Update on current provision of front counter services

Report: 10
Date: 13 December 2010
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on the current provision of front counter services in the Metropolitan Police Service, including information about the police officers and staff that work in the front counters and the training they receive. The report also outlines current performance and the level of take up of front counter services and customer satisfaction surveys. The MPS is committed to the Mayoral priority of maintaining provision of front counter services. The report makes the proposed review of services, in line with proposals for public access. The TP Development programme will review how front counter services are delivered in the future as part of the wider strategy for improving public access. The principles for the review are currently in development to ensure they align with wider policing delivery and will be arrived at through discussions and joint working at all levels. It must be stressed that no changes to policy will be made without wide consultation. The Terms of Reference for the Review will be finalised in December with a view to submission to the MPA in January 2011.

A. Recommendations

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. This report provides an update on the current delivery of front counter services in London. It provides detailed information on the training provided to those in front counter roles and the take up of and satisfaction with services provided through existing front counters.

Current Location and Staffing of Front Counters

2. There are 138 front counters in the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). 66 front counters are open 24 hours a day and 19 are operated by Met Volunteers giving their time.

Staffing front counter

3. Front counter services are primarily provided from police stations by either Station Reception Officers (SROs) or Station Police Community Support Officers (SPCSOs). There are currently a full time equivalent of 153 SROs and 320 SPCSOs. Over 100 police constables are always required each day both to cover abstractions of staff but also to support effective delivery in some areas.

4. Over 500 Met Volunteers provide support at front counters and provide front counter services in non-police buildings, such as Civic Centres, and front counter locations unstaffed by MPS personnel.

5. The MPS opened negotiations with the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) in 2006 on the proposal of converting existing Station Reception Officers (SROs) into the role of Station PCSOs (SPCSOs). The Home Office agreed to this migration plan as it supported the wider citizen focus agenda of improving access to police services. Management Board agreed that PCSOs would be recruited and trained in the necessary skills to staff front counters from 1st April 2007 and that processes would be put in place to support the migration of existing SROs into this role. To support the PCSO service delivery model, vacant SRO posts have not been filled from 2007. Following further consultation and negotiation with the Trade Unions, a final migration date stands as 31st July 2012. A Support Development plan and a financial incentive was implemented to encourage existing SROs to move into the SPCSO role. In December 2006 there were 326 SROs in post, and there are now 171 (FTE 153.5).

6. A voluntary redundancy and approved early retirement scheme for police staff has been implemented in the MPS in October 2010. This scheme has been aimed at police staff in areas of the business where we anticipate that there will be fewer posts than the number of staff currently employed or where the role / function is changing. SROs are one of the key police staff groups that have been included in this voluntary redundancy exercise. The remaining 171 SROs have recently been provided with estimates. We are using a guaranteed application process for SROs which means that if employees within the eligible pool apply, no selection criteria will be used, and they will automatically be accepted for voluntary redundancy or approved early retirement. It remains too early to confirm how many SROs will accept the voluntary terms at this stage. We are developing workforce deployment plans to mitigate any impact on service. SPCSOs are not included in this voluntary redundancy exercise.

Training for front counter staff

7. Current policy is that only police staff who have been selected and trained in delivering reception services or trained Met Volunteers can operate within TP front counters.

8. All TP SROs have undertaken the mandatory five days of training in the
Initial investigation of crime and completed the SRO workbook and workplace assessment when they commenced the role. Like all MPS staff, they receive mandatory training in such subjects as diversity awareness.

9. SPCSOs undertake a three week SPCSO Foundation Course which includes five days of training in the initial investigation of crime. SPCSOs are required to pass an exam at the conclusion of the course before they can be posted to the front counter. The initial investigation of crime training includes the ‘MPS Standards for Primary Investigation’ which covers the investigative model of:

• research (what information is required and appropriate questioning style)
• record (why, what and where to record information)
• retain (exhibit handling to ensure continuity and integrity)
• refer (internal investigative referral and multi-agency involvement).

10. The SPCSO Foundation Course covers a wide range of other relevant subjects. This includes sessions on how to deal with ‘at risk’ groups (domestic violence, risk assessment, forced marriage and honour based violence racial incidents), serious sexual offending and racial incidents.

11. Newly qualified SPCSOs also receive two to three weeks of close support from an experienced colleague before they can work alone as well training in various IT systems. They are also required to spend a minimum two days inputting crime reports under supervision prior to a posting in the front counter.

