ENSURING presents arrive in time, praying the turkey is in the oven at the right setting and making sure those annual board games don’t turn sour are festive issues that rear their head ever year.

Yet, while the run-up to Christmas and the day itself can seems laborious for families, there are those who are actually forced to take a step back in order to treat it like another day at the office.

Whether it’s being contracted to work, having the opportunity to earn substantial overtime or those exceptional few who choose to work, nearly a million people across the UK will clock in on Christmas Day.

Professions as diverse as the clergy, prison officers, farmers, the emergency services, care workers and chefs are all on the frontline on December 25.

The most recent figures from the Office for National Statistics in Newport show that 863,000 workers in the UK, 2.9 per cent of the total in employment, worked on Christmas Day in 2012.

In Wales, 2.5 per cent readied their uniforms on Christmas Day, which was significantly higher than the lowest proportion, in London at 2.1 per cent.

The occupation with the highest number of workers working on Christmas Day was care workers (136,000 people), followed by nurses (77,000), nursing auxiliaries (43,000), chefs and cooks (33,000), security guards (31,000) and police officers (21,000).

Of the ONS statistics, senior and junior care workers, nurses and nursing auxiliaries combined made up almost a third (32 per cent) of those working on Christmas Day.

Other groups with high proportions working included communication operators (28 per cent), paramedics (25 per cent), prison service officers (25 per cent) and farm workers (20 per cent).

ONS statistician Nick Palmer said: “These figures show the huge contribution to our welfare made by groups such as health and emergency service workers. Adding up the different groups, we see that 141,000 doctors, nursing staff and midwives were working on the festive day, as well as 39,000 in the police, fire and ambulance services.

“Other groups, however, were no doubt taking a well-earned break after a very busy run-up to Christmas. For example, only 1 per cent of sales and retail assistants and 1 per cent of postal workers were in work that day.”

The occupation with the highest proportion of its workforce working in the ONS survey was the clergy, of whom 49 per cent said they worked that day.

Area dean for Abergavenny and vicar at St Mary’s Priory Church, Canon Mark Soady, has been ordained for 19 years and the former psychiatric nurse has been helping others on December 25 since his late teens.

Speaking about a typical Christmas Day for him, which involves four services in the morning, he said: “For me, the only appropriate way to celebrate Christmas is to help others rather than celebrating myself.

“I will have Christmas lunch with family and that will be a good time, but that will only be a part of the day.

“For me, Christmas is about being in church and having the opportunity not only to tell the true meaning of Christmas but to celebrate and give thanks to God.

“It’s encouraging that more people come to church than they do week by week. There’s a basic faith still there and people do recognise that.”

Sergeant Angela Burt of Gwent Police, who will be working in the force communications suite on Christmas Day, said that unlike most professions, policing doesn’t stop when the Christmas festivities start.

She said: “It’s business as usual for officers, who work tirelessly around the clock to make sure communities are provided with a 24/7 service.

“While for most people Christmas is a time for relaxing with friends and family, it can be one of the busiest times of the calendar for the police due to spikes in some types of crime.

“But despite the compromise and family sacrifice officers have to make, there’s always a sense of camaraderie among the team working the Christmas Day shift. Sometimes teams will be able to have Christmas lunch together and there’s plenty of festive cheer, despite it being a regular working day.

“Our message to communities this Christmas is to spare a thought for those working on Christmas Day, including our emergency services. There are plenty of crime prevention tips on our social media channels that can help us make sure Gwent communities have a crime-free Christmas.”

Dr Ramesh Sharma, 65, who retired as a GP at Fairwater Medical Centre this year after 33 years’ service, worked countless Christmas Days during his career when patients could phone him to come out to their homes.

GP surgeries would be closed for three or four days, so the service he offered over the Christmas period was even more crucial.

Dr Sharma is a Hindu but celebrates Christmas with his two daughters, Simmi and Melanie, after moving to Cwmbran in 1981.

Working either 7am-12noon or noon-8pm, he would adapt his Christmas celebrations around his shift pattern.

Speaking about those years, he said: “There are a pool of doctors who always want to do extra work for money.

“That was very hard work. There was no surgery, we had to go house to house.

“It’s very important. Illness doesn’t give you a time or date, it can come at any time. When we do something like this, we feel very happy.”

In recent years, more and more families have been having their Christmas lunch at local restaurants and pubs.

Father of three Karl Osmond, who has 20 years’ experience in hospitality and has been manager of the Blaina Wharf in Newport for a year, said Christmas Day bookings were filled by October at the pub.

He said: “It’s one of the best days of the year and expectations are little higher because it’s such an important day. Most of the leg work has been done way, way before December 25.

“The key thing on Christmas Day is to get the staff in a good mood and that reflects on the customers. I try to give people with children the opportunity to have the morning off and join us at 11 or 12 o’clock.

“Some staff members want to be a part of it because we’re delivering something on that very special day. It’s a great feeling.”

It’s not just those who get paid who give a service — selfless Cwmbran couple Diane O’Neill, 63, and her husband Tony, 66, have given up their Christmas Day ever year since 2012 to help cook an all-day lunch for the homeless and those in need.

The couple take up residence at Cwmbran Community Centre between 10am and 11pm on Christmas Eve and 6.30am to late on Christmas Day.

A total of 30 volunteers are set to help the O’Neills this year, proving that community spirit is alive and well in Cwmbran.

Mrs O’Neill said: “This is our third year now. I don’t just work Christmas Day; I work with these people the whole year round.

“We’ve got people with children that just can’t afford Christmas Day. It’s really sad in this day and age that mums can’t afford to buy food for their children.

“I can’t see it getting better. I’ve never seen anything so horrendous in my life. I was brought up in the 50s and we never went without.

“It’s got to be done, there’s so much poverty out there now. It’s really bad and sad.

“If we can give them one day and they go home happy, then I’m happy. I’ll keep doing it as long as I can.”