Cancelling rest days to work football matches is not sustainable

1 May 2024

‘We hear your concerns and we are taking this seriously,’ reassures the chair of Suffolk Police Federation, as he acknowledges that regularly cancelling officers’ rest days to cover football matches is not sustainable.

Darren Harris says issues around the cancellation of rest days so cops can cover football matches ‘cannot continue as it is’ into next season.

His comments come after the latest pay and morale results revealed that 93 per cent of officers who responded said their morale was currently ‘low’ or ‘very low’ with Darren adding that the cancelling of members’ rest days was ‘undoubtedly’ a contributing factor.

“As it stands the Constabulary is unable to resource football matches without cancelling our members’ rest days and putting in place annual leave bans on match days,” said Darren.

“At the moment - our members can be ‘told’ they are working - even if they have rest days planned. They aren’t asked, they are told.”

And while there is an appeal process in place, the appeal must be due to exceptional circumstances.

Darren said: “This can’t continue. Officers' wellbeing and mental health are at rock bottom, they are under enough pressure without having their rest days cancelled.

“The Force needs to come up with a plan before next season, especially if Ipswich get promoted to the Premier League.”

Darren said that while historically, policing football matches would have relied on cops volunteering to work, that ‘just is not the case anymore’.

“Policing has changed,” he continued, adding: “You can’t get the volunteers to work those matches anymore. Staff are burnt out and honestly, they work enough overtime as it is.

“Their annual leave, weekends spent with loved ones, family and friends, is so much more important to them than money. They want their time off, but more often than not, these football matches impact that precious time with loved ones.

“It’s no wonder that our members are so fed up.”

Darren explained that the only certain way officers can ‘protect their rest days’ is by booking annual leave at either end.

“Of course, I appreciate asking our members to book annual leave to protect their rest days, all of the time, is totally unrealistic,” Darren said, “after all, there’s a limit to how much annual leave we all have.”

Ahead of the match between Ipswich and Huddersfield on Saturday 4 May - which could determine whether the local squad get automatically promoted, and has therefore been graded a ‘medium risk’ - all officers have been warned their rest days are cancelled.

“Everyone who works as a cop in Suffolk has been told if you are on a rest day that weekend - which is also a bank holiday weekend - treat that rest day as cancelled as you might be called to work,” Darren said.

“Again, our members are not being asked, they are being tasked. It’s not sustainable and it’s not fair.

“The message I want to send is, as a Federation, we understand this is an ongoing issue and we are taking it seriously. We hear what our members are saying and we are doing what we can to ensure working conditions within Suffolk Constabulary improve.”