White police chief claims equal pay with black female colleague
A SENIOR police officer has brought a discrimination case against the Home Office after claiming he is paid less than a black female colleague because he is a white man.
Matt Parr, one of the five HM Inspectors of Constabulary who oversee the UK’S police forces and the author of yesterday’s damning report into Operation Midland, says his £140,000-ayear salary is too low compared with that of a black female inspector who does the same job as him.
He claims the discrepancy between his wage and the £185,000 salary of Wendy Williams – the last inspector appointed before him – is due to gender and race-related reasons.
The Home Office insists his lower salary is the result of a drive within the department to reduce the outlay on salaries for senior staff.
The case is before an employment tribunal, but went to a more senior judge after Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, sought to keep details of pay negotiations with Ms Williams secret.
Lawyers for Ms Patel said details of the talks were confidential and to reveal them in open court would violate Ms Williams’s right to privacy.
But Mr Justice Griffiths ordered that the entire case be heard in public and the final judgment published in full so all parties could understand the arguments in the case. Setting out Mr Parr’s claim, the judge said: “Mr Parr is one of five people currently appointed to the office of one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors of Constabulary (HMI).
“In 2018, he began proceedings in the employment tribunal, claiming equal pay and, further or alternatively, alleging race and sex discrimination.
“His named comparator is the HMI appointed before him, who is a woman of BME (black or ethnic minority) heritage. The Home Secretary admits that he does ‘like work’ within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 and that he is paid less, but contends that the reason for the discrepancy in salaries, which are apparently individually negotiated for each HMI, is a pay policy which aims to reduce senior salaries.”
According to the Home Office, Mr Parr, a former Royal Navy rear admiral, was appointed in 2016 to oversee, among other responsibilities, the National Crime Agency and London’s Metropolitan Police, and is paid £140,000. The case will now return to the employment tribunal for Mr Parr’s claim to be heard in full.