer (28 January 2026)
- PCS: Met Police members vote to strike (9 October 2025)
- LGA: Police Staff Council pages
- LGA: PSC trade unions side pay claim 2026
The LGA pages returned an access error when we tried to fetch them directly, so where we cite LGA content we relied on its published summaries and the unions' own pages. The UNISON 2025 consultation page and some union pages also failed to load directly; the ballot dates and neutral stance quoted from them come from their published search summaries. Figures can change; check the union's own page for the latest. This page explains how things work and is not legal or financial advice.