By Grant Smith

TAYSIDE POLICE officers were paid more than £2.5 million for working overtime in the past year—with one earning almost £18,000 on top of normal salary.

Sergeant Malcolm Gibbs, secretary of the Tayside branch of the police federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, described the size of that unknown officer’s claim as “quite alarming” and said it seemed to be a case of working excessive hours.

He did not know how this situation had come about but said he would be looking into it as he had concerns about the health and safety implications.

The force’s figures, which have been obtained by The Courier under freedom of information laws, show that the total overtime payments related to almost 95,000 hours of additional work carried out by officers during 2008-09, which works out at an average of 260 hours per day.

The actual total of overtime worked will be even higher, because when officers put in a claim they have the option of either receiving extra money or taking time off.

How much money individual officers received will vary according to the demands placed on them during the year, but the average payment works out at £2400.

There are almost 1200 officers in the force, but only the 913 constables and 149 sergeants are allowed to claim payments for overtime under the police regulations.

The payments vary according to rank and length of service and the circumstances leading to the overtime being worked.

Working an extended shift merits a time-and-a-third payment, while working on what should have been a day off is paid at a rate of time-and-a-half.

Double-time payments are made for working on a public holiday.

The range goes from a newly qualified constable earning £14.12 per hour at time-and-a-third, up to an experienced sergeant getting £37.38 per hour at double-time.

The total of 94,978 hours of paid overtime notched up during the year average 89 hours per officer. The overtime total for 2008-09 was substantially lower than the previous year, when it came to 110,429 paid hours.

The cost also fell year-on-year, down from £2.699 million to £2.564 million.

There is no limit to how much overtime an individual officer can claim, although in its response to the freedom of information request the force did say that it had “obligations under the working time directive in relation to the hours worked by members of staff.”

Asked for the largest single amount claimed during 2008-09, the force confirmed that one officer earned £17,908. It declined to identify the person or to say what his or her rank or responsibilities were.

Sgt Gibbs said that overtime came about in a number of ways, such as working beyond the end of a shift or coming in on a rest day.

“There is probably significantly less work on rest days now than there used to be because in most cases we reschedule rest days if someone has to appear in court or something like that,” he said.

“The vast majority of overtime would relate to operational policing purposes.”

Asked if officers thought of working overtime as something they had to do, or if they looked forward to the extra money, Sgt Gibbs said, “No doubt there are times of year, at Christmas or the summer holidays, where extra money comes in handy.

“My concern is that officers are properly rested and have sufficient time off, although the nature of the job means that overtime does have to be done.”