THE CHAIR ANSWERS
or compensatory rest if, in exceptional circumstances, rest periods are not provided. Compensatory rest relates to the hours owed to an officer if they are not permitted to take this entitlement between shifts. For example, if an officer only has eight hours between shifts, then they are owed three hours in compensatory rest. These hours should be taken as soon as possible to allow for sufficient rest and prior to the commencement of the following shift, or as soon as possible after. There is no requirement for the hours to be made up in a subsequent shift, nor should any officer suffer any detriment for taking hours that are owed to them. We are determined that officers should be sufficiently rested when coming to work and that officers should have the confidence to identify when they are too tired to drive police cars or carry out certain functions. Work Time Regulations are there to protect all workers from the dangerous effects of fatigue and PFEW endorses these regulations.
regulations will have an impact on officers trained to drive police vehicles. Driving will no longer be assessed by the standards of the careful, competent driver, as was previously the case, but will now be judged by those of their careful and competent
“We are determined that officers should be sufficiently rested and have the confidence to identify when they are too tired to drive police cars”
colleagues who have completed the same level of prescribed training. The change in the law, which means police officers’ skills and professional training will be recognised, is welcomed but, as ever, there is a note of caution in that we must now ensure that all drivers are ‘in ticket’ with their training. Read more on our website; search for ‘police drivers impacted by new legislation’ at
www.polfed.org/news.
What is the latest for the Emergency Response Drivers (Protections) Bill? New regulations, effective from 30 November, set out the prescribed training that will, in effect, give trained police drivers the better protection in law afforded to them under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act. The new
22 | POLICE | DECEMBER 2022
Can we have an update on the pension compensation claim with Penningtons? The pension compensation claim remains stayed, pending resolution of all associated claims regarding the remedy. Once an update or further information is available, it will be circulated to members by PFEW and via the Penningtons online portal.
Will you be seeking a mandate from your members to seek the reinstatement of industrial rights through the courts?
In the 1919 Police Act, police officers were restricted from taking industrial action of any nature, and the Federation was formed in place of a union. This came about following strike action in the late 19th and early 20th Century. Employment rights bring their own issues, which would have to be analysed in great detail. Before the seeking of views is taken, there needs to be a full education piece about industrial rights and how long such a seeking of rights through a legal
process may take. It will have to cover exactly what seeking industrial rights would mean for police officers in terms of what
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