Around 300 civilian staff at the Metropolitan Police, including 999 call handlers, fleet mechanics and police station front-desk workers, are voting on strike action in a dispute over pay and changes to shift patterns.
The ballot opened this week and closes on 26 November. If members vote in favour, the union says action would disrupt emergency call handling, vehicle maintenance and the front counters where the public reports crime and produces documents.
What the dispute is about
The staff are employed by the force but are not police officers. Their pay is set through a separate negotiating framework, and the union says last year’s award has still not been fully implemented. It also argues that the proposed 3.5 per cent rise for 2026/27 falls short of inflation and of the settlements being made to officers.
London weighting is a further grievance. Staff say the additional payment for working in the capital has fallen behind the equivalent enhancements paid to police officers, even though both groups face the same housing and travel costs.
The shift changes are the most concrete issue. The force wants to move 999 call handlers from a four-day to a five-day pattern and to increase weekend working from two weekends in four to seven in ten. The union says the changes would make the jobs harder to combine with caring responsibilities and would accelerate the turnover that already leaves control rooms short-staffed.
Why control rooms matter
The Met’s control room is the point at which the public reaches the police. Calls are triaged, graded and dispatched, and delays of a few minutes change outcomes in cases involving violence or a person in crisis.
Staffing in control rooms has been a persistent problem. The force has recruited additional call handlers in recent years, but attrition has remained high, with many recruits leaving within two years after discovering that the role consists largely of managing demand that the rest of the system cannot absorb.
Front counters have already been reduced across London, with several stations closing their public desks and others operating limited hours. Fleet services keep thousands of response vehicles on the road, and a stoppage there would affect the availability of cars and vans within days.
The wider police funding picture
The ballot comes as the force manages a budget that has been squeezed by pay awards, national insurance changes and the cost of the overhaul demanded after a series of scandals. The Mayor has consistently argued that London is underfunded relative to its policing demands, and the force has already reduced some visible services, including the number of officers in neighbourhood teams.
Civilian staff are the easiest part of the workforce to cut and the hardest to replace, because the skills are transferable and the pay is lower than in the private sector. A dispute that pushes experienced call handlers out of the force would show up as longer answering times rather than as a visible reduction in officer numbers.
The union’s general secretary, Sharon Graham, has backed members’ demands on pay, staffing and work-life balance. Its regional officer, Keith Henderson, has said the force would bear full responsibility for any disruption, a framing that anticipates a public argument about who is to blame if calls go unanswered.
What happens next
A ballot of this kind usually produces a high turnout among a small, concentrated group of workers, and a yes vote would be followed by notice of action and further negotiation. The force can apply for exemptions to protect emergency cover, and both sides have an interest in agreeing minimum staffing levels before any walkout.
If a strike goes ahead, the public is likely to notice it in the least visible way possible: longer waits on the phone, calls triaged more slowly, and front counters closed on days when people have taken time off work to attend. Those effects are harder to photograph than a picket line, which is why the dispute may be resolved before it becomes a public argument.
