Local Authority Match Funding Scheme

Report: 6
Date: 14 April 2011
By: Director of Resources and Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

A Match Funding Scheme has been offered to the Local Authorities, under Section 92 of the Police Act 1996, where if they fund one officer another officer will be provided at no additional charge to the Local Authority.

The Scheme has seen initial expressions of interest for 200 officers (gross) and is expected to receive a maximum of 230 bids once all Local Authorities have established their position.

This report seeks approval to the Scheme as a means of working in partnership with borough councils and of safeguarding officer resilience during a period of increasing financial restraint.

A. Recommendations

That the Committee

1. Agree the terms of the Match Funding Scheme as set out in exempt, Appendix 1.
2. Note the initial response by borough councils and that the Policing London Business Plan can accommodate agreements up to 230 officers (115 funded by councils).
3. Note individual agreements will be signed off by the MPA Chief Executive.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. Following consultation with the Service, the Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority wrote to the Leaders of all 32 Local Authorities on 22 December 2010 offering additional police officers on a match funded basis. The letter suggested that Local Authorities might explore how they could use the various funding streams available for community safety in Borough to provide additional police officers. The rate of £51,000 was set for each Local Authority funded officer which, with the match funding, would effectively provide them with two officers for £51,000. Three key principles were established:

• The match funded officers had to relate to additional officers, and specifically be over and above those officers already provided to the Local Authority under one of the MPA’s current ‘cost sharing’ schemes.
• The match funded officers remained under the operational control of the Commissioner.
• The match funded officers would only be abstracted from their duties in the case of an emergency, and in those circumstances the Local Authority would not receive any refund to their grant.

2. These principles were subsequently expanded into a set of working assumptions that could be used until such time that the full scale of the interest in the Scheme could be established and the final criteria could be approved by Management Board and the MPA. The expanded principles are shown in exempt Appendix 1.

3. Management Board considered and supported the proposal on 23 March 2011 at which time there were expressions of interest from the Local Authorities for approximately 200 (gross) officers to undertake a variety of activities including policing of parks and open spaces (Wandsworth and Redbridge), estates policing (Barking and Dagenham, Hounslow, Waltham Forest) and tasking teams (Brent, Harrow and Redbridge). A number of Local Authorities who have shown an interest have, as yet, not indicated how many officers they may be interested in funding or what activities they may wish them to be involved in. A working assumption has been made that the final figure is unlikely to exceed 230. The numbers, by Borough, as we currently understand them are shown in exempt Appendix 2.

4. The Scheme will provide additional operational officers which will provide increased local visibility and will enhance partnership work with borough councils in dealing with local priorities. Whilst available for abstraction only in an emergency situation (see paragraph C9), the Scheme supports the shared objective of the Service and Authority of safeguarding, as far as is practical, officer resilience.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. The introduction of the Match Funding Scheme, together with other corporate initiatives, will allow the MPS to start some police recruitment and provide opportunities for the PCSO workforce which is significantly reducing as part of the budget process. This will not only reduce or eliminate the need for some future redundancy but will assist in increasing the diverse mix of the police workforce as the PCSO family has a higher proportion of staff from BEM backgrounds.

2. The selection of officers to the Local Authority funded positions will need to be undertaken in accordance with normal MPS selection criteria. However, dependent on the activity being undertaken, officers may see a posting outside of core policing as having a detrimental impact on their career profile.

Financial Implications

3. The 2010/11 officer deployment plan includes a number of posts dependent on agreements and funding from London boroughs and other agencies. Given the financial constraints facing our partners there was significant concern that existing agreements would not be continued and the current capacity would not be utilised based on the existing scheme terms. Some 618.5 officer posts were therefore at risk.

4. In order to safeguard as far as possible officer resilience the Chair of the Authority, following consultation with the Service, wrote to London Boroughs offering a new match-funding scheme which was supported by an additional 54 officer posts in the draft Policing London Business Plan considered by the Authority in February. Current indications from boroughs are that the scheme will result in agreements requiring a total of 230 officer posts of which 115 will be funded by councils.

5. The net impact of this scheme on the deployment plan is -17 once the impact of borough withdrawals and the non-take up of the existing schemes are taken into account. The new scheme has, therefore, protected the current deployment plan and can be funded within the overall officer pay budget.

6. Based on a maximum of 230 officers, the full year cost of the Scheme can be summarised as follows:

7. The cost in 2011/12 will depend on the start date of individual agreements and will not be as high as £5.75m. These costs are reflected in the 2011-14 Policing London Business Plan as submitted to the Authority in March 2011.

8. The agreements are for three years and subject to 12 months notice by either party. They do, therefore, potentially commit the Service into 2012/13 and beyond. This will reduce the Service’s ability to bridge the significant budget gaps which have still to be closed in future years.

Legal Implications

See Appendix 3 (Exempt).

Consideration of Met Forward

9. The Match Funding Scheme will not only increase the number of visible police officers on the streets but they will all be deployed to address local policing requirements. From the discussions to date with the Local Authorities the local issues they have highlighted include tackling the gun and gang culture present on some housing estates and addressing anti-social behaviour within local hotspots.

Environmental Impact

10. There are no known negative environmental implications to this report and it may be that some Local Authorities may wish the additional officers to address, amongst other issues, environmental crime.

Risk Implications

11. There are significant risks associated with the Match Funding Scheme, the main risks are as follows:

• Additional officers are recruited, public expectation is raised, but due to future budget cuts in financial years 2012/13 and 2013/14 the Local Authorities terminate the agreements leaving the MPS with unfunded officers.
• The uncertainty of the MPS’s budgets for the years 2012/13 and 2013/14 may put additional pressure on the MPS to honour the agreements.
• Two Local Authorities have indicated they wish to make their own staff redundant in order to take up this offer as they believe warranted officers will (a) be more effective and (b) on a match funded basis will save them costs. This may bring TUPE claims from Local Authority employees, however the cost of handling any claim has been mitigated by the contract, see paragraph C10.
• The number of PCSO on Local Authority funded activity could be reduced as a result of introducing the Match Funding Scheme.
• To have the scheme fully up and running by 1 April 2011, as per the Mayor’s statement, will present significant challenge. Not only will the decisions taken by Management Board need to be ratified by the MPA but the decisions to commit will need to go through the individual Local Authority’s governance process, and all the individual contracts will be required to be negotiated with the Local Authorities. Once these steps are in place it will still be necessary to identify the actual officers who are to be deployed to the Local Authority funded activity.
• Officers who are posted to a Local Authority funded post and engaged in activity outside of core policing may feel that it has a detrimental impact on their career profile.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report authors: Tony Horsley, Commercial Director - Third Party Contracts, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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