Police Overtime Explained: Rates, Rules and Take-Home
Police overtime is paid at time and a third for standard hours, time and a half for short-notice rest days, and double time on public holidays. It applies to constables and sergeants only. Here is how it works and what it is really worth.
How does police overtime pay work?
Police overtime is extra pay for hours worked beyond your rostered shift. For constables and sergeants it is paid at an enhanced rate, calculated from your basic pay. The standard rate is time and a third, meaning your hourly rate plus a third for each hour worked.
The rules sit within the Police Regulations and the determinations made under them. They set out which hours count, the rate for each circumstance, and the small allowances a force can disregard.
Who can claim police overtime?
Only constables and sergeants are paid overtime. Inspecting ranks, superintending ranks and above are not covered by the overtime rules. Instead, an inspector or chief inspector who works a rest day or public holiday is given time off in lieu, usually within 12 months.
This is one reason promotion to inspector does not always mean a jump in take-home. The loss of paid overtime can offset part of the higher basic salary, something worth modelling on the take-home pay calculator before you apply.
What are the police overtime rates?
The rate depends on the circumstance in which the hours are worked.
| Circumstance | Rate |
|---|---|
| Standard overtime (held past your shift) | Time + ⅓ |
| Rest day worked, under 15 days notice | Time + ½ |
| Rest day worked, 15+ days notice | Another rest day |
| Public holiday | Double time |
On a public holiday you may also receive a day off in lieu if you were given under eight days notice. To put a figure on any of these for your rank and pay point, use the police overtime calculator.
How is the overtime hourly rate calculated?
Your basic hourly rate is your annual basic pay spread across the standard working year. A common regulatory basis is your annual pay multiplied by six and divided by 12,520, which gives roughly your pay for a 40-hour week.
For a constable on £37,737, that is an hourly rate of about £18. At time and a third, each overtime hour is worth about £24 gross. Ten hours of standard overtime is therefore around £241 gross, before tax and National Insurance.
What is the 30-minute disregard?
For unplanned overtime, the first 30 minutes is disregarded on each of the first four occasions in a week. Short overruns under 30 minutes are not counted.
There is an important exception. If your supervisor told you at the start of the shift that overtime would be required, the disregard does not apply and the time is paid from the start.
Is police overtime pensionable or taxed?
Overtime is not pensionable. It does not count towards your PPS 2015 pension, so no pension contribution is taken from it and it does not build extra pension.
It is, however, fully taxed. Because your basic salary already uses up your personal allowance, overtime is taxed from the first pound at your marginal rate, and at 40% once your total pay passes £50,270. National Insurance also applies. See the gov.uk income tax rates for the bands, and our How It Works page for the method.
A worked example
Take a constable part way up the scale who works 12 hours of standard overtime in a month. At an enhanced rate of about £24 an hour, that is roughly £288 gross.
If they are a basic-rate taxpayer, income tax at 20% and National Insurance at 8% take about 28%, leaving around £207 in the pocket. A top-scale constable whose overtime falls into the 40% band keeps less of it, closer to £170, because the higher rate applies. The overtime calculator works out the exact figure for your rank.
What situations count as overtime?
Overtime covers more than staying late at the end of a shift. Being held past your rostered finish to deal with an incident, being recalled to duty on a day off, and attending court on a rest day can all attract an overtime payment, subject to the notice rules.
Travelling time linked to a recall can count in some circumstances, and there are separate arrangements for being on call. The detail sits in the Police Regulations and your force's local agreements, so if a situation is unclear, your line manager or local Police Federation representative can confirm how it should be recorded and paid.
Planned overtime, where you are told in advance that a shift will be extended, is treated differently from casual overtime that arises on the day. Planned overtime is not subject to the 30-minute disregard, so it is paid from the first minute.
How to check your overtime is paid correctly
Keep your own record of the extra hours you work, with the date and the reason, so you can check them against your payslip. Overtime is usually paid a month or so in arrears, so compare the hours you claimed with the amount that appears later.
Check that the right rate has been applied: standard hours at time and a third, a short-notice rest day at time and a half, and a public holiday at double time. If a figure looks low, the rate or the hours may be wrong, and it is worth raising promptly while the detail is fresh.
Does overtime affect your tax or mortgage?
Regular overtime raises your total taxable income, which can affect income-linked things such as the High Income Child Benefit Charge once you pass £60,000, or your student loan repayments. It does not usually change your tax code by itself.
When you apply for a mortgage, lenders often count only part of overtime because it is variable, and they want to see that it is regular. Our police mortgage calculator lets you add overtime to see the effect on borrowing, and the take-home calculator shows your underlying monthly pay before overtime.
Is there a limit on police overtime?
There is no fixed cash cap on how much overtime you can earn, but working time rules and your force's own welfare policies set practical limits. Sustained high overtime can also point to under-resourcing, something the Police Federation raises nationally.
For most officers overtime is a useful top-up rather than a dependable part of salary, because it rises and falls with operational demand. Treat it as a bonus on top of your basic pay rather than income you can rely on every month.