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2.8 VOLUNTEERS TO PERFORM DUTY
An officer shall not be treated as having been required to do duty on a rostered rest day or public holiday where the duty was performed on that day at the officer’s own request. However, where because of the need for extra personnel on a specific day, officers who were rostered to be off duty are invited to volunteer to perform duty on that day, the normal compensation arrangements for rest day or public holiday working will apply. Responding to a management request for volunteers should not be treated as a request by the officer concerned to do duty on the day in question. An exception to this is where the chief constable and the relevant staff association Committee have mutually agreed in advance to use double-lock rest day compensation for a specific event/operation.
2.8.1 Double-lock Rest Day Compensation
(a) The chief constable is required to secure the agreement of the relevant staff association Committee in advance to ensure the use of double-lock rest day compensation for a specific event/operation is mutually agreed.
(b) For that specific event or operation, the chief constable may then seek volunteers to work on a rest day with 18 or more days’ notice who will receive payment at time and a half for each hour worked instead of receiving another rest day.
(c) For such events/operations, those subsequently required to work on a rest day with 18 or more days’ notice following the volunteer process will also receive payment at time and a half for each hour worked instead of receiving another rest day.
(d) Existing entitlements for those constables and sergeants required to work on a rest day with less than 18 days’ notice (ie time and a half) or less than 8 days’ notice ( ie double time) would remain the same.
(e) Where it is mutually agreed that the ‘double-lock’ provision should apply to inspecting or superintending ranks for a particular event/operation and members of those ranks are subsequently required to work on a rest day with less than 18 days’ notice following the volunteer process for that event/operation, they will also receive payment at time and a half for each hour worked instead of receiving another rest day.
(f) The mutual agreement to unlock the mechanism for specific events/operations should be underpinned by the following ‘rules’:
- The officer requires to have submitted a notification of interest as part of voluntary process.
- The officer requires to be notified no later than 28 days in advance (91 days for known high demand events, where possible).
- The specific number of volunteers, including ranks, and days upon which they will be required will be advised at the time volunteers are sought.
- Where there is an oversubscription of volunteers, the service will agree a process with the relevant staff association to manage the excess.
- Once accepted by the police service this will be placed in the officer’s duty roster and they cannot withdraw their request unless the chief constable accepts that such a request is reasonable based on the circumstances.
- Where the demand subsequently disappears and the officer is told they are no longer required, rules in relation to PNB Circular 2017/2 apply – with less than 8 days’ notice the officer can choose between taking the rest day with no compensation or working, and with more than 7 days the rest day will be taken with no compensation.
- Agreement to work on a rest day through this process will not count towards eligibility for the Excessive Rest Day Disruption Allowance.