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The force duty day is set by the Chief Constable to start at 0700 hrs.
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Rest days start at the end of the working day and not at the end of a tour of duty. You therefore need to know when you can start to accrue rest day enhancements as opposed to overtime rates.
Also, you need to know at what time your rest day ends and a working day starts for overtime purposes. See 'Advance of Hours' below.
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There are several ways in which to work overtime: Please click on the links below to find out more
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Normal overtime
You can claim overtime if you work on at the end of a tour of duty. However, if you're told of the need to work overtime after the start of the shift, the first 1/2 hour on the first 4 occasions in any one week should be deducted. Overtime such as this is recorded at time and a third.
If you're told no later than the start of the shift of the requirement to work overtime that day, ie pre-planned overtime, you do not need to deduct the first 1/2 hour. If you were not told at the start of a shift because of poor planning and your supervisors should have made arrangements at the start of your shift, then this will count as pre-planned. If you are in any doubt then contact your Federation Representative for advice.
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Recall to duty
You can claim overtime as a result of a recall to duty. A recall is best described as an island of duty between 2 tours of duty. It is not a recall if your rostered tour of duty has been brought forward (see Advance of Hours below). Therefore, if you work 0700 to 1600 for instance, go home and are then required to return to work at 2100 before returning home at 2300, that is a recall to duty and you can claim the hours worked at time and a third. You can claim travelling time from your home to place of work for a recall to duty as long as the period of duty together with the travelling time does not exceed 6 hours.
If you're recalled to duty but that period of duty then rolls into your normal tour of duty, it is not a recall but would constitute your tour of duty for that day, plus any normal overtime worked (subject to the Advance of Hours below).
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Advance of Hours
An advance of hours occurs when your tour of duty has been brought forward onto a day on which you've already completed a tour of duty.
Therefore, if you were required to report for duty at 0500 having worked 0700 to 1600 the previous day, that would be an advance of hours.
You can claim overtime for an advance of hours only if you've not been given appropriate notice, defined in Police Regulations as 8 hours prior to the start of the new tour of duty.
In the above scenario, if you were told of the requirement to report for duty at 0500 prior to 2100 the night before, you cannot claim any overtime and your tour of duty starts as normal at 0500.
If you are told of the requirement to report for duty at 0500 after 2100, you're entitled to claim overtime at time and a third for the hours between 0500 and the start of your rostered tour of duty on that day. However, unlike normal overtime, your tour of duty also actually starts at 0500 and, after completing your normal tour of duty, you can then claim overtime again at time and a third.
Example: On Monday you work 0700 to 1600 and go home. Your tour of duty for the Tuesday is 1000 to 1900. At 2130 on Monday night, you're told to report for duty at 0500 on Tuesday morning. You should then claim from 0500 to 1000 as overtime at time and a third. You work your normal 9 hour tour of duty from 0500 which gives an end of duty time of 1400. If you work later than 1400, you again claim overtime at time and a third from 1400 to the end of your duty.
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The rest day starts at the end of the working day and not at the end of your tour of duty. i.e.0700 hrs.
If you work into your first rest day directly from a tour of duty, you should claim the time worked up to the first hour of that rest day at time and a half, in increments of completed 15 minutes. After the first hour, you should then claim a minimum of 4 hours at time and a half. You do not need to lose the first half an hour (i.e. casual or pre planned) as rest day working is not subject to this requirement.
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If you're required to work on a public holiday, you can claim whatever hours you've worked at double time. If you are told to work a public holiday with less than 8 days' notice, you can claim double time for the hours worked and another day off.
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If you're told of a requirement to work on a rest day or public holiday but are then informed that the requirement for the cancellation has ceased to exist, the following applies:
If you've been given more than 8 clear days' notice of the reinstatement of the rest day or public holiday, you should take the rest day as normal.
