App enables officers to record their hours

The Police Federation of England and Wales has added a ‘duty recorder’ to its mobile phone app that enables officers to accurately record their working hours.

The Federation is now urging all inspectors to use the duty recorder that will calculate and record their hours at the touch of a button while also linking to a calendar both on the app and in Outlook.

It comes after the Federation’s Inspectors’ Central Committee (ICC) commissioned research through the Cardiff Business School into excessive hours being worked by inspectors – the Time for Justice Report – that was published last year.

Researchers asked forces in England and Wales to provide figures for the working hours of inspectors in a one-week period and fewer than half could provide the information. Inspectors provided anecdotal evidence they were often working more than a 48-hour week, the European Working Time Directive maximum, and are not entitled to be paid overtime like other ranks.

Geoff Stuttaford, deputy general secretary of the ICC, said that the app could be used by any rank as he had heard evidence that officers at all ranks were not always recording their hours properly – even if they qualified for overtime.

“It’s essential officers record their hours properly or we will not have an accurate picture of just how many hours are being worked. This could help when raising issues around work and life balance and, for other ranks, could also impact on their pay packets. The duty recorder makes it easy to store the information for officers themselves and to submit to the force.”

The app can be downloaded to most mobile phones and devices via the Apple store or on the Police Federation’s website http://www.polfed.org/app/Default.aspx

The Federation app includes other features such as news and updates, advice, annual leave calculator and calendar, live video streaming of Federation events, members services and special offers and the latest Federation videos via a dedicated YouTube channel.