London weighting

London weighting is an additional payment made on top of the normal national rate for the job for staff working in London in order to help address the additional cost of living pressures in the capital. It is paid to civil servants, NHS staff and public sector workers, teachers and lecturers and employees of some national organisations and private companies. London weighting may be paid as an additional allowance or it may be integrated into the basic pay rate, in which case it may not appear as a separate itemised payment in a worker’s pay statement.

The police service pay both a London allowance and a London weighting. Some employers, including the NHS, Royal Mail and a number of government departments and agencies, pay different rates for inner London and outer London. Some employers, including the NHS, police and prison service, also pay an allowance for staff living on the fringes of London or in the South East.