If you've been given less than 8 clear days' notice of the reinstatement of a rest day or public holiday, you can either take the day off as normal or work the day at the appropriate rate. The appropriate rate for a rest day is the rate at which the day was cancelled. Therefore, if you're told with 3 months notice that you will have to work a football match but then, 6 days prior to the event, the day is reinstated, you would be able to work it at flat rate with another rest day being re-scheduled. If you were cancelled for the day with only 12 clear days' notice and it was reinstated with less than 8 days' notice, you would be able to work the day at time and a half.
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If you're recalled to duty or work on a rest day without appropriate notice (i.e. if you're being paid overtime for the duty), you can claim travelling time as long as the period of duty together with the travelling time does not exceed 6 hours. If it does, you cannot claim travelling time.
You are not entitled to claim travelling time when working into your first rest day directly from a tour of duty.
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No. The choice of whether you take payment for overtime worked or time off in lieu is your decision. If you choose to take time off in lieu, i.e. you put the time on your card, the time should be taken within a 3 month period following the week in which that day is worked or paid at the appropriate rate.
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No, Dyfed Powys Police Federation would never negotiate a local agreement for officers to receive less than they were entitled. If you are required to work on a rest day you cannot be paid time and a third or flat rate. If you are required to work on at the end of a shift you cannot be paid a flat rate.
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If you have work outstanding then you should provide the supervisor with a summary, hand over any documentation / information and advise the supervisor that you will unable to remain on duty and that he /she will need to ensure that the task is completed by another officer. It is not fair for you to work uncompensated.
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If you are required to work on a rest day, you are entitled to overtime at the appropriate rate. The appropriate rate is as follows:
Where less than 15 clear days' notice are given of the requirement to work time and a half;
If you work less than 4 hours on a rest day, you are entitled to claim a minimum of 4 hours plus reasonable travelling time from your home to place of work. Reasonable travelling time has been deemed to be 1/2 hour each way.
If you have more than 15 clear days' notice, the rest day should be cancelled and then re-rostered within 4 days of the cancellation being notified to the officer.
The exception to this would be 'special duty' where time and a half is paid even though more than 15 clear days' notice have been given.
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You must notify your Line Manager immediately by telephone or within an hour of the commencement of what would have been your tour of duty. Try and inform your Line Manager of how long you are likely to be off. If your absence is likely to be in excess of 14 days, you are advised to contact your Divisional Federation Representative or the Federation Office.
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Ensure injury on duty form is submitted immediately. Go online to www.pfclaimline.co.uk as you may have a civil claim. Depending on the circumstances, you may also be able to claim from the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA) and Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) for an industrial injury. Contact the Federation Office.
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Inform your Line Manager immediately. Generally, that day will not be counted towards your sickness absence.Answer
Resume as soon as you consider yourself fit for work even if this means resuming onto a rest day. This way, the number of days recorded as sickness absence will exclude the rest days if you intend resuming work after them.
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Sickness absence will take primacy over annual leave. However, you will have to obtain a Doctors MED3 certificate of sickness absence to cover the entire period.
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Providing your holiday, or any other activity for that matter, does not impede, interfere with or is detrimental to your recovery there should be no issues. However, you must inform your Line Manager and it is good practice to seek guidance from your GP and/or Occupational Health before going.
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If you attend Flint House during a period of sickness, the attendance will be recorded as such. If you are in the workplace, it will not be so counted.
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If I go sick, will I be subject of UPP?
Dyfed Powys police policy is to treat all sickness as genuine. However, there are occasions when Line Managers should CONSIDER instigating the informal stage of the UPP process at an Attendance Support Meeting. The circumstances are:-
- 3 periods of sickness in 6 months
- 4 periods of sickness in 12 months.
- Where sickness exceeds the current target.
- Where there is a clearly defined pattern of sickness.
Having CONSIDERED the circumstances, the Line Manager may instigate Management Intervention setting an Action Plan with various criteria. In the main, those criteria will be to return to the workplace by a certain date and maintain attendance the Action plan can last up to 6 months. If you do not achieve the Action Plan you may then be placed on the First Stage of the police Efficiency (Attendance Regs).
