Rest day backlog is down to cuts, says Chairman

27 April 2018

ESSEX officers are owed nearly 8,000 rest days, a new report has shown.

Steve Taylor, Essex Police Federation Chairman, says the issue is a symptom of officers being asked to do more with less.

Nationally, officers were owed almost 250,000 rest days as of September last year according to a Press Association report – a factor which has partly been blamed on having to deal with a large number of high profile incidents and attacks.

In Essex, the issue stems from a lack of officers on the frontline says Steve, and it’s impacting on officer health and wellbeing.

“It’s a symptom of us having to do more with less,” he said.

“And it’s a symptom of this preposterous assertion that the media uses around extra officers being deployed.

“There aren’t extra officers, or at least when these figures were published and when this snapshot was taken, there weren’t extra officers available.

“It’s the same officers doing more with less. These are the consequences of the cuts. This is a symptom of that.

“It’s vitally important that officers are able to recharge their batteries, to get time off, such are the pressures and the demands that they’re all facing,” he added.

“The health and wellbeing impact of officers missing rest days cannot be ignored.”

Steve recognises that officers will do what they have to do to get the job done.

“The job needs to be done but the fewer there are of us to get it done means we carry that bigger burden on the individual level, and that’s represented by the rest days, the overtime, the time away from work.

“None of us are denying that exigencies are a part of our profession, but when there are so few of us to share that exigency it’s more acutely felt by us all.

“More officers is an answer and we need more support from the organisation to make sure officers are getting the right time away from work to get ready for the challenges ahead,” he added.

“We’re here to support those officers that want to take what they’re entitled to, when they’re entitled to it, and to help the force manage the operational need with the individuals that want to have time off and have what they’re owed.

“We would support and encourage any officer to do exactly what they need to do.”

* Steve recently spoke about the issue on BBC Radio Essex alongside Faye McGuinness from the charity Mind, which runs the Blue Light programme, specifically aimed at supporting good mental health amongst emergency staff. She said not taking time off can have a ‘drip, drip’ affect on stress and that time to rest is ‘vital’ for officer wellbeing.