Blog: WMP colleagues UPDATE
25 June 2018
The question whether officers are held “in reserve” on mutual aid is a matter for the home force (the one requiring the aid). If officers are held “in reserve” this means they are not free to do as they wish & are immediately re-deployable - there is a modest allowance payable. The regulation concerning this was changed in 2015 so that the fact that officers are required on mutual aid in another force staying overnight does not automatically mean they are “held in reserve”.
In a current case, the home force has said officers are required for mutual aid, but will not be required “held in reserve”. The Federation strongly questions the practicalities and realism of this statement.
Our Force would normally pay the allowance and then claim it back off the home force. In this case, they, like other Forces, won’t be able to do so as it currently stands.
There has been “consultation” with the Federation locally and nationally and our position is that the allowance ought to be paid since officers are in, many cases, miles away from their homes so are not “free” in the sense you would normally be off duty.
Meetings are ongoing nationally and locally and we hope that common sense will prevail. If not officers are, once off duty, free to go out and do what they would normally do off duty, If this means they cannot be called on immediately that is something that the authorities are saying they’ve considered and presumably have considered the consequences of.
Not paying the allowance HAS NOT been “agreed” by the Fed and we are actively making representations to this end. Legal action to clarify the application of the regulation concerned is also something, we will, in my view need to consider.
We will update our members as soon as possible when we have news.
Richard Cooke
Chair
