Will my employer release me for UKFRRT activities?

At the present time, the decision to release any employee from their normal place of work to respond to such an incidents remains with the employer. You will therefore have to negotiate this directly with your manager and may be required to take annual or unpaid leave. IAFR is working to address this issue and has raised the issue with the UK Disaster Victim Identification Team. We would like to see a "Special Leave" arrangement in place to release key forensic staff in the event of a mass fatality incident.

Despite the lack of any formal arrangements, most current members have been able to come to some arrangement with their employer.  One member has been able to arrange potential special leave similar to that granted to radiographers in the Territorial Army and others have been able to come to an agreement under their study leave provisions. 

In past incidents, the Coroner has issued a formal request to NHS Chief Executives, via the Department of Health Circular asking them to release radiographers and mortuary technicians. This has proved very successful in releasing staff to assist.