12. The Police Constable Foundation Training programme now comprises of four phases which includes familiarisation with the station office role on B/OCU.

13. Met Volunteers undertake a programme of training in reception services which comprises of a workbook and six classroom based modules. The subject areas are:

• Introduction to reception services,
• Every Child Matters
• Critical incidents and dealing with emergencies
• Crime and honour based violence
• Communication
• Property and traffic

14. Met Volunteers who provide support at front counters do not undertake initial investigations into allegations of crime but must seek immediate assistance from a police officer or member of police staff. This training enables Met Volunteers to identify when assistance is required and to provide an initial response. Met Volunteers are also required to undertake a period of shadowing in the front counter.

15. Any change to the provision of front counter services will need to take into account training implications for the staff involved.

MPA/MPS Estate Strategy 2010 to 2014 and impact on front counter services

16. The MPA/MPS Estate Strategy aims to optimise the use of the estate to achieve MPA/MPS objectives through prioritised spending and ensuring value for money. The location and funding of front counters is inextricably linked to this Strategy as they must be accommodated in appropriate locations to best support public demand.

17. The MPA/MPS ensure that no building with a front counter is closed until an alternative service is open and operational in the local vicinity. As a consequence, since January 2010 four front counters have been transferred from police stations to new facilities in Safer Neighbourhoods (SN) bases and one has transferred to the local authority civic centre.

• In Harrow, Kirkland House SN base and the Civic Centre replaced Harrow and Wealdstone Police Stations (April 2010)
• In Haringey, the Fishmongers Arms SN base replaced Wood Green Police Station (June 2010)
• In Greenwich, Thamesmead Police office replaced Thamesmead Police Station (September 2010)
• In Bromley, Copperfield House SN base replaced Penge Police Station (January 2010)

18. The impact of these changes has been as follows:

• Kirkland House has seen footfall increase by 22.6% (over 100 more callers per week) compared with Harrow Police Station.
• In Harrow Civic Centre footfall decreased by 35.2% (31 callers a week) compared with Wealdstone Police Station.
• In Haringey, footfall at the Fishmongers Arms has decreased by 15.5% (37 less callers a week, on average) compared with Wood Green Police Station (although the survey commenced at the time that it was newly opened)
• In Greenwich, footfall at Thamesmead Police Office increased by 25.5% (23 callers a week) compared with Thamesmead Police Station.
• There is no footfall data for Bromley B/OCU.

19. MPA Finance and Resource Committee and the Estates Panel have been heavily involved in the structured management of these changes. Learning from this work will be important to ensure clarity in the management of any future change.

Initiatives to Manage Front Counter demand to improve public access

20. Several initiatives have been established to manage demand that may have otherwise have impacted on front counters. For example, managing customers on arrival or ‘triage’ has been established at several front counters with the assistance of Met Volunteers and on an ad hoc basis on B/OCUs that have sufficient staff or Reception Managers available to perform this role.

21. In addition, a number of front counter services are available online as a ‘virtual front counter’ on the Met Police Internet site. Processing Freedom of Information requests is a typical example. It is also possible to report less serious crimes online. Approximately 30,000 reports are made online each year of which 20,000 are entered as crime reports. Online reporting is increasing by 10% each year. There is scope to improve online services by increasing the number of tasks managed in this way. The availability of forms and information can also improve the service for customers by providing alternative customer access options and improving satisfaction.

22. Seven Police Information Points (PIPs) or ‘kiosks’ are available in the MPS. These provide information and access to online services. Access to additional PIPs would increase the numbers of online crime reporting opportunities as would publicity regarding the availability of the service. This would either reduce crime reports made directly to the front counter or assist in queue management. Expansion of the number of PIPs has obvious implications in terms of capital and revenue funding but, at £7,000 per unit, they are a relatively inexpensive mechanism to provide access to a wide range of services that are currently delivered by front counters.

Performance

23. The MPS contacts approximately 18,000 victims every year for the User Satisfaction Survey (USS) and asks them about their experience of recent contact with police. Currently, the MPS telephones victims that have reported domestic burglary, violent crime, vehicle crime, road traffic collisions or racially motivated crime in the preceding three months. Victims that are likely to be caused distress if surveyed (for example victims of sexual offences and domestic violence) are excluded. This data is broken down into respondents that attended the front counter but cannot be broken down further into black and minority ethnic (BME) or non-BME respondents as victims are selected at random and there are large confidence intervals in the data.

