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Allowances

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Officers from the rank of Constable to Chief Inspector will receive an additional 10 per cent of their basic pay for all hours worked between 8.00pm and 6.00am, including overtime. This payment is not pensionable and should be paid for each full hour actually worked. Where overtime is worked between 8.00pm and 6.00am, the rate of the allowance is still 10 per cent of basic pay, not 10 per cent of the overtime rate. The allowance is paid in full in respect of each full hour worked – the ‘Queen’s half hour’ is not excluded. You must complete a continuous hour to attract the payment.


Thames Valley Police has published the following but please contact the office if you require additional information:

As agreed between the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and Federation, from January 1 2016 police officers will receive an annual leave top-up payment relating to overtime and certain allowances paid.

This payment is to top-up your basic pay to your ‘normal remuneration’. TVP have decided for fairness and reduced administration costs that all officers will receive this additional allowance as 20/365 (four weeks statutory annual leave divided by 365 days).

This will be for the following payments;

  • All forms of overtime (to include public holidays)
  • Unsocial hours
  • Away from home allowance
  • Rest day working compensation
  • Part-time additional hours
  • On-Call and standby allowances

The pensionable status of the top-up payment will reflect that of the allowance being paid.

How will it show on my payslip?

These additional payments will be split out on your payslip to reflect each allowance as follows;

How will it show on my payslip?

These additional payments will be split out on your payslip to reflect each allowance as follows;

PaymentHours/DaysRateAmount
Hol TopUp Unsocial NP39£0.0843£3.29
Hol TopUp T1/3 NP12£0.9901£11.88
Hol TopUp Plain P5£0.9881£4.94
Hol TopUp £ NonPen£13.70

Allowances paid based on hours e.g. overtime will reflect the amount of hours being topped up. Allowances that are based on cash amounts e.g. on-call will only show the top up amount.

 


Reimbursement of Subsistence & Expenses – Guidance Notes

Subsistence, refreshment and lodging allowance under Regulation 55 of the Police Regulations were discontinued from 1st April 2003 and were replaced with regulation 35. However, provision has been made to reimburse officers for expenditure incurred in the course of duty provided it is:

  • Necessary
  • Reasonable
  • Additional to what the officer might otherwise have incurred and
  • Backed up by receipts

All expenditure for reimbursement should be claimed on on the Self Service Expenses system on the intranet. Go to “New Expenses” then open the “Expense Type”. Select the claim needed from the drop down menu. You will need to do this individually for each day that is claimed.

a. Necessary
In normal circumstances it should NOT be regarded as necessarily incurred:

  • During an employees normal tour of duty unless you were unable to take your meal in your normal manner
  • Where a meal/packed lunch/meal voucher is provided (regardless of whether the individual chooses to take advantage of this provision)
  • When a rest day is worked (since additional expenditure should not be incurred provided reasonable notice is given in such instances)
  • Simply because there are no canteen facilities at a particular location, or you are working away from your normal base (unless you are unable to take your meal in your normal manner)
  • Merely because it is a public holiday; if this is a normal working day as per your roster, additional expenditure would not normally be incurred
  • Exceptions to normal circumstances will be at the discretion of authorising officers (who will have local knowledge of circumstances)

b. Reasonable
Whilst the principle decision of allowances has been discontinued, the question of what is reasonable remains. The question ‘reasonableness’ will depend on individual circumstances. We would expect the reasonable threshold to be different for an officer working normal overtime to that of an officer on a residential course where food is not provided.

If the overnight accommodation booked includes meals then clearly this must be taken into account when you claim. Whether food is provided or not the officer is still entitled to claim overnight allowance

c. Additional to what the officer might otherwise have incurred
For expenditure to be seen as ‘Additional’ it will be necessary for the officer to certify that their normal arrangements for eating were affected by the nature of their duties. This should allow payroll to understand the reason why the expenditure was incurred as additional. Being away from the normal place of duty i.e. on a training course, does not necessarily prevent you taking your meal in your normal manner.

d. Backed by Receipts
Receipts need to match the claim in terms of the date and the nature of the meal/food provided. Indecipherable receipts will not be accepted. The submission for inappropriate/incorrect receipts will be treated as potential fraud and will be dealt with by Professional Standards in accordance with Force policy.

