Personnel management information

Report: 11
Date: 17 May 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides a range of personnel related management information to the end of March 2001, with a summary of key points. It supplements the main MPS Performance Report, providing more detailed information in the personnel field.

A. Recommendation

That Authority members note the contents of this report and the management information provided.

B. Supporting information

Management information charts

1. The charts show, at Appendix 1, the position against the personnel related Best Value Performance Indicators, and, at Appendix 2, a range of supplementary personnel management information.

2. The charts provide data to the end of March 2001.

Key points
3. The key points to emerge from the reports are set out below:

MPS strength
4. Police strength at the end of March was 25,430 (full time equivalents). The intake in March was 220. Excluding February (there was no intake), strength has risen each month since October 2000.

5. Both civil staff and traffic warden strengths have decreased in March, civil staff by 110 and traffic wardens by 9. At the end of March the civil staff strength was 10,196.59 (full time equivalents) and the traffic warden strength was 698.39 (full time equivalents).

6. The police, civil staff and traffic warden strengths remain under the budgeted workforce targets (BWT) - police by 170 (0.7 per cent), civil staff by 914 (8.2 per cent) and traffic wardens by 260 (27.18 per cent).

Ethnicity
7. The percentage of visible ethnic minorities (VEM) officers as a proportion of police strength was 4.15 per cent at 31 March 2001. The percentage has increased during the year from a start point of 3.91 per cent.

8. The percentage of VEMs as a proportion of civil staff strength has also increased over the year, though mainly in the earlier part of the year. The rate at 31 March was 15.55 per cent, from a beginning of the year figure of 15.04 per cent.

9. The percentage of VEMs as a proportion of traffic warden strength was 12.53 per cent at the end of March, which is higher than last month's 12.38 per cent and 12.13 per cent at the start of the year.

10. 86.40 per cent of visible ethnic minority civil staff are in grades 11, 12 and 13. This does not provide for a proportional representation at higher grades. Accordingly a new objective has been established for 2001/02 to increase the VEM proportion in the higher grades.

Gender
11. The percentage of females as a proportion of police strength at the end of March was 15.75 per cent, which has increased over the year. The percentage at the beginning of the year was 15.48 per cent.

12. The percentage of females as a proportion of civil staff strength on 31 March was 58.80 per cent.

13. The bulk of female civil staff are at grades 12 and 13 (77.45 per cent).

14. The proportion of traffic warden strength that is female is 61.15 per cent, which is slightly higher than last month's 60.78 per cent but is marginally lower than at the start of the year (62.06 per cent).

Command and operational resilience
15. The 'Others' BWT represents various grades for which a BWT has been included in Business Group figures but which cannot be redistributed across the unified grades as no definitive designation is available. The strength for "Other" refers to the number of college based students currently employed.

16. The difference between the BWT and strength for Grade 11's occurs because the BWT includes a number of catering grades that are not part of the unified grading structure, and are categorised as Grade 11s for workforce records purposes.

Police recruitment
17. The police recruitment target for 2000/2001 was 1,355, which included 663 new recruits covered by the Home Office Crime Fighting Fund

18. The final intake in March was 220. Total recruitment in 2000/01 was 1350 new officers, only 5 short of the target.

19. 90 ethnic minority officers were recruited over the year, a shortfall of 210 against the target of 300 required to meet the 5 per cent target for the overall police workforce proportion.

20. 20.59 per cent of recruits were female.

21. Recruitment of both ethnic minorities and female officers in 2000/01 was higher than wastage and the proportion of these groups in the police workforce is growing, albeit slowly.

Police wastage
22. Police wastage in March was again high at 140, with transfers to other forces also remaining high at 42. Total wastage for 2000/01 was 1469 excluding "internal wastage" e.g. career breaks, officers going part-time and reductions in part-time hours. Internal wastage for the year was 42 (full time equivalents).

