Christmas Working 2010

Back to all Motions

Conference
2010 Police and Justice Service Group Conference
Date
16 June 2010
Decision
Carried

Conference notes the present wording of the Police Staff Council national terms and conditions, in respect of working on a public holiday, clause 12, Section 1 (Pay). It also notes that when a public holiday falls on a weekend then a royal proclamation effectively moves the public holiday to a substitute day on the nearest weekday.

When this occurred in 2009 Boxing Day fell on Saturday 26th December but was moved to Monday 28th December. This had the effect of making Police Staff in some Police forces work on the traditional Boxing Day (26th December) for flat rate, whilst those who had the benefit of the Christmas weekend off, came back to work on the 28th December and received the public holiday enhanced rate of pay.

Conference understands that some employing forces were not prepared in the first instance to move on this matter, as they would only adhere to the exact wording of our terms and conditions. After certain local representations made by local UNISON branches however, they eventually agreed to pay enhanced rates to staff who had worked on either day, but not both.

The same scenario applies again this year when Boxing Day falls on Sunday 26th December but the official public holiday is Tuesday 28th December 2010.

Conference wishes to rectify this situation by amending clause 12, Section 1 (Pay) of the PSC handbook to read “An employee required to work on a public holiday, or substitute public holiday as part of their rostered working week shall, in addition to the normal pay for the day, be entitled to payment at single time plus time off in lieu at single time. An employee rostered to work on the public holiday and the substitute public holiday shall declare which of the two days they wish to nominate as their public holiday paid day”.

Conference therefore calls upon our national negotiators to raise this issue with the Employers side, and to seek to introduce this amendment as soon as possible.