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The Force accept there are no grounds to remove the right to self-certify absence of up to 7 days and there is no legal entitlement to do so.
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Yes. The line manager must write to the officer inviting him or her to the meeting. 5 calendar days notice of the meeting must be given. If the officer is unable to attend efforts will be made to reschedule the meeting. It must be noted that the meeting may take place in the officers absence.
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Yes, but clearly it is always better to try and reach agreement on a reasonable, achievable and sustainable Action Plan.
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Yes, you can appeal to the next Line Manager as with all the stages of UPP. Seek the advice of your Federation Representative.
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Injuries on duty and pregnancy related absences should be excluded from the Trigger Points and Bradford Score. Linked absences will generally be counted as one for these purposes. If it is an injury on duty, ensure the Injury on Duty form is submitted to your Personnel Manager and send a copy to the Federation office. If your absence is pregnancy related contact your Reserve (Female) Representative or Federation office for advice and assistance.
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Where there is a breach you may move to Stage 1 of the process, your Line Manager must notify you in writing of the time, date and place of the interview. You are entitled to be represented at that meeting and you should therefore contact your Federation Representative or Federation office as soon as possible.
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The first stage is 'Attendance Support Meeting' is intended to be informal. The second is the 'First Formal Stage', third is the 'Second Formal Stage' and fourth 'Third Stage Meeting'. You can be represented by your Federation Friend at all stages.
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The entire procedure is intended to be supportive process as oppose to punitive. The Organisation have a part to play in providing that support and assistance. However, at the 'Third Stage Meeting', the ultimate sanction for the ACPO is the requirement to resign.
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It is important to engage in a Regulatory process which deals with sickness absence. Reasonable, achievable and sustainable criteria should be negotiated although target dates will be set if one cannot be agreed.
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There are circumstances when you can return to recuperative duties although only when you are able to resume your core substantive duties within 28 days of returning. Again, contact your Federation Representative or office.
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Your Line Manager must refer your case to Occupational Health who can extend that period.
What if I can return to work in a restricted capacity although it is unlikely I will be able to retu
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Your Line Manager, in consultation with Occupational Health and your People Services Manager should consider the appropriateness of such a rerun. An Action Plan should be prepared. You are advised to contact your local Federation Representative or office.
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Yes, contact your Federation friend.
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The Force's current approach is that, irrespective of the core duties and role you perform, if you do not have an operationally deployable capability, you may, after medical opinion, be determined restricted. Time gates will be set within Action Plans to achieve that operational capacity. It is therefore important you make regular contact with your Federation friend who will be able to make representations on your behalf.
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Generally they will last no longer that 12 months during which the condition has improved and the restriction lifted or it may become evident it is of a permanent nature. Consideration may be given to referring you to a Selected Medical Practitioner (SMP) for a decision on permanence. In such circumstances, if you have not already done so, you are urged to contact your Federation friend.
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Since Police Reform and as a consequence of Home Office and PNB Guidance, the emphasis is on the retention of Officers who are determined by an SMP to be 'permanently disabled from performing the ordinary duties of a member of the Police Force'.
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After a continuous period of 6 months absence or an accumulated period of 6 in the last 12, consideration will be given by ACPO to reducing your pay to half. There are strict criteria when ACPO can consider affording favourable discretion and you should contact your Federation friend. If you do move to half pay, or even where discretion is afforded, you should claim Employment Support Allowance from the DWP.
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The Group Insurance Scheme does make payments to members of the Scheme who are on half pay or no pay, should you require further information then consult your policy book or the Federation Office.
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Regular contact must be maintained with your Line Manager throughout your absence particularly if it is long term. There are circumstances where contact can be with another nominated individual and advice should be sought from your Divisional Federation Representative or Federation office.
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The Force has a limited budget for Private Medical Intervention and there are criteria set for those who wish to claim from it. You should contact the Occupational Health for the relevant forms.
