A shift pattern needs to recognise that demand will
be higher on certain days and times in the week and the need to have officers
available to meet that demand is an over-arching principle. The rostering of
any duty should be in accordance with that demand after due consideration to
safe systems of work and officer welfare and is part of an overall resource
management package that includes the use of flexible and part-time working and
the management of overtime.
Forward planning is fundamental to successful
resource management. Known annual occurrences where additional officers or duty
changes may be required, (such as religious holidays and festivals, sporting
and local community events or any other predictable event should be accounted
for when shifts are being arranged. As a
previous Chief Constable said, Christmas and New Year should not be exigencies
of service with last minute cancelations and deviations.
VSA’s
Variable Shift Arrangements (VSA) where shifts are
worked which are longer than the normal 8 hours over a defined period. They are
principles under which three-month duty
rosters can be planned using shifts of greater than 8 hours. This allows
longer shifts to be utilised to provide overlapping shifts where policing
demands require more (or less) officers to be on duty at any given time.
VSA’s apply to all or any particular class of
members below the rank of inspector, so part-time staff are included. However,
GMP aim to apply the same VSA principles to Inspecting ranks.
DUTY
ROSTERS - ANNEX E REG 22 (relevant parts only) http://www.gmpfederation.com/regulations/115.html
Duty rosters shall set out, the times at which an
officers scheduled daily periods of
duty (rostered shifts for members working variable shift arrangements and for
part-time members) are to begin and end;
and
Where, owing to the exigencies of duty, it is necessary to alter a duty roster, the
officer responsible for making the alteration shall endeavour, so far as
practicable, to avoid thereby requiring a member to do an additional daily
period of duty or, in the case of a part-time member or a member working in
accordance with variable shift arrangements.
VSA
CHANGES
Changes to published rosters should be kept to a
minimum and only changed due to exigencies of duty or on the request of
individuals.
The term 'exigencies
of duty' is defined in PNB circular 86/9 as relating to situations where a
pressing demand, need or requirement is perceived that is not reasonably
avoidable and necessitates a change of roster. In this context, the word
"pressing" relates to the expected situation at the time when the
duty is to be performed rather than the time when the duty roster is changed,
i.e. the reasons for a change may be known many months in advance but still be
pressing. Subject to exigencies of duty, any changes should be notified to
officers one month in advance and changes to rosters should only be made after
full consideration of welfare, operational and practical circumstances rather than purely on financial grounds.
SO
WHAT THIS MEANS
Your start and finish times can only be varied with
one month’s clear notice, subject to ‘exigencies of duty’. Those attempting to
circumvent this regulation by declaring an exigency should be put to proof as
to what the exigency is (your local federation representative should be able to
assist with this). Also if an exigency is established, then the second aspect
will come into play, ‘purely on financial grounds’, so if there are overtime
options available, including rest day staff, which have been discounted by
managers as being too expensive, then this does not fulfil the criteria of an
exigency and your shifts should not be varied as the cheaper option.
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