Staffordshire Police Federation chair Lee Robinson has warned members are at risk of burn out amid a culture of long-hours, unmanageable workloads and taking work home.
Lee said inspectors were among those worst affected and called for an urgent overhaul of the pay and recognition system.
He said: “Our inspecting ranks are working too many hours and the demands of such a high workload, coupled with the responsibility they are carrying, means many are frequently working at home, often into the early hours, with no extra pay.
“This can’t continue. The pay and recognition system needs reviewing in its entirety but the inspector ranks need realigning to the old 1994 agreement and they need to be correctly remunerated for the hours they do.
“They also need to be reminded that it’s OK not to take their laptop home if they’re not on call.
“Home time is you time and it is for officers to unwind and enjoy their families. Currently, they can’t do that and good officers are getting burned out as a result.”
Lee’s comments came in response to a blog on the issue by the Police Federation’s national learning and development lead John Partington.
In his blog, Understanding rest days in lieu, John discusses what being interrupted on a rest day means, what inspectors and chief inspectors should do in those circumstances, and working excessive hours.
He looks at where rest days that are owed to inspectors and chief inspectors should be recorded.
John also looks at what they should do if they have too many rest days in lieu or if they feel their rest day in lieu will be interrupted.
He explores whether those in the inspecting ranks should save their rest days in lieu and use them before they retire. And he looks at financial compensation for working on annual leave days.
John says: “Rest days are there for you to enjoy but we all know that all too often they become interrupted due to the demands of the jobs we do.”
It is the latest in a series of blogs in which John takes a look at the 1994 Police Negotiating Board agreement, which changed working conditions for the inspecting ranks.
Read the blog Understanding rest days in lieu.
