Trialling a new working pattern

This is not part of Police Regulations but the Force may agree a trial of your new working arrangement before they make a final decision on the request, which will be agreed mutually. It is always worth asking for this.

This allows sufficient reasonable time to trial the new arrangements before the Force makes that final decision and will usually be a period of up to three months. After this period, the Force will confirm whether the trial period has been successful, explaining the reason.

Where a flexible working arrangement is authorised for a defined short-term or trial period, you will revert to the original terms at the end of that period. This is important to note and highlights that officers need to review this with line managers weeks prior to the trial ending so are clear if it is working for each or needs tweaking, allowing time to submit the 12-month plan and get it in place prior to the end of the trial period.