Free Tool · Inspecting Ranks · England & Wales
No Overtime. No Published Roster. Track It Yourself.
Since the 1994 PNB Agreement, inspectors and chief inspectors haven't been paid for extra hours. You're still covered by the 48-hour Working Time Regulations limit — log your hours below and see exactly where you stand.
| Date | What Happened | Hours | Lieu Day | Notes |
|---|
No Overtime Pay. Still Worth Tracking Your Shifts.
Overtime Live can't pay you overtime you're not getting — but it'll show your shift progress live, right down to your lock screen, and your rotation only needs setting up once. Add your pattern with the Pattern Designer and every future shift appears automatically — no manual entry, no spreadsheets.
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Why Inspectors Don't Get Overtime
On 1 September 1994, the Police Negotiating Board changed the terms and conditions for the inspecting ranks. Casual overtime payments stopped for inspectors and chief inspectors, and forces were no longer required to publish a duty roster for full-time officers at these ranks. In exchange, inspecting ranks moved onto an inclusive salary — pay that was meant to cover the odd extra hour, on the assumption inspectors wouldn't regularly be asked to work much beyond their rostered hours.
That assumption is widely seen as having broken down. Three decades on, the Police Federation of England and Wales (PFEW) has been pushing for a review of what's still referred to as the 1994 PNB Agreement — and the rest of this page is about what that means for your hours day to day, and what you can actually do about it.
What the Law Actually Says
Two separate sets of rules apply to you, and it's worth knowing the difference. Police Regulations 2003 sets out specific entitlements for certain types of duty. The Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) is a health and safety law that limits how much you can be asked to work, full stop — and it applies whether or not your force runs a Managed Time scheme.
| Your Position | What the Law Says |
|---|---|
| Maximum working week | No more than 48 hours a week on average, measured over a rolling 17-week period (Working Time Regulations 1998) — you can opt out of this in writing |
| Daily rest | At least 11 consecutive hours' rest in every 24-hour period |
| Weekly rest | 24 hours' uninterrupted rest a week, or 48 hours in any 14-day period |
| Rest break | A 20-minute break if your shift runs longer than 6 hours |
| Rest day or public holiday worked | One day's leave in lieu, to be taken within 12 months — Police Regulations 2003, duty time provisions (Regulation 22 / Annex E) |
| Overtime pay | None for inspecting ranks since the 1994 PNB Agreement — your salary is inclusive |
| Published roster | Not legally required for full-time inspectors and chief inspectors |
One more worth flagging: if you're called back to duty during a period of annual leave, that's also compensated under Police Regulations — how your force handles it varies, so check with your line manager or HR team.
What Inspectors Are Actually Doing About It
Most forces run some version of Managed Time to keep at least an informal handle on inspecting-rank hours, often logged through a system like DMS Origin or Pipkins. It typically works by recording extra hours, capping how much you can carry, and writing off whatever's left if you don't use it within a set window — commonly somewhere between three and four months. None of that is mandated by Police Regulations; it exists because individual forces choose to run it, and it can be changed or withdrawn without your agreement.
The scale of the problem is well documented. PFEW's Inspecting Ranks Survey, run in 2024 with over 4,000 responses, found:
Source: Police Federation of England and Wales, Inspecting Ranks Survey — 4,170 responses, August–September 2024 (published February 2025).
Dissatisfaction ran high elsewhere too — 60% were unhappy with their basic pay, 78% with their overall remuneration, and 85% disagreed with getting no extra payment for working public holidays. If you want to check where your pay sits against the latest figures, our police pay scales page is kept up to date.
Why It's Frustrating
The pattern that comes up again and again in Federation reporting is straightforward: taking time off doesn't make the work disappear, it just waits for you. One day away from a desk nobody else can cover is one more day of backlog when you're back. That dynamic — combined with hours that get written off if you can't use them in time — is a big part of why morale among inspecting ranks has become a recurring theme in PFEW's pay submissions, alongside genuine concern about burnout.
It's also why the 1994 Agreement keeps coming up for review without actually being reviewed. PFEW has raised it with the Police Advisory Board and, in its evidence to the Police Remuneration Review Body for the 2026/27 pay round, specifically asked for additional payment for inspecting ranks working beyond 48 hours a week. As of mid-2026 that's still a request, not a decision — but the conversation is live, and it's worth keeping your own record either way.
How This Tracker Helps
PFEW data has repeatedly pointed to gaps in how consistently forces monitor officer hours — see our piece on the working hours data gap across forces for more on that. Whatever happens with the 1994 Agreement and the PRRB submission, a personal record of your extra hours, your weekly average, and the lieu days you're owed costs you nothing to keep — and it's exactly what you'd want to hand to a line manager or Federation rep if a conversation about your hours ever needs to happen. That's what the tool above is for. Export it as a CSV any time from the button in the tool.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do police inspectors get paid overtime?
No. Since the 1994 PNB Agreement, inspectors and chief inspectors don't get casual overtime or payment for rest days and public holidays — their salary is inclusive instead. Only constables and sergeants have a statutory overtime entitlement.
What is Managed Time for inspectors?
A local, force-run scheme for tracking extra hours worked by inspecting ranks. It isn't a legal entitlement and isn't the same as Time Off in Lieu — caps, write-off periods, and rules vary by force, and balances are often lost if you don't use them in time.
What's the legal limit on my working hours?
Under the Working Time Regulations 1998, your average working week shouldn't exceed 48 hours, measured over a rolling 17-week period (26 weeks in some cases, or by local agreement). You can opt out of this limit in writing, but your force can't require you to.
Do I get anything for working a rest day or public holiday?
Yes. Police Regulations 2003 entitles inspectors and chief inspectors to one day's leave in lieu, to be taken within 12 months of the day worked. There's no payment option for inspecting ranks — it's leave, not pay.
Is this tool linked to my force or the Police Federation?
No. It's an independent, free tool from Overtime Live. Everything you log stays in your browser's local storage — nothing is sent to a server, and your force can't see it. It's a personal record, not an official one.
What should I do if I think I'm working over the 48-hour limit?
Raise it with your line manager and your local Police Federation representative — your force has a legal duty to monitor working time. Our piece on the working hours data gap across forces has more background.