The PFEW survey on inspecting ranks has now concluded. The initial findings have been sent to local federation branches for their information and use. The information gained from the survey has also been used in the PFEW pay positioning document to inform the Police Remuneration Review Body (PRRB) around the unique issues facing the inspecting ranks. You will have already received an email outlining the areas that we are asking the PRRB to address in their 2025 recommendations. The full report from the survey will be available shortly and this will be shared with the membership.

 

Part-Time

All inspectors and chief inspectors who are working part-time should be paid for any hours worked in excess of their agreed hours, up to 40 hours in any one week. All additional hours worked, up to 40 hours in any one week, will be pensionable for part-time inspectors and chief inspectors. Whilst we have been clear on this position since 2011 it seems that there are still problems around paying part-time inspectors and chief inspectors the correct pay. And, also making sure that this additional pay is counted for pension purposes. 88 per cent of those who work or have worked part-time said that they have worked over their agreed hours (PFEW Inspectors’ Survey 2024). 

The worrying statistic from the survey is that only 30 per cent of those working part-time reported that they are paid for these hours. More worrying is that only 54 per cent of those who were paid for the additional hours reported that the pay was also counted towards their pension. This means that there are a significant number of inspectors and chief inspectors who are not being paid what they are entitled to and are not having the additional pension they are entitled to. This is even more important now that everyone who pays into the police pension scheme will be under the 2015 scheme. 

The 2015 scheme is a career average scheme and the average pensionable pay has a direct bearing on the amount of pension accrued each year. It is important that officers receive the pay that they are entitled to and if that pay is pensionable then the pension too. The 2015 pension is revalued each April by CPI from the previous September plus 1.25 per cent so there is a compounding effect over time.

It is quite simple: Additional hours must be paid and these must be counted towards the pension. This issue was dealt with in the legal case Inspector Claire Clark v The Metropolitan Police Authority and the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis dated 26 May 2011. The findings from this case were sent to police forces under PNB Circular 022/2012, the link to the circular is here https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7ab5b5e5274a319e77a2ea/pnb-2-2012.pdf  The Police Regulation covering this is Regulation 24, Annex F, Part 11.

When calculating the additional pay for part-time officers the following elements of pay that should fall within the hourly rate of pay are London Weighting, London Allowance, London Transitional Supplement, South-East allowance, South-East Transitional Supplement, Special Escort Allowance, and Replacement Allowance. This is covered in PNB Circular 2014-6.

If anyone is not being paid their additional hours or not having them counted for pensions purposes, then we encourage you to speak to your force HR/payroll department and your local federation branch. 

Recently, we have also become aware of a situation where part-time members, who work on a rest day or free day, are being offered either the day back or the additional hours. It is our view that this is incorrect and that both a day in lieu should be given in addition to the pay for the additional hours for the following reasons:

 

Rest day working

The starting point for determining the compensation for a requirement to work on a rest day for members of the inspecting ranks is Police Regulation 26, Annex H, paragraphs 1(g) & (l). 

As summarised in the PFEW Quick Reference Guide, inspectors and chief inspectors who are required to work on a rest day are entitled to a day in lieu on each occasion to be taken in the following 12-month period, or over a further 12 month period in exceptional circumstances.  

Paragraph 3(e) of Annex H defines a day as “a period of 24 hours commencing at such time or time as the chief officer shall fix . . .”

Therefore, when an inspector is required to work on a rest day and granted a rest day in lieu it is not treated any differently for those who work full time or part time – they should simply be allocated another day to be treated as a rest day.  

For completeness, when an inspector is required to work on a rest day, the day reverts to being a duty day (with a day in lieu given). There will be a difference in terms of how members of the inspecting ranks are paid for the hours worked on the day worked depending on whether they work full time or part time. 

This is because full time members of the inspecting ranks are paid an annual salary that provides for at least an equivalent of 40 hours per week over the course of a year. This means that in the case of an officer who works full time the pay for any hours worked on a rest day is covered by their annual salary. In contrast officers who work part time, including members of the inspecting ranks, are hourly paid – therefore they should be paid plain time up to 40 hours in any relevant week for any additional hours worked including on what was a rest day, as per the above provisions of Annex F.