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If you are for the purposes of the Disability Discrimination Act 'disabled' the Organisation is legally bound to make reasonable adjustments enabling you to return to or remain within the workplace. Provision of specialist equipment and office furniture can also be arranged although you should contact Access to Work yourself as the process is client led.
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- Less than 2 years service - 22 days
- 2 or more years service - 25 days
- 5 or more years service - 25 days
- 10 or more years service - 27 days
- 15 or more years service - 28 days
- 20 or more years service - 30 days
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In these circumstances, you need to pro rata the annual leave entitlement for the number of completed months of service. Therefore, if you have 10 years' service during October, you'll have completed 6 months service during that leave year. You are therefore entitled to 50% of the annual leave increase, thus giving an increase of 1 day's annual leave to be taken from the October on. The next annual leave year would see the full increase to 27 days. If you were to retire with 30 years' service in October, you'd be entitled to claim 50% of your annual leave entitlement i.e. 15 days or 120 hours.
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Yes. Leave can be taken in blocks, as single days or in half days, subject to the exigencies of duty. If taken as a half day, you are not entitled to a meal break.
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Yes. It is at the discretion of the chief officer to allow you to carry over up to 5 annual leave days to the next year. However, in exceptional circumstances and if in the interests of the efficiency of the force, more can be granted.
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Yes. It is at the discretion of the chief officer to allow you to bring forward up to 5 annual leave days of the next year's annual leave entitlement to be taken in the last month of that year.
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If you've been required to work on an annual leave day, or a day taken off in lieu of overtime which is attached to a period of annual leave, where the period of absence is at least 3 days and at least 1 of those days is a day of annual leave, you are entitled to:
For 1 or 2 days an additional 2 days' annual leave (or, if you choose, 1 day's annual leave and 1 day's pay at double time) in lieu of each such day for which you were so recalled; or
For 3 or more days - 2 days' annual leave (or, if you choose, 1 day's annual leave and 1 day's pay at double time) in lieu of each of the first 2 such days for which you were so recalled, and 1.5 days' annual leave (or, if you choose, 1 day's annual leave and 0.5 day's pay at double time) in lieu of each such day for which you were so recalled thereafter.
This applies to those required to work on an annual leave day as well as those recalled on such days.
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From 1st May, 2014, if you are required to work on a rest day or free day which is attached to a period of annual leave, that day will be treated as if it were an annual leave day (see above for annual leave remuneration). For this to apply, the period of absence must be of 5 days or more with at least 1 of those days being an annual leave day. You can see the PNB agreement for this here
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No. You can't be on annual leave and sickness absence at the same time. However, you can take a break away as long as you are contactable and your journey or break is not detrimental to your recovery. You should inform your supervisor if you wish to go away whilst on sickness absence.
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You should contact your Fed rep and try to negotiate a means of progressing the case without the need for you to attend or adjourn the case to a suitable date. Ultimately, though, if warned for court you have to attend. In such circumstances, if going on holiday, the Federation travel insurance will normally cover you for the cancellation or curtailment of your holiday, as long as you were not aware of the court date when the holiday was booked.
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Click here to read the agreed Milage rates as Agreed by the (PNB)Police Negotiating Board
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Your right to a refreshment break is contained within Police Regulation 22 Annex E. This states that where an officer is on duty for a continuous period of 5 hours or more, they are entitled to a refreshment break, as far as exigencies of duty permit.
Exigencies of service are a pressing need or requirement which cannot be reasonably avoided. However, this does not mean that refreshment breaks can be abused or ignored.
Police Officers are paid for their refreshment break as they are required to remain available to return to duty. Regulations offer little protection when refreshment breaks are not taken or interrupted so we must rely on other legislation to assist, such as Working Time Regulations, as shown below.
Breaches of the Working Time Regulations can be dealt with by an Employment Tribunal or complaint to the Health and Safety Executive who can issue the Force with an improvement notice, or even prosecute the Force if the situation is not improved.