24. Respondents are asked over 80 questions. The following questions specifically apply to the front counter:

• Did you manage to speak to somebody the first time you tried?
• Did you speak to someone in a reasonable time?
• If you had to queue, approximately how long did you have to wait before speaking to the station reception officer?
• Was the first person you spoke to able to take all the details?
• Are you satisfied, dissatisfied or neither with how easy it was to contact someone who could assist you?

25. Following the introduction of SPCSOs in 2007, overall satisfaction ratings have improved. Since that time the rate of victims who managed to speak to someone the first time has risen from 89% to 93%. Since 2009 the percentage of customers waiting for less than 10 minutes has increased from 65% to 70%. Customers waiting over an hour have decreased from 7% to 5%.

26. The USS also provides rates of overall satisfaction with ease of contact. In 2007 the front counter satisfaction (fairly or very satisfied) rate was 87%. By comparison, satisfaction with ‘999’ service was 87% and for other phone calls the figure was 86%. In 2010, satisfaction with front counters had risen to 89%, 999 calls to 92% and other calls to 94%.

Take up of Front Counter Services

27. Footfall surveys were conducted in TP front counters for two weeks during March and again in June 2010. During this period an average 3,477 visitors attended MPS front counters every day. Customers were not equitably distributed with ten of the quietest front counters averaging only five callers a day. The ten quietest also averaged five crime reports per week. A further 20 front counters averaged only 11.5 callers per day and 12.5 crime reports a week.

28. Of the 24 hour front counters, 30 averaged only 1.9 callers a night between midnight and 7.00 am. The average number of callers per night during these times is 3.4. Ten front counters averaged less than one caller per night. The average time of peak demand on MPS front counters is 11.00am although there is a significant variation between sites in terms of times of the day and workload. Some front counters average 80 customers a day. City of Westminster, Southwark and Hackney B/OCUs were the busiest overall with Kingston, Hillingdon and Barnet B/OCUs the quietest. On average each member of staff deals with 21 customers a day – but there are clearly significant variations.

29. The footfall surveys also provided a breakdown in the nature of the enquiries. Nearly 50% of callers (i.e. people coming into the front counter to access MPS services) were visitors to the building. Other services include dealing with property (24%), traffic matters (11%), appointments and enquiries (16%) and missing persons (1%).

30. Over the last 3 calendar years (Jan 2007 to December 2009), the number of crime reports taken across Front Counters has fallen by 23% (a fall from 173272 offences in 2007 to 132860 in 2009). In the most recent financial year (2009/10), 15% of all MPS crime was reported across Front Counters. It is estimated that 84% of crimes reported at the front counter are suitable for reporting via the telephone.

31. However, a review of available data has also established that in some areas front counter services play a key role in providing support for at risk and/or vulnerable groups. For example, 24% of the 2,842 rape offences reported to the MPS during the 2009- 2010 fiscal year were reported at front counters.

32. These initial findings suggest that the use of individual front counters varies widely and that in some areas there is an opportunity to improve alignment between available police resources and the needs of the community.

33. The data also suggests that a disproportionate number of some categories of serious offences are brought to police attention by victims who walk in to front counter locations. Victims of these offences should be given appropriate and prompt support in order to maximise the care they receive and increase the likelihood of conviction of offenders This finding suggests that there may be times and locations at which the increased use of warranted officers would enable an immediate and more comprehensive response to meet the needs of victims.

Public Access - Reviewing Front Counter Services

34. Increasing public access to services and, simultaneously, improving customer satisfaction by improving the quality of service delivery underpins work to build confidence and satisfaction within communities. Delivery of front counter services plays a central role in public access and the MPS is committed to the Mayoral priority of maintaining the provision of these services. The future development of front counters, however, must be seen in the context of other initiatives such as Safer Neighbourhoods and access to local policing presence, improved Internet-based services, telephone investigation, appointments systems and technology such as ‘Police Information Points’. These initiatives have increased customer satisfaction.

