Met staff suspend strike ahead of vote on pay offer

Metropolitan Police staff have paused planned strike action while members are invited to vote on a revised pay offer, after talks between the force and unions were described as producing an improved proposal.

Metropolitan Police staff have suspended planned strike action while members consider a revised pay offer. The pause follows talks between the force and unions that were described as producing an improved proposal. Unite had scheduled action from 19 to 24 January affecting 175 members, including call handlers, technicians and office staff. The Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union also paused a planned one-day strike for its 6,800 members after the force put forward a revised offer. Key details: - The planned Unite strike was due from 19 to 24 January and would have involved about 175 members, including call handlers, technicians and office staff. - PCS paused a planned one-day strike on 15 January affecting about 6,800 members such as 999 call handlers, detention officers and police community support officers, plus staff in vetting, intelligence, forensics, counter-terrorism and HR. - Both unions said talks with the Met produced an "improved pay offer" and that members will be balloted on the proposal. - Unite said members had previously rejected provisional offers of 3.8% (below RPI) and 4.2% that it said required changes to terms and conditions; the Met denied that characterisation and said it had sought to modernise terms to be consistent across the organisation. - PCS members previously carried out strike action on Bonfire Night over a London allowance of £1,250 that was unavailable for police staff. Summary: The immediate effect is that the scheduled stoppages are on hold while union members vote on the revised pay proposal. Balloting is the next formal step, and the reported outcome of those ballots and any further negotiations is undetermined at this time.