OFFICERS in South Yorkshire Police have largely snubbed the opportunity to change the dates of this year\u2019s Bank Holidays.<\/p>\n
Jim Lucas, secretary of South Yorkshire Police Federation, (pictured) said plans in the Winsor reforms to save the service money had backfired \u2013 with\u00a0front line\u00a0cops mainly choosing to remain with the status quo.<\/p>\n
Only 180 officers out of 2,775 in the force have requested to change some of their Bank Holidays in the coming year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are trying to make savings because on Bank Holidays, officers get paid double time,\u201d said Mr Lucas.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnless officers have religious reasons to celebrate a holiday at a different time of the year, we couldn\u2019t see any benefit in changing the Bank Holidays. People will want to take holidays and time off when their families are off.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople have got lives to live and they have got families and they want to spend time with their families. Clearly by changing their Bank Holidays, that would not be the case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Constables and Sergeants in the force had until January to substitute the statutory Bank Holidays \u2013 such as Boxing Day and May Day \u2013 for other days of their choice otherwise they would have received \u201cstatutory\u201d Bank Holidays.<\/p>\n
Mr Lucas added: \u201cUnder Winsor recommendations \u2013 in an attempt to try and make some savings \u2013 the Government brought a change in Bank Holidays in and thought people would make the changes to make some savings.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, certainly in our force, we have had 180 people to change some of the days and not all of them. Nationally we hear some forces have only had 20 people change them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are not making any savings whatsoever.”<\/p>\n
The voluntary re-allocation of statutory Bank Holidays by officers to dates of their choice was a recommendation in the Winsor 1 proposals. The exception is Christmas Day.<\/p>\n
Mr Lucas added: \u201cThe Government were hoping people would change their Bank Holidays in their entirety so they would work the days that would have been a Bank Holiday as a \u201cnormal\u201d \u2013 not at double time.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo for instance, at Easter, someone might want to change Good Friday and have a Monday off sometime in August – and they wouldn\u2019t get paid double time for working on Good Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut a lot of people, if their children are off and their families are off, officers will want to have the same time off as their families or get paid double time as they still have to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Winsor suggests that cancellation of a new \u201cBank Holiday\u201d date should be so rare that prior authorisation of at least an ACC would be required. If, however, the officer is required to work, they would be paid double time as usual for working a Bank Holiday.<\/p>\n
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