23. The number of medical retirements as a proportion of all retirements in March was 48.39 per cent, which is higher than the previous average monthly rate. However the proportion for the full year was 32.1 per cent of all retirements, below the BVPI target of 33 per cent. Over the year, 31.68 per cent of leavers (465.4) retired on ordinary pensions and 14.98 per cent of leavers (220.06) were medically retired.

24. Wastage over the year of VEMs as a proportion of visible ethnic minority average strength was 4.36 per cent (46). This is lower that the overall wastage rate of 5.78 per cent (1449.21).

25. Overall, resignations and officers joining other forces continued to form virtually half of all wastage: 24.46 per cent of leavers (359.35) resigned and 25.6 per cent (382.4) joined other forces.

Civil staff wastage
26. 88 civil staff (warrant enforcement officers and administrative staff ) left the MPS on 31 March on transfer to the Greater London Magistrates Court Authority. Other wastage in March was 118, higher than for recent months. Total civil staff wastage for the year averaged 130.7 per month. Resignations accounted for 57.65 per cent of all wastage, an average of 75 per month.

27. There was a high number of medical retirements in March (17.85) compared to the monthly average for the year of 6.43. This lifted medical retirements as a proportion of all civil staff retirements over the year to 35.32 per cent, above the BVPI target of 33 per cent.

28. Wastage among visible ethnic minority civil staff in March as a proportion of total wastage this month was 15.96 per cent, which is lower than last month's 18.09 per cent. Proportionately VEM wastage in 2000/01 was lower at 12.63 per cent than the VEM proportionate strength, 15.55 per cent.

29. Wastage of female civil staff as a proportion of total wastage this month is 40.61 per cent, which is lower than last month's high figure of 64.64 per cent. Female wastage comprised 54.89 per cent of overall civil staff wastage in 2000/01. However since the proportion of females in the civil staff workforce is 58.8 per cent, female civil staff wastage is not disproportionate.

Traffic warden wastage
30. The wastage rate of traffic wardens in 2000/01 averaged 11.4 per month. This equates to 19.54 per cent of the average strength. 48.67 traffic wardens (35.66 per cent of leavers) re-graded to civil staff grades and 41.71 (30.56 per cent of leavers) resigned.

Police sickness
31. The rate for February increased by 0.3 days to 9.9 days. The average police sickness rate for the year to the end of February was 9.7 days, 0.7 days greater than the 9 days target. This is the same level as for the corresponding period in 1999/2000.

Civil staff sickness excluding traffic wardens
32. At the end of February, the average rate of civil staff sickness was 10.84 days, 0.84 days above the target of 10 days.

33. Continuing computer problems in PIB prevent the extraction of some traffic warden sickness data, consequently the separate figures for civil staff and traffic wardens for September 1999 are currently unavailable.

Traffic warden sickness
34. Traffic warden sickness continues at a much higher rate than for other staff. The figures to date this year show an average of 21.87 days lost per traffic warden. The rate is also higher than for the same months last year. There has been a gradual but steady increase during the year. A programme of action, with Occupational Health working in concert with line management, is being pursued.

Extended sick pay for police officers (Regulation 46)
35. During 2000/01 an average 195 officers per month were off on one or other form of extended sick leave. An average 107 officers per month were on full pay, 68 officers on half pay and 21 officers were off pay. The general trend over the year was increases in each of the three categories.

Grievances
36. There were an average of 11 new grievance cases a month during 2000/01. This compares with the previous year's average of 13 new cases a month.

Employment tribunals
37. The total for 2000/01 shows a 12.5 per cent increase in the number of new cases over last year (108 compared to 96 in 1999/2000).

Occupational health
The number of new occupational health referrals (excluding welfare) in March was 360, virtually the same as for February (361). The monthly average for the year was 347 new referrals. The number of staff returning to full duties during March was 180, an increase on the 144 in the previous month.

C. Financial implications

None.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

The author of this report is Chris Haselden, MPS.

For information contact:

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

Appendices

Available from the MPA in hard copy only.

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