Police Sergeant Salary 2026/27 and How Much More You Earn as an Inspector

A police sergeant in England and Wales earns £55,443 on pay point 2, the entry point, rising to £58,175 on pay point 4, from 1 September 2026. That is the 3.5% award the Home Secretary announced on 15 July 2026, applied to every pay point. An inspector outside London starts the scale at £66,000, which is £7,825 more than a sergeant at the top of the scale.

This guide sets out the sergeant pay scale, an estimate of what each pay point leaves you after pension, tax and National Insurance, how it compares with a constable and an inspector, how overtime changes the picture, and what the step to inspector involves. The figures are for England and Wales; Scotland and Northern Ireland set police pay separately (see below).

ProSyllabus is an independent study site. It is not part of the Home Office, the College of Policing, the Police Federation or any police force. Pay figures come from the official sources listed at the end; take-home figures are our own estimates.

PRRB Report 2026 and written statement HCWS264; 1 Sep 2026 figures and take-home are our arithmetic. Checked 5 Nov 2026.

The 1 September 2025 figures are the official pay points printed in the PRRB's 2026 report. The 1 September 2026 figures are those points increased by 3.5% and rounded to the nearest pound (our arithmetic); the Police Federation publishes the same figures. The PRRB had recommended 3.9%; the written statement calls 3.5% "the highest award that is manageable within existing police force and Home Office budgets".

Under the Home Office pay determination (Annex F to the Police Regulations 2003), officers made sergeant on or after 1 September 2020 join at pay point 2 and move up one point each year on the anniversary of their promotion, provided they meet the Pay Progression Standard. In practice that means pay point 4 two years after promotion. In March 2025, 75% of sergeants in England and Wales were on pay point 4 (PRRB report, Table 3.2).

Our estimate for 2026/27 at the annual rate from 1 September 2026: basic pay only (no overtime, allowances or London Weighting); tax code 1257L with England and Wales Income Tax bands (Scotland differs); employee National Insurance category A; full police pension (2015 scheme) contributions at 13.88% of basic pay, the rate from 1 April 2026 when your pensionable pay in the previous scheme year was above £37,035 and below £79,588 (your own tier may differ), taken from pay before Income Tax; no student loan or other deductions. Your payslip will differ.

The police pension contribution is the biggest deduction. Under the 2026 regulations the full rates are 12.88% up to £37,035, 13.88% above that and below £79,588, and 14.22% from £79,588. Your tier normally depends on your pensionable earnings in the previous scheme year (joining pay is used instead if you joined the scheme or returned from a long period of leave in that time). Every basic pay point in this guide sits within the 13.88% band, but your own rate may differ. Because the contribution comes off before Income Tax, it also brings taxable pay down: on these assumptions taxable pay (basic pay minus the pension contribution) at all three sergeant points stays below the £50,270 level where 40% tax starts. Overtime or other taxable pay on top can take you into the 40% band.

The constable row is pay point 7, the top of the scale for constables appointed on or after 1 April 2013. The inspector scale has four points, 0 to 3. Inspectors in the Metropolitan Police Service and the City of London Police have their own, higher scale; sergeants have one national scale. Same assumptions as above for the take-home figures.

Basic pay is not the whole story for a sergeant. Constables and sergeants are paid overtime; inspectors and above are not. In the 2024/25 financial year 92% of full-time sergeants received overtime pay, and among those who did, the median amount was £3,777 a year (PRRB report, Tables E.2 and E.3). The median Unsocial Hours Allowance among sergeants who received it was £599, against £257 for inspectors.

Depending on their force and circumstances, officers may also receive location payments. From 1 September 2026 the written statement raised London Weighting by 3.5% and the maximum rates of the London Allowance and the South East Allowance by 3.5%. They depend on where you serve, so the take-home estimates in this guide leave them out.

In England and Wales the route from sergeant to inspector is the National Police Promotion Framework (NPPF). Step Two is the inspectors' legal exam, run by the College of Policing. The 2027 candidate handbook sets out the main rules:

In May 2026, 644 of 1,739 candidates passed the inspectors' exam (37.0%), according to the College's results overview. After the exam come the later NPPF steps run by your force, so passing does not in itself bring a promotion or a pay rise. For the format, syllabus and dates in full, read our NPPF inspectors' exam format, syllabus and dates guide; to see the kind of question asked, try our NPPF inspectors' exam practice questions.

These play in our practice player: press Start, answer them, and the result page explains each answer from the legislation or Code of Practice it rests on. They are our own independent practice questions, not College of Policing questions.

This guide covers England and Wales only. In Scotland, police officers' pay is negotiated by the Police Negotiating Board for Scotland, which recommends agreements to Scottish ministers, and Scottish Income Tax bands are different, so neither the pay points nor the take-home estimates above apply. In Northern Ireland the PRRB makes a separate report on police pay, so check the figures for your own service.