It is appreciated that there may be instances where receipts cannot be obtained, for example from vending machines, or when it would be operationally inappropriate to request a receipt, (this will be the exception rather than the rule), in such instances an explanation should be provided on the form and authorised by the line manager.

e. Lodging Expenses
Claims for lodging should rarely arise, as overnight accommodation should generally be booked. Where an officer has to book his/her own accommodation, then the standard of accommodation should be cleared in advance with the line manager/local Finance staff.

f. Advances
Where officers have claimed a cash advance, after obtaining permission from the Force Payroll Manager, in anticipation of additional expenditure, this must be taken off their next claim (FIN 151). A copy of all cash advances, (form FIN 23’s) must be sent to the Force Payroll Manager, Corporate Finance immediately upon issue.


Acting up arrangements are designed to meet short term needs. The acting up allowance is paid when a member acts up in a higher rank instead of being placed on temporary promotion. There is a 10-day qualifying period (in any year; a year being a 12 month period beginning on 1 April) then, from day 11, the member receives the allowance at a daily rate (or hourly rate for part-time officers and those on VSAs). The allowance is only payable for a maximum of 46 days in respect of any one continuous period of acting up.

A constable or sergeant who is acting up in the rank of inspector or above is not entitled to overtime payments. If such a member is required to do duty on a rostered rest day or a public holiday he/she will not receive an acting up allowance on these days, but will instead be entitled to the appropriate public holiday or rest day rates for their substantive rank.
As with other allowances, the acting up allowance is not pensionable.


Overnight allowance will be paid at the Force rate per night when an officer is deployed on a training course away from their home. The Force have also agreed that associate trainers teaching on such courses should also be entitled to the same claim as students.

When an officer is required to travel to their accomodation the night before there is an allowance of an additional night. PNB Circular 05/7.

To claim this allowance access the self service expenses system on the intranet, select “New Expense claim”, go to the “Expense type” and open the drop down menu and select “Subsistence Other”. This needs to be individually done for each day you wish to claim.

Update: Following request from TVP Fed the Force has agreed to make this payment from Feb 16 also to associate trainers who had been unfairly omitted from this allowance.


If you are required by the force to stay overnight at a location and not allowed to return home, you may claim a £50 allowance per night. To receive this you must be “held in reserve”. Regulations state “that a member is held in reserve for the purposes of this paragraph if the member is serving away from his normal place of duty (whether because the member has been provided for the assistance of another police force under section 24 of the Police Act 1996 or otherwise) and is required to stay in a particular, specified place rather than being allowed to return home.” You would not be able to claim this if you were on training or “routine enquiries”. Following an amendment to the determinations on 1st March 15, simply being unable to return home because of the physical distance may not allow a claim as it allows discretion of the Chief Constable.

The Force’s view on this was published in May 15 & is as follows:

Police regulations changed the criteria to qualify for the away from home overnight allowance on 1 March 2015.

The definition of “held in reserve” has been amended and now includes the need to be ready for immediate deployment. This means that you will be eligible for payment only if your deployment requires you to be ready to be recalled to duty between shifts. For example if you are sent to another force on mutual aid to search for a missing person and you are told that you need to be ready for immediate deployment during the period you are off duty in case new intelligence comes to light (as long as you meet the other criteria too), you will qualify for the payment.

You will not qualify for the allowance if, for instance, you are sent to another force to interview a prisoner, stay overnight because it is not practical to return home on the same day and there is no requirement for you to be ready to deploy between shifts whilst you are there. The electronic claim form has been updated to include this new criterion.

Find the ‘Annex U Away From Home Overnight Allowance.pdf’ document in the ‘Downloads’ side bar section.


Officers may claim a £30 per night hardship allowance if they are held in reserve (see para above) and are not offered proper accommodation. “Proper accommodation” means a room for the sole occupation of the member, with an en suite bathroom. This would be paid in addition to the £50 pn away from home overnight allowance described above.


Winsor reforms had a number of effectes on officers already receiveing the old housing or rent allowance.

  • Housing replacement allowance should remain, but that it should not go up for an officer if their personal circumstances change, for example if they receive a promotion
  • The existing framework, by which the amount an officer receives reduces when he or she lives with another officer also receiving the allowance, should remain

Home Office has provided clarification of the circumstances that do not constitute a change to personal circumstances and these include officers returning to full time from part time, maternity leave or career breaks and also where two officers have previously been cohabiting and receiving a partially suspended replacement allowance and one partner retires or if the cohabitation ends.

These are not a change in personal circumstances within the scope of Winsor’s recommendation and should result in the officers entitlement being restored to the full amount due.