Call for parity on COP26 rest day payments

8 November 2021

Officers working at the COP26 climate summit must be treated fairly by the Force, says the secretary of West Mercia Police Federation.

Steve Butler, who is in Glasgow with around 160 officers from West Mercia deployed to the summit, says the Federation is doing all it can to ensure the Force does the right thing by them, but he is becoming increasingly frustrated by chief officers’ stance.

“Our officers are finding themselves in a bizarre, and somewhat annoying, situation whereby they are working alongside colleagues from other parts of the country who are being paid more than them, despite the fact that they are doing exactly the same thing. I don’t think any of the officers who volunteered for this deployment expected to find that they would be paid according to some strange postcode lottery. Everyone should be treated the same,” says Steve.

“The disparity in payments stems from the fact that while on this deployment officers have to be available to return to duty within four hours, even if they are on a rest day which means, in effect, their rest days are not really rest days at all. You cannot properly switch off if you know that any time you could get a message or call requiring you to be back on duty within four hours.

“As a result of this, a number of forces have led the way and are making a payment of £100 per rest day to officers, while a smaller number are paying £50 per rest day. Our Force is not making a payment at all. We feel there has to be parity across the board and we are urging our chief officers to reconsider this issue as a matter of urgency.”

But this is not the only issue, Steve is raising with the chief officer team. He is also frustrated that some forces have used some of the money they have received as part of the mutual aid operation to pay over-time to those officers left back in Force backfilling for colleagues in Scotland where West Mercia has relied mainly on cancelled rest days.

“We also have officers in Scotland having hours taken from them to cover the restricted rest days while up here, and yet again this is a postcode lottery as other forces are also not doing this,” says Steve.

“In very simple terms, we just want chief officers to do the right thing. Our officers have adapted and undertaken their roles in a professional and positive way, which can only show our Force in a good light. They are away from home and their families, with some having to self-isolate in their accommodation and others testing positive for Covid facing the prospect of having to stay on longer than their deployment due to the self-isolating period.

“Our officers are not on holiday up here and it can be tough for them. But they are doing what needs to be done for this massive policing operation and the Force should also being doing what it needs to do for them by ensuring they are treated fairly.

“From all that I have seen and heard I’m very proud of the way our officers have conducted themselves at COP26. But we just need senior officers to show they recognise their officers’ efforts.”