The stance of the Metropolitan Inspectors Branch Board (IBB) with regard 'On-Call'.

We are against the principle of On-Call and firmly believe that when a member has finished their days work they should be free from any expectation to work or restrictions on their private life. We understand the many varied operational requirements upon our members but believe these can be resolved by increasing resources in certain roles and a change in the working culture in others, thereby bringing the working conditions closer to those envisaged as a result of the 1994 pay agreement for Inspecting Ranks.

We have an agreement with the MPS in respect of a 'On Call' policy a copy of which you can access via the link below. The overarching principle of this policy is that no officer can be required to be 'On Call' and that no adverse inference can be drawn by an officers refusal to do so. 
 
It is our view that officers who are part time should not undertake to be 'On Call' unless it is part of their contracted hours.
 
This agreement which has been in place now since 2005 still needs a change in the mind set of both senior managers as well as some of our members as we strive to move away from the archaic practices that have been utilised to date.  The Service has slowly come round questioning what level of out of hours cover the MPS actually requires and the Night Duty On Duty DI system whereby geographic clusters of TP OCU’s are provided with readily available Detective experience at Inspector level is we believe a significant step forward in proving that On Call is not as effective means of providing a quality service outside office hours to the people of London.

Click here to view a copy of the 'On Call' policy

It is vitally important that any officer who VOLUNTEERS to be 'On Call' should ensure that he/she is provided with the following information in writing prior to commencing the duty.

1. That they are being asked to be On-Call
2. What is expected of them, duty performance wise, when on call;
3. What restrictions are being placed upon the individual’s private life whilst performing on-call duty?

As a result of a recent PNB agreement we will shortly see the introduction of an On Call allowance. As a Branch Board for the reasons set out above we rigorously opposed the negotiation of this allowance. We believe that its existence will significantly undermine and damage the system we have negotiated on behalf of our members, by effectively legitimising a practice that is currently outside Police Regulations.

We eventually managed to persuade the rest of the inspectors from around England and Wales as to the folly of pursuing this claim and they quickly withdrew there support for it. Unfortunately we were unable to convince the other rank committees within PFEW and so the claim will proceed to settlement.

Whilst the amount of the allowance has yet to be agreed it is likely to be a derisory figure which will in no way compensate our members for the inconvenience and disruption to their time which they should be allowed to enjoy completely away from work.

Members are reminded of the requirements of the WTR and Police Regulations already in place. Time spent On-call is not working time per-se but when members are called and deal with work related issues, any time so spent is classified as working time and these working hours must be recorded and therefore taken into account when calculating appropriate working hours etc.
 
This advice is repeated and enlarged upon in the booklet entitled 'Exploding the Myths' which was distributed to all our members in December 2008.
 
If you would like a copy please contact our office.