The Police Federation has warned members are being deliberately misled and denied their entitlements to Time Off for Dependants (TOfD) and Parental Bereavement Leave.
All force policies on TOfD have been examined on the beneficial entitlement and it has emerged that just one of the 43 forces in England and Wales comes close to being acceptable.
The Police Federation said TOfD should be treated as duty which is always paid for a police officer but some forces openly state “there is no legal right to be paid”.
A number of forces also limit the number of paid days or have put a limit on the number of days that can be taken off consecutively.
Staffordshire Police’s policy seeks to minimise the entitlement and states that only one day of such leave will be paid.
But Force policies cannot override regulations and the regulations do not state such restrictions and do not limit the number of occasions a year the entitlement can be taken.
Staffordshire Police Federation secretary Glyn Pattinson said: “This report is cause for deep concern and hopefully action will be taken to put things right. We have been working with the Force to ensure that our policies are changed and are in full alignment with Police Regulations which is really important to our members, as regs form part of our pay and conditions.
“Police officers are dedicated professionals who already make an awful lot of sacrifices when it comes to family life so I don’t think it is unreasonable for them to be able to take time off to look after loved ones at a time of crisis.
“It is very disappointing that Forces adopt deliberately obscure policies which fail to explain TOfD entitlement to its officers.”
The Federation’s national equality lead Ian Saunders said: “Time Off for Dependants and Parental Bereavement Leave is a hugely important benefit to all our members, but particularly for women, who tend to have greater responsibility for child and elderly care within families.
“Unfortunately, we have found forces systematically try to downplay, or even misrepresent these entitlements in their policies which is deeply concerning.
“The low take-up of TOfD in most forces is a sign they have effectively minimised something they should instead be actively promoting to enable those with dependants to remain as police officers and continue to serve the public.
“If this is partly a cost-cutting exercise, then forces are mistaken. The cost of losing those in service with invaluable experience massively outweighs the cost of paying officers to take this leave.
“There is also a need for culture change as we found officers taking this leave are made to feel they are letting their team down or should be grateful for taking TOfD leave even in instances where this is less than their entitlement.
“If forces want to successfully recruit and, just as importantly, retain, they need to see the bigger picture.
“We have presented our findings to the National Police Chiefs’ Council, and we would urge chiefs to act upon it.”
