Holiday Pay Update - 30th May 2019

Holiday Pay Update - 30th May 2019

5 years ago Holiday Pay

Holiday Pay Update - 30th May 2019

It has come as a pleasant surprise to many that the PSNI have decided to commence paying both entitled police officers and staff ‘holiday pay’ in this months’ salary. This particular payment was raised by the Judge with the PSNI Counsel during the recent Court of Appeal hearing. The final determination of that hearing is anticipated to be made next month but it appears, on legal advice, that the PSNI have accepted that they are required to commence compliance with the relevant case law. This payment appears to address the current and retrospective element due from April 2018. I stress that any further retrospective payments have not been decided yet as the Court of Appeal determination on this has not been made yet.

HR Notice 08/2019 was issued to the Service earlier today and explains the background to this and details what is included in the calculation.

In general terms it stipulates: 

  1. Case law has established that workers must receive their ‘normal remuneration’ during their Regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 2016 (ex Regulation 13 WTR 1998) Annual Leave. 
  2. This does not apply to the additional 1.6 weeks of annual leave provided for by Regulation 16 of the Working Time Regulations 2016 (ex Regulation 13A WTR 1998) or to any additional contractual entitlements.
  3. To regularise the position, the PSNI has taken the necessary steps to ensure that when police officers and Staff take their 4 weeks (20 days) paid annual leave under Regulation 15 of the Working Time Regulations 2016, and so they will receive their normal pay, rather than their baseline pay.  In other words, their normal pay to reflect overtime for a reference period of 12 months

The calculation of the additional 4 weeks (20 days) annual leave payment will be back dated to 1 April 2018 and will take account of all forms of overtime (to include public holidays); weekend premiums; acting up/deputising allowance; Part-Time additional hours; and on-call and standby allowances.

Payment will be calculated by adding up the total amount of overtime and other qualifying payments paid over a rolling 12 months from 1 April 2018, and then applying to that total the fraction of 20/365. This will calculate the annual value of overtime and other qualifying payments which will then be divided by 12 to give a rolling additional monthly payment.

In the May 2019 salary, if entitled, both police officers and staff will receive the following payments as a total amount on the May 2019 payslip:

  1. Backdated element from 1st April 2018 – 31st March 2019;
  2. Monthly element for April 2019.
  3. Monthly element for May 2019.

For police the entitlement will extend only to those eligible. This will primarily be in the Constable and Sergeant ranks.

In relation to Inspecting ranks those who were promoted during the last 14 months will receive any arrears due from overtime worked as a Sergeant.   Those who work ‘on-call’ should also receive a payment.

As laid out in the HR Notice 08/2019 the Holiday Pay calculation is based on a rolling twelve months of overtime/on call etc. and is worked out on a monthly basis. i.e. for April 2018 the figure is based on Overtime /On call paid April 2017-March 2018, multiplied by the 20/365 divisor then divided by 12 to provide a monthly figure.  This is then rolled forward for each month subsequently.

This is a complicated calculation, but please see example:

  1. To work out your payment for April 2018, you need your overtime paid from April 2017 to March 2018, multiplied by the 20/365 divisor then divided by 12 to provide a monthly figure.
  2. For May 2018 you need overtime paid from May 2017 to April 2018, multiplied by the 20/365 divisor then divided by 12 to provide a monthly figure.
  3. For June 2018 you need overtime paid from June 2017 to May 2018, multiplied by the 20/365 divisor then divided by 12 to provide a monthly figure.
  4. And so on..

Then you had the monthly figures April 2018 to May 2019 to get your figure. What is actually required is an individual calculation for each month April 2018 to May 2019 (14 separate calculations).

All the overtime is looked at, it’s just that it is broken down as rolling years and therefore if the overtime for 2017/2018 year was not as high as the next year it will reduce the payment that is received.

The PSNI have also clarified the following:

  1. Any officers who retired over the last 14 months will also have any arrears due paid to them by cheque. It is anticipated this will occur over the next 4-6 weeks.
  2. Due to a rectification issue in respect of new pay scales for officers joining in the last few years around 900 serving officers have not received any payment in this month’s salary. PSNI know who the affected officers are and have indicated that they will be able to provide them with details of what arrears are due. PSNI will also ensure that these arrears due are paid in the officers salaries at the end of June 2019.
  3. With regards to TOIL, these hours are not paid to officers (the hours show as both a positive and negative on a payslip to net to zero). Therefore they do not form part of the arrears calculation.

If there are any queries or concerns about the amount being paid these should be addressed, at first instance, by the officer via their respective Finance Hub. Relevant supporting evidence may be required.

This is a good news story for our entitled members and is a most welcome boost to officers pay. PFNI now await the Court of Appeal determination.

Liam Kelly, Secretary, Police Federation for Northern Ireland

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