Metropolitan Police staff to strike on New Year’s Eve over pay
Metropolitan Police staff are preparing to stage a 25-hour strike on New Year’s Eve, with the Unite union warning the move could lead to “delays to emergency calls” on one of London’s busiest nights.
The industrial action, which will involve 175 Unite members from the Met’s central command, including call handlers, office staff, fleet services and technicians, will begin at 6am on December 31.
This coincides with the period when hundreds of thousands of people are expected to gather in the capital for New Year celebrations.
The dispute centers on salaries; Unite said affected staff did not receive a pay rise for 2025/6, while police officers in the UK, including the Met, were given a 4.2 per cent increase.
Unite highlighted the potential impact, stating: “As a key night for policing, strike action would be very disruptive, including causing delays to emergency calls.”
The strike is set to significantly disrupt police operations at a critical time.
The union said the Met had put forward two provisional offers (3.8 per cent or 4.2 per cent) which were “conditional on workers accepting much worse conditions”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is unacceptable that our members in the Met are the only workers in the UK police force who have yet to receive a pay rise.
“It is disgraceful that the Met is dangling the carrot about pay rises but also proposing attacks on workers’ terms and conditions.
“The union will not allow conditions for our members to worsen and workers have the union’s full support throughout this dispute.”
Unite regional officer Keith Henderson said: “We know Londoners will be concerned about news of strikes on New Year’s Eve, but our members in the Met feel they have no choice but to strike in their fight for fair pay rises.
“They are being penalized financially by their employers for poor management decisions and interruptions that are not their fault.
“The Met has a chance to stop this strike, but that depends on it returning and offering staff the fair pay rise they deserve, in line with every other force in the country and without changes to terms and conditions.”
The Metropolitan Police has been approached for comment.
