Another consideration for NPAS will be to decide what is going to be done about Public Holiday ( "PHL" ) working, and renumeration.
Currently some ASU's work PHL's just like any other day, and share them out equally amongst all of the staff.
Some ASU's work reduced hours on PHL's.
The general rule is that Police Officers are entitled to take Leave on a PHL,
and if required to work, they will receive the enhanced payment at Double Time.
There are different renumerations for Pilots across the Country.
As I understand it, under Winsor proposals, Police Officers required to work a PHL
will still be paid at Double Time, but only Christmas Day will be classed as a PHL
Police Officers will be asked to nominate 7 other dates to be treated as their PHL's,
and if they do so, they can be required to work "normal" PHL's for Plain time
This is obviously intended to try and remove / spread the cost of Police Officers working PHL's
( as we know them now ), where they are paid Double Time,
by spreading the dates throughout the year - hoping that Birthdays, Anniversaries etc etc will be chosen,
and thus increasing the availability of Police Officers to work the "normal" PHL's
for no additional payment.
I know of at least one group of Police Officers that are considering what would happen if
a complete Team did NOT nominate alternative dates, electing to stay with the "normal" PHL dates we have now
Under Winsor proposals, whether under NPAS or not, other than on Christmas Day, an Assistant Chief Constable
will have to authorise the working of a PHL at Double Time with less than 15 days notice.
Assuming all the staff on an ASU remained at the Default position and have not nominated alternative PHL dates, t
hen they would all be entitled to take Leave on those dates.
There would be no other staff available to work for Plain time.
Pre-NPAS ( if that proposal goes ahead ), individual force ACC's may need to decide
whether they want to have Air Support on "normal" PHL dates
or not.
Under NPAS, maybe an ACC at West Yorkshire will need to make the same decision for the whole of the Country ?
It will be interesting to see how this one pans out.
If implemented, Police Officers will need to nominate their PHL dates for 2013 by the end of January 2013.
