Metropolitan Police civilian staff are preparing to stage a 25-hour strike on New Year’s Eve in a dispute over pay, raising concerns about disruption during one of the busiest nights of the year in London.
The industrial action, organised by the trade union Unite, will begin at 6am on 31 December and involve around 175 staff working in the Metropolitan Police’s central command. Those taking part include emergency call handlers, office-based staff, fleet services workers and technicians.
Unite has warned that the walkout could affect police operations at a time when hundreds of thousands of people are expected to attend New Year celebrations across the capital. The union said the strike could lead to “delays to emergency callouts” during a critical policing period.
The dispute centres on pay for the 2025/26 year. Unite says affected Metropolitan Police staff have yet to receive a pay rise, unlike police officers across the UK – including those in the Met – who were awarded a 4.2 per cent increase.
According to the union, the Met has put forward two provisional pay offers of 3.8 per cent or 4.2 per cent, but these were “conditional on workers accepting vastly inferior conditions”.
Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “It is unacceptable that our members in the Met are the only workers in UK police forces that have not yet had their pay rise.
“It is a disgrace that the Met has dangled the carrot of a pay rise but is also offering the stick of attacks on workers’ terms and conditions. Unite won’t allow our members’ conditions to worsen and the workers have the union’s full support throughout this dispute.”
Keith Henderson, Unite’s regional officer, said staff felt they had been left with no alternative. “We know Londoners will be concerned to hear of strikes on New Year’s Eve, but our members at the Met feel they have no choice but to strike in their fight for a fair pay rise,” he said.
“They are being financially penalised by their employer for poor management decisions and cuts that were not their fault. The Met has a chance to stop this industrial action, but that relies on it coming back and offering staff the fair pay rise they deserve in line with all the other forces in the country and without changes to terms and conditions.”
The Metropolitan Police have been approached for comment.
