Recommendation 21

The NCA’s resourcing challenges are exacerbated by the Government’s failure to allow them to offer salaries that might attract those with specialist skills. It will always be difficult for the NCA to compete with the private sector, particularly for roles requiring high-level cyber skills, but it is unacceptable that NCA officers are paid less than their policing counterparts. As the elite national squad for serious and organised crime, the public would rightly expect the NCA to offer a competitive pay package, in recognition of the more specialist skills required for defending the UK against serious organised crime. The Home Office and Treasury should urgently revisit the funding available for NCA pay and progression, which has been an obstacle to achieving pay parity between police forces and NCA officers.