Force decides course of action in row over wrong allowances

A POLICE force is working to resolve a crisis which saw hundreds of officers get the wrong pay.

Hampshire Constabulary has taken a decision to pay around 3,000 officers a flat rate of £60.

It follows an earlier national legal ruling that identified the need for all forces to pay compensation for loss of holiday pay to those working overtime or claiming other allowances.

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The ruling gave the force two options – calculate and pay each of 3,003 officers a compensation allowance relating to their own circumstances, or pay everyone a flat rate of £60.

The first option was chosen, but this led to issues in terms of fairness as a three-month period was used to determine what officers were compensated for a year, instead of being based on an actual annual calculation.

The force said this had ‘inadvertently created winners and losers’.

An error was also made that resulted in 400 officers being compensated by the wrong amount.

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The constabulary has now taken the decision to pay everyone the £60 flat rate option. Those who were paid compensation of more than £60 will not have the compensation taken back.

Taking into consideration all factors, applying the £60 option is the lowest cost way of resolving the matter, which will amount to £207,032 – compared with £180,180 if that option had been applied initially.

Acting Deputy Chief Constable David Pryde said: ‘I would again like to apologise to anyone who has been affected.’