Police officers could take to the streets over proposed “cataclysmic” cuts to their take-home pay, after accusing the coalition government of bullying tactics and “unfair treatment”.

 
The furious reaction followed a government-commissioned review by former rail regulator Tom Winsor, which called for the reduction in or abolition of a series of allowances and overtime payments intended to reduce the police staffing bill by £1.1 billion.
 
It also comes at a time when the government may need police support following threats of industrial unrest as attempts are made to take on the wider public sector over changes to pensions.
 
But Winsor believes that almost £500 million could be saved and £653 million reinvested in frontline policing as a result of his proposals and pointed to the fact that the police were “comparatively well paid”, earning between 10-15% more than some other emergency workers and the armed forces.
 
He admitted that two out of five police officers would lose out by as much as £4,000 per year if they worked in positions largely confined to police stations that did not require specialist skills or overtime, but said the rest could gain by £2,000 per annum in line with their expertise and the demands placed upon them.
 
A professional accreditation allowance of £1,200 would be introduced for most detectives, firearms, public order and neighbourhood policing teams, for example, although a £1,212 competence-related threshold payment would be eradicated as would a Special Priority Payment of up to £5,000.
 
Winsor also suggested that no officer should move up the pay scale for two years and that chief officer and superintendants’ bonuses should be suspended. He likewise recommended that only officers working anti-social hours should be paid for doing so, with those working between 20.00 and 06.00 receiving an extra 10% on their basic hourly pay, in a bid to save £60 million in overtime payments.
 
But Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file police officers, accused the government of bullying its members because they had no right to strike.
 
The proposals meant that officers faced “cataclysmic” cuts of 25% in take-home pay, coming as they did on top of a two-year pay freeze and an expected 2% increase in police pension contributions, which are due to be announced on Thursday.
 
McKeever told the Guardian that members felt denigrated, upset and demoralised by their “unfair treatment”. “This is a major, major turning point for policing in this country,” he said. When asked about the right to strike situation, McKeever added: “Officers are very angry. All options are on the table.”
 
But other members of the Federation’s ruling council went further in private, with one saying that the right to strike needed to be formally debated. “No officer joined the service to strike. We have already been talking about the right to strike. If all else fails, it would have to be looked at.”
 
Winsor’s proposals are due to be put to the Police Negotiating Board in April and the Home Secretary Theresa May, has the power to impose them if she believes that arbitration is taking too long.