Detective constable

As a new full-time detective constable in the Met, your total starting salary will be c.£31,000 per annum. This is made up of a basic salary plus London weighting and allowances and will increase annually to a maximum of c.£46,000 (including London weighting and allowances).

As a new detective constable, you’ll start receiving your salary after you’ve been attested on the first day of your Degree Holder Entry Programme.

You'll have 22 days' of paid annual holiday, rising to 30 days a year depending on your length of service. This is on top of public holidays and an average of two rest days each week.

Throughout your initial foundation learning experience, opportunities to take any annual leave will be limited and only granted in exceptional circumstances for a very short period. This is an intense course, and it's vital to your future development that you don't miss any aspect of the training with the Met or your allocated university. Once you've completed your initial learning, there is more flexibility around when you can take annual leave.

We make provision for a number of other forms of leave, including:

• maternity, paternity and adoption leave
• special leave with and without pay
• carers leave
• parental leave
• career breaks of up to five years

Whether you're on or off duty, you'll enjoy free travel on London Underground and buses, seven days a week, from the time you have completed your initial police training courses. You can also join our rail travel scheme for heavily discounted rail travel up to 70 miles from central London.

We'll always try to take your individual, religious and cultural needs into account so you can fit your work around your personal commitments. But we're an emergency service with a 24 hours a day, seven days a week responsibility to the people of London, so this may not always be possible.

In order to meet the needs of the public, there is an expectation that all officers can be called upon to work weekends, bank holidays and across all shift patterns.

When you start as a new detective, you'll automatically become a member of the New Police Pension Scheme 2015. This is a CARE (Career Average Revalued Earnings) pension scheme which offers a guaranteed pension with an optional lump sum, based on the earnings you receive during your career.

Both you and the Met will contribute and you will receive tax relief on the contributions you make. If you already have a pension it may be possible to transfer this into the police scheme.

Metfriendly offers a number of financial services for Met employees, including:

• Savings products
• Investment products
• Protection products

We offer a contributory health scheme to our officers, along with other benefits such as free eye tests and spectacles for those who are regular computer users.

We pride ourselves on being a caring employer, and provide a range of support initiatives to help with both your personal welfare and that of your family:

• support for employees with caring responsibilities, such as flexible working arrangements
• occupational health and welfare counselling, ranging from psychotherapy to financial guidance
• resettlement and outplacement support and services
• a subsidised convalescence home
• holiday play schemes to help with childcare
• a range of development and mentoring schemes
• membership of the Police Federation and Staff Associations to support and represent your needs

We offer our employees, as well as their family and friends, a range of subsidised leisure and sporting activities / opportunities.