More than 2,500 days of holiday "unclaimed" by two Yorkshire police forces in one year, figures show

Humberside Police racked up 11,314 hours of unclaimed leave in the financial year 2018/19, the force has said – the equivalent to 1,414 eight-hour working days.

The force's Police Federation Chair told The Yorkshire Post that this could have serious detrimental impacts both on officers' welfare and the public service provided.

It comes as concerns mount for police welfare, with demand on forces back to pre-Covid levels according to the Chair of the National Police Chiefs Council Martin Hewitt this week.

Home Secretary Priti Patel announced last week that police welfare, including flexibility for taking holidays, was to be enshrined into law by ratifying a police covenant.

Freedom of Information requests were sent to the 41 UK regional police forces by HR management company WhosOffice.

Of the 23 which responded, South Yorkshire Police also revealed there 9,422 hours' worth of annual leave never taken by its staff in the same year. This equates to 1,178 eight-hour working days.

No data was made available by West Yorkshire or North Yorkshire police forces.

Peter Musgrave, Chair of Humberside Police Federation, said: "We are always pushing for officers to take their annual leave quota.

"Like many places, we are allowed to carry 40 hours over and a lot of people, myself included, do so.

"From a welfare perspective though, we always encourage people to take their holidays and not bank it up – people need to rest. If officers aren't taking enough time off, you're potentially going to get a knock-on effect of stress, leading to burnout. And that's not good for anyone."

Mr Musgrave's colleague for West Yorkshire Police, Brian Booth, told The Yorkshire Post earlier this month how many staff were feeling as though they were "expected to do everything" due to extra pressures on the force, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic.

Humberside Police itself meanwhile faces a deficit of approximately £15m for the next financial year, according to its Chief Constable Lee Freeman.

Mr Musgrave added: “We are in a profession where, occasionally, we may be obliged to return from annual leave in case of emergencies, such as a court appearance or a major incident.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “Matters of leave are operational decisions for individual police forces, taking into account current priorities and demands as well as the wellbeing needs of all officers and staff.”

He added: “We are incredibly proud of our world-leading police forces and the welfare of officers as they carry out their vital work is of paramount importance.

“That’s why we have committed to a new Police Covenant, are recruiting 20,000 extra police officers over the next three years and providing the most generous police funding settlement for a decade. South Yorkshire Police are receiving up to £282.1 million in funding this year, an increase of up to £19.2 million on 2019/20, whilst Humberside Police are receiving up to £200.7 million in 2020/21, an increase of up to £13.1 million."

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