Thousands of police staff set to join firefighters in New Year's Eve strike

Strike by staff including 999 call handlers and detention officers is set to coincide with fire fighter walk out on one of the busiest days of the year

A police support officer - a section of staff who could strike - walks past a sign outside New Scotland Yard. The Met has cancelled leave for police officers and is making contingency plans in response to the planned strike (AFP/Getty Images)

Thousands of Metropolitan police civilian staff, including 999 call handlers, are set to strike on New Year's Eve.

If the planned strike goes ahead it could see around 7,500 civilian workers taking action, the PCS union said.

Taking place on one of the busiest days of the year, it would coincide with a walkout by London firefighters, with senior union representatives discussing the possibility of co-ordinating industrial action with the Fire Brigades Union.

Police and community support officers, 999 call handlers, detention officers in custody suites, and a range of administration and professional support staff are among those who plan to take action.

The strike was planned after a below-inflation 1 per cent rise was imposed by the Metropolitan Police last month, union officials said the Metropolitan Police could afford to pay staff more after saving millions of pounds on salaries in recent years due to job cuts.

Kim Hendry of the PCS said: “Police staff feel undervalued and underpaid. We have members forced to take second jobs, or use payday loans, just to keep afloat.

“Our demands are entirely reasonable - last year the Met saved over £50 million on the police staff budget due to job cuts.

“Just some of that money should be used to fund a decent pay rise, and they are calling on the commissioner and the deputy mayor to demonstrate that they genuinely value the hard work and commitment of police staff.”

The Met has already cancelled leave for police officers and is making contingency plans.

The Metropolitan Police described the pay rise as being “at the ceiling of the Government's public sector pay policy and the pay increase was given without any strings attached to it”.

It claimed the PCS's demands include a pay increase of up to 6 per cent.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: “The PCS has now informed the MPS that they intend to take strike action on New Year's Eve - one of the days when demand for our services is highest.

“We have tried-and-tested business continuity plans for all eventualities, including industrial action. These ensure that critical functions performed by police staff are performed by police officers who are fully trained in those roles.

“To ensure we are able to implement these plans, we stopped granting any further requests for annual leave or days off for officers and staff in a number of key areas for New Year's Eve in mid-December.

“In some cases we've also had to take the very difficult decision to cancel planned days off for officers with certain critical skills or in critical operational areas.

“These are clearly all steps we'd rather not take, but we have to be prepared to maintain critical operational areas in the event of a strike action by police staff, and we are confident that we have appropriate plans in place.”

Additional reporting by PA