Officers could get more holiday pay with new deal

THE Police Federation of England and Wales has reached an agreement with the National Police Chiefs’ Council on potentially more holiday pay for officers.

The national agreement – which will come into effect next year – follows an Employment Appeal Tribunal ruling relating to the Bear Scotland case. The tribunal held that regular non-guaranteed overtime that workers are required to do should be included in holiday pay calculations.

In that case, the courts found that the calculation of ‘normal remuneration’ paid to workers while on annual leave should include overtime and other regular additional payments – where there is an intrinsic link between such payments and the work that the person is required to carry out.

Andy Fittes, General Secretary of the Federation, said: “I’m pleased to say that after much discussion with the National Police Chiefs’ Council we have come to a fair arrangement which I believe will benefit our members who are working overtime, and receive other allowances.”

As part of the agreement, the Federation has convinced the NPCC that payments need to include:

• all forms of overtime (to include public holidays)
• unsocial hours
• away from home allowance
• acting up allowance
• rest day working compensation
• part-time additional hours.

The payments will come into effect from 1 January 2016. A three months’ arrears period should also be paid as a one-off payment, and forces can decide to pay a flat rate of £60 per officer per month or the actual entitlement.

Mr Fittes said: “The rationale for the flat rate payment is to save officers and forces the administrative burden of proving and calculating actual payments. The sum was derived by calculating the average that officers would be due during a reference period.”

“We’ve been waiting for over a year for this to be finalised, and while it is disappointing it has taken such a long time to get an agreement, it is right that our officers are properly reimbursed.”