Metropolitan Police Careers

Pay & benefits

Pay

All Metropolitan police officers currently receive London weighting and allowances amounting to £6,501 on top of national police pay scales.

If you are new to the role, this means:

• £28,605 on commencing service
• £31,176 on completion of initial 31 weeks' training
• £32,610 after two years' probationer training.

Experienced officers transferring into the MPS may also qualify to receive a rent or housing allowance up to a maximum of £5,863 and £5,126 a year respectively.

Leave

You can expect to have 22-30 days paid annual holiday, depending on your length of service. This is on top of public holidays and an average of two rest days per week.

In addition, we also make provision for a number of other forms of leave, including:

• Maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• Special leave with pay
• Special leave without pay
• Parental leave
• Career breaks of up to five years.

Travel

All our police officers currently benefit from free travel on London Underground and buses. This is available seven days a week, whether you are on or off duty.

If you travel a longer distance by train, you are entitled to join The Rail Travel Concession. The Rail Travel Concession allows regular serving police officers travel on National Rail services within an agreed area for a small monthly cost. This is a taxable benefit that the MPS negotiates and pays for.

Flexible working

We provide a variety of flexible working options, helping you to fit your job around your other commitments. Some roles lend themselves more easily to flexible working than others, but every case is judged on its merits and we will work with you to find an option to suit you without compromising our service delivery.

However, whilst we will try to accommodate individual, religious and cultural needs, it must always be remembered that we are an emergency service with a 24/7 responsibility to the people of London. Candidates need to be aware that the operational demands of policing will always come before individual needs.

Therefore, before completing an application, you MUST understand the requirement to be available for duty at all times.

The flexible working options on offer include:

• Annualised hours - choose how to spread an agreed number of hours across a year
• Compressed hours - work slightly longer days in return for extra time off
• Flexi time - vary your start, finish and break times to suit your life needs
• Part-time working
• Term-time work - take extra unpaid time off to cover the school holidays.

Pensions

Unless you choose to make your own arrangements, as a Metropolitan police officer you will automatically join the Police Pension Scheme, a fast accrual final salary pension scheme to which you will contribute 9.5% of your pensionable pay.

Key Worker Living

Key Worker Living is a government scheme, providing people with important jobs in London with housing assistance. For police officers, this could take the form of any of the following:

• An equity loan of up to £50,000 to put towards the purchase of property
• Shared ownership of new builds whereby you part-rent and part-buy your property
• Intermediate rent whereby new blocks of apartments are let out at a higher rate than local authority rent but lower than private sector levels.

Financial services

Authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority, Metfriendly (Metropolitan Police Friendly Society Limited) offers our staff and volunteers a number of financial services, including:

• Savings products
• Insurance and protection products
• Investment products.

These can be accessed via their website www.mpfs.org.uk or on the MPS Intranet under 'Friendly Society'

For a nominal monthly sum, you can also choose to contribute to the Police Federation Voluntary Fund, which will provide both you and your spouse/partner with life and accident assurance cover.

Discounts & subsidies

Finally, being a Metropolitan police officer will give you access to a wide range of discounts and special deals with major High Street stores, retail outlets and other organisations nationwide.

You can save money on everything from food, clothes, furniture, electrical goods and DIY products to hotels, restaurants, cinemas, theatres, flights and holidays.

Many MPS locations also have subsidised staff restaurants, serving a good choice of two and three course meals for significantly less than you'd pay on the High Street.

Healthcare

We offer contributory private healthcare scheme to all our police officers, as well as other benefits such as free eye tests and spectacles for people who regularly use computers.

Training & development

We are committed to helping you develop your skills and career by giving you the opportunity to attend internal and external courses, occasionally providing extra time off and funding for study towards a professional qualification.

If you want to continue with your education, you will be able to apply for help towards the cost of the course, providing it is relevant to your role and career.

If you have what it takes to succeed in leadership roles, you may be able to join the High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) which will provide you with additional individually tailored support and training to help you achieve your potential.

Personal support & advice

We pride ourselves on being a caring employer and provide a whole range of support initiatives to help with both you and your family's welfare. These include:

• Support for employees with caring responsibilities (e.g. flexible working arrangements)
• Occupational health and welfare counseling (from psychotherapy to financial guidance)
• Resettlement and outplacement support and services
• A subsidised convalescence home
• Holiday play schemes to help with your childcare
• A network of 'First Contacts' who you can talk to about anything on a one-to-one basis
• A range of development and mentoring schemes
• Membership of the Police Federation and staff associations to support and represent your needs.

Sports & social

The MPS offers all its employees, as well as their families and friends, a range of subsidised leisure and sporting activities and opportunities - including a number of clubs and societies run by COMETS, our sports and social association:

• Angling Society
• Excelsior @ NSY Social Club
• Golfing Society
• Football Club
• Road Running Club
• MPA Sports and Social Club.

COMETS also organise discounted group trips and short breaks all over the world for members and their families, as well as running occasional outings such as the trips to the theatre and providing beneficial access to National Trust attractions and all venues associated with the Imperial War museum.

In addition to COMETS, our employees can join the Metropolitan Police Athletics Association, giving you access to the full range of friendly and competitive sporting activities on offer, including sailing, rugby, football, cricket, flying, squash, darts and bowls.

You can also become a member of one of our four sports clubs in Chigwell, Essex; Hayes, Kent; Imber Court, Surrey; and Bushey, Herts. Great places to unwind, each club has a gym, bar and active social club. They also organise special events, such as children's parties and wedding receptions, and allow you to hire the sports club facilities at greatly discounted rates.