As set out above all officers who work part time, including members of the inspecting ranks are entitled to be paid in respect of every hour actually worked (up to 40 hours). Regulation 24, Annex-F Part-11, provides that part time members are paid at an hourly rate proportionate to the annual salary payable to full time members, with the effect that part time members are paid the same hourly rate as full time members of the equivalent rank, on the basis that full time members work 40 hours per week.

Additional hours are those worked over and above an officer’s part time hours but only up to 40 hours. After 40 hours as you know constables and sergeants get overtime, but inspectors and chief inspectors do not.

As said initially, this is the PFEW’s view and there is a counter view to this. We have made our argument clear and are in the process of obtaining legal advice around this. Once we have the advice, we will look to communicate further to branch boards. 

 

On-Call

The PFEW’s view is along the same lines as the intention of on-call when it was introduced under the recommendations made by Sir Tom Winsor. In short, that the required payment should act as a disincentive to forces in order to ensure that forces were resourcing and planning in an appropriate way. Our view was that whilst this was a good intention the actual amount was set too low for this to be the case. We have, and continue to, argue for an increase in this allowance in addition to higher rates for those who perform on-call on rest days and when on annual leave. We have made it clear that those on rest days and annual leave should be resting, recuperating and spending time with family and friends and not tied to the end of a phone. Given this we are also asking for national guidance to be issued covering on-call.

The legal position of on-call is set out in the Determinations of the Secretary of State as: “A member of the rank of Constable, Sergeant, Inspector or Chief Inspector shall receive an allowance of £25 in respect of each day on which they spend any time on-call”.

A ‘day’ means a 24-hour period commencing at such time or times as the chief officer shall fix after consultation with the branch board, and the chief officer may fix different times in relation to different groups of members.

Colleagues who do volunteer to be on-call need to carefully consider the effects of their force alcohol testing policy. The Police Regulations 2003 allow for the testing of any member of a police force as part of a routine random testing regime.

When one considers that the alcohol limit is 13 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, roughly one third of the drink/drive limit you can see why we advise complete abstinence from alcohol for those on-call. Officers who are on-call will by the very nature of being on-call be aware that they may be required to be on duty and thus accept this imposition on their private lives.

Many people get confused between being on-call and working time. Time spent on-call is not in itself working time, although there are some ongoing legal arguments around this. It does not therefore necessarily count towards the total of hours worked and hence neither does it enable an officer to claim compensation in the form of having their rest day reinstated. The situation changes as soon as you are called upon to act, whether that is just to make a decision over the phone or actually to attend an incident. When this occurs, those hours do count and need to be recorded and the entitlement to compensation is triggered.

Any time spent giving advice on the phone, granting authorities, travelling when called in etc. is working time and MUST be recorded in line with both police and WTRs. Thus, it will not be uncommon for colleagues who have volunteered to be on-call to be booked on and off on numerous occasions throughout a 24-hour period of being on-call.  

On-call is not the only option and we would urge all of you affected by its demands to explore every other option available to cover the issues of resilience that exist within your role. On-call really should be the final option. Many of you may well view on-call as being a cheap way of overcoming real resilience issues without having the necessary regard for the consequential impact it has on an individual’s work/life balance. 

Officers unwilling or unable to do on-call cannot be required to undertake on-call.  Remember, on-call is voluntary and should not be seen as a cheaper way to cover roles and responsibilities within any federated rank.

 

I do hope that you have found the five blog articles useful and as ever there is the PFEW Inspectors guidance booklet that can be found here.

 

You can access the earlier parts of this blog series here:

Inspecting ranks (Part-1): Know your rights and manage your time

Inspecting ranks (Part-2): Understanding rest days in lieu

Inspecting ranks (Part-3): Managing your hours and flexibility

Inspecting ranks (Part-4): Is it time to revise PNB 1994 Agreement?