35. There are now more channels for the public to make contact with the MPS and to be provided with more policing services. The nature and speed of these developments has led to a significant overlap in service provision. A benefit of this overlap is that it provides more choice, enabling Londoners to access the MPS in ways that meet their differing needs and preferences. However, initial analysis of the actual take up of front counter services suggests that while, in some places and at some times, demand is high and involves serious offending, in others demand for front counter services is low and declining. The TP Development programme will review how front counter services are delivered in the future as part of the wider strategy for improving public access. The principles for the review are currently in development to ensure they align with wider policing delivery and will be arrived at through discussions and joint working at all levels. It must be stressed that no changes to policy will be made without wide consultation. The Terms of Reference for the Review will be finalised in December with a view to submission to the MPA in January 2011.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. A profile of victims and informants that report crime has been obtained through CRIS (the MPS crime reporting database). During the 2009-10 fiscal year, some 15% of crimes were reported at front counters, but 39% of those that reported crimes at front counters were from BME communities. 38% of victims of all crime were from those communities. Consequently, BME communities are over-represented in those reporting crime at front counters.

2. During the same fiscal year, 24% of rapes were reported at front counters, indicating that victims of these offences are also over-represented.

3. Any possible future changes to the MPS estate or to the availability of front counters must take into account a potentially greater impact on minority communities.

4. An initial screening for an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) has been undertaken and has highlighted a number of issues that will need to be taken into account including compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). The community engagement strategy and internal and external stakeholder engagement will ensure that impacts raised under the EIA are fully considered.

Consideration of MET Forward

5. The purpose of the Front Counters Review is to seek to increase confidence in policing services and to improve efficiency, delivering those services with better value for money. These are at the core of the MPA vision of how the MPS is to develop and perform.

Financial Implications

6. There are no financial implications arising from this report. The findings from the Front Counters Review may have financial implications and will be addressed within the Business Case. In anticipation of a review and changes to public access and front counters, cumulative savings of £3m have been included within the business planning process for 2011/14 as part of the TP Development programme, that take into account staff savings and decommissioning costs. Savings from the sale of buildings from the MPA/MPS estate are included within the Property services corporate real estate service improvement plan.

Legal Implications

7. The Equality Act 2010 imposed upon public authorities a single equality duty to eliminate discrimination and promote equality. The Act applies to all the characteristics governed by the Equality Act namely, race, disability, sex, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief, pregnancy and maternity and gender reassignment. It replaces the equivalent duties currently limited to race, gender and disability equality.

8. The Equality Act requires public bodies to publish a range of equality data in relation to the services they provide and in relation to the performance of their equality duty. The data may include routine monitoring data, staff, customer or population surveys, complaints or statistics.

9. There is a legal duty to complete an Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) and to achieve transparency about how the service has engaged with the public in fulfilling its equality duty. The form that the assessment must take is not prescribed and the “Equality Humans Rights Commission” (EHRC) will publish guidance on how the EIA may be carried out.

10. The Equality Act requires public bodies from 4 April 2011 to publish information in relation to the performance of their general duty and to update the information annually. EHRC is to publish a Code of Practice upon how the duty to publish may be satisfied.

11. This report recognises that it will be necessary to conduct an EIA and to develop a community and internal/external stakeholder engagement strategy to ensure compliance with the Equality Act.

12. Any redundancies will be conducted through MPS HR upon DLS legal advice as appropriate.

13. This report is submitted as part of the governance process and no further legal implications arise.

Environmental Implications

14. There are no direct environmental implications however the following impacts may occur (either positive or negative) if the location or number of front counters is changed:

• Transport carbon emissions associated with longer or shorter journey times to front counters for the public and police officers working at front counters. Public transport accessibility has been taken into consideration.
• Building carbon and water emissions, waste and resource use. This will be lower if efficiency is improved, higher if we increase service provision. In the case of new or additional facilities Property Services will ensure all new MPS developments comply with MPS Sustainable Design Standards to ensure that the environmental impacts associated with buildings are minimised.

Risk Implications

15. The project is an opportunity to improve customer service and make efficiency savings, but there is the potential for negative public reaction to change. Mitigation work will include customer questionnaires to obtain feedback, a community engagement strategy to highlight the benefits of change, together with internal and external stakeholder engagement.

16. There are no immediate health and safety implications associated within a Front Counters Review. A corporate activity based risk assessment is produced by TP Patrol OCU on behalf of Assistant Commissioner for TP. This risk assessment details the control measures that should be implemented at local level by BOCUs. Currently the proposals within this report do not change any of those requirements.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author(s): Chief Inspector Carl Lindley and Alison Versluys, MPS

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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