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REST BREAKS AT WORK (Regulation 12)
This Regulation provides that where an adult worker's daily working time is more than 6 hours, he/she is entitled to an uninterrupted rest break of not less than 20 minutes, and is entitled to spend it away from his/her work station (if there is one). Albeit subject to the exigencies of duty, the position under the Police Regulations 2003, in Annex E, which provides for a minimum 30 minute break on a sliding scale, is more favourable than this Working Time Regulation and, in most circumstances, should therefore prevail.
Under the local workforce agreement it was agreed that should a daily rest break be interrupted for any reason, the remainder of the time owed will be taken during that day.
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By reason of Regulation 12(1): 'Where an adult workers daily working time is more than 6 hours, he is entitled to a rest break'.
There is provision that this rest break should be an uninterrupted period of not less than 20 minutes and be away from the workers 'workstation' if he has one (Regulation 2(3)).
Importantly Regulation 12(2) provides: 'The details of the rest break to which an adult worker is entitled under paragraph (1), including its duration and the terms on which it is granted, shall be in accordance with any provisions for the purposes of this regulation which are contained in a collective agreement or a workforce agreement'.
We are advised that the Working Time Regulations right to a rest break for our members is likely to be 20 minutes. The question has been raised as to when the rest break should be taken. Whereas the Regulations are silent on this, we are advised it is to be anticipated that it should be taken in circumstances where the member works no more than 6 hours without enjoying a rest break. If, therefore, there is a rostered tour of duty of 8 hours, then it will be inappropriate for the WTR rest break of 20 minutes to occur earlier than after 1 hour 40 minutes of the tour (though, of course, members remain entitled, subject to the exigencies of duty, to 45 minutes rest break). If the rest break is, for instance, taken at the beginning of the 8th hour of the tour then the member will have been required to work 7 hours without a rest break and we advise that this is likely to be viewed as contrary to the spirit (if not the letter) of the Working Time Regulations.
It has been reported that in some Forces there are regular breaches of the provisions of Regulation 12 of the Working Time Regulations. The question was raised as to how this entitlement can be enforced.
A member may present a complaint to an Employment Tribunal that the Chief Officer has refused to permit him to exercise any right he has under Regulation 12 (a rest break provision). Such a complaint must be filed within 3 months less one day of the date it is alleged the exercise of the right should have been permitted. This is not a complaint that there is a breach of Regulation 12 but rather a complaint that there has been a refusal on the part of the employer 'to permit' the member to exercise that right.
We are therefore advised that where there are concerns that these rights are being breached, members should notify in writing their supervising officer that they wish to insist on their entitlement to a rest break in accordance with the terms of the Working Time Regulations and seek their proposals to ensure that these provisions can be complied with. There is of course scope for the entitlement to be disapplied either by way of agreement between the Joint Branch Board and the Chief Officer (or by reference to one of the special cases under Regulation 21) but in both instances, there is a requirement for compensatory rest (or protection as may be appropriate in order to safeguard the worker's health and safety).
An example of a successful complaint of a breach of regulation 12 is the decision of the Employment Tribunal in Roberts v Chief Constable of North Wales.
While tribunal decisions are not binding on other tribunals and cases will be affected by their own facts, the following points are worthy of note:
- The Tribunal accepted that the canteen within the custody suite was away from the Claimants work station;
- The Tribunal attached significance to the fact that while it might have been possible retrospectively to identify periods in excess of 20 minutes during which the Claimant might have taken a break, this could not be done in advance;
- The Tribunal applied the European cases on all call and concluded that the whole of the shift was working time;
- The Tribunal rejected an argument that Regulation 18 might apply. It found there to be no 'inevitable conflict'
- The Tribunal found that Regulation 21 did apply but that the Force was still in breach because of the failure to provide compensatory rest.
It should however be noted that the Roberts decision was before the decision of the Court of Appeal, in Gallagher v Alpha Catering Services, where it was held that in considering regulation 21, it is necessary to focus on the workers activities rather than the needs of the employer, so as to avoid an employer being able to deliberately under-staff and then rely on the exclusion.
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Pay Scales
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Click here to view a quick guide to the Police Regulations