Thousands of rest days owed to public order officers

FOOTBALL clubs should pay the “full whack” for policing games to ensure public order officers can take their rest days, the chairman of the South Yorkshire Police Federation has said.

Neil Bowles said there is “huge concern” over cancelled rest days, with around 7,500 days owed to federated officers.

“Basically there are not enough officers trained to cope with the public order demands,” he said.

Of the 7,500 days, Mr Bowles said: “On average, this equates to fewer than three days per federated officer, but the vast majority of officers are not owed anything. It is mainly the public order trained constables and sergeants who are owed time.”

South Yorkshire has five football league clubs: Sheffield United, Sheffield Wednesday, Doncaster Rovers, Barnsley and Rotherham United. This means that every weekend of the football calendar, at least one of the five clubs plays at home.

Public order officers are also needed to police events such as English Defence League (EDL) meetings and marches.

“Somewhere along the line, the force has got to turn around to the football clubs and say: ‘Either pay us the full whack so we don’t have to cancel rest days or we don’t provide any policing,’” said Mr Bowles.

The Federation has been telling the force that it cannot simply owe officers all this time off and keep cancelling their rest days when stress-related illnesses are on the increase, says Mr Bowles. “It’s only going to get worse.”

A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Police said: “A number of officers within the Force have historically accrued leave days and time off in lieu. This is a complex issue that developed following a series of system, policy and process changes over a number of years.

“Following significant consultation involving staff associations, a policy was implemented in 2013 intended to support health and well-being, reduce the backlog and address any unpaid overtime.

“The policy also prevents future accumulation of rest days in line with regulations, whilst ‘ring fencing’ the historic totals to ensure fairness and provide the opportunity for staff to take time off or apply for payment (in cases of overtime recorded on the duty management system).

“Regulations do not allow payment for non-compensatory rest days. However officers can obtain confirmation from the force HR department in respect of historic time off in lieu as opposed to rest days, and claim payment where appropriate and in accordance with Police Regulations.”