Nearly 820,000 Rest Days Owed To UK Officers

13 May 2026

“Cancelled rest days negatively impact officers’ family lives”, Norfolk Police Federation has said, as it emerged that nearly 820,000 rest days are owed to police officers in the UK.

A Freedom of Information (FOI) Act request found that Constables, Sergeants, Inspectors and Chief Inspectors were owed 817,884 rest days – the equivalent of 2,240 years – as of 1 March 2026. The true figure is likely to be even higher, as four forces were unable to provide data.

In Norfolk, 11,753 rest days are owed to officers, averaging out at six days owed to every officer. Norfolk Police Federation Chair Andy Symonds said: “These numbers are simply too high, and nobody in policing can be surprised, especially after a summer where officers’ rest days were cancelled so they could police protests in the county.

“We continue to hold Norfolk Constabulary to account to ensure that rest days are swiftly re-rostered before officers become burnt out. When the Constabulary looks to cancel rest days, we continue to robustly challenge this to make sure their rationale stands up to scrutiny.”

Officers’ rest days can be cancelled for “an exigency of the service”, defined as “a pressing need or requirement that cannot be reasonably avoided”. But Andy said that a lack of available officers is making the problem even worse.

He said: “This is where the Government needs to properly fund policing to allow us to have enough officers to deal with demand, so forces don’t automatically have to cancel officers' rest days if, for instance, there is a protest that needs policing. Officers don’t get a choice when they’re ordered to come in for an exigency of duty, as we’re crown servants.”

Some officers are finding it difficult to re-roster their rest days, Andy added, particularly detectives and those who worked in roads and armed policing. This leads to people burning out and suffering from mental health conditions.

Andy added: “We are only too aware that these cancelled rest days negatively impact an officer’s family. Officers often have to miss family events, birthdays and important life occasions. We’re encouraging officers to re-roster their rest days as soon as they can. It’s good to do that straight away rather than leaving it on the pot to take another time.”