Recruitment targets

Report: 6
Date: 12 March 2009
By: Director of Human Resources, on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides details of the proposed recruitment and strength targets for the next three financial years. The targets cover police officers, police community support officers and special constables. The report provides recruitment and strength targets for black and minority ethnic (BME) and female MPS personnel and highlights some of the key features of the current recruitment strategy. Members are invited to consider the targets and profiles discussed within the report.

A. Recommendation

1. That Members approve the following targets for 2009/10:

1. 2,148 Police recruits (27.4% BME, 40.9% female) resulting in a strength of 33,353 (10% BME, 23.75% female)
2. 1,166 Police Community Support Officers (33.7% BME, 35.3% female) resulting in strength of 4,746 (31.5% BME, 36% female)
3. 2,987 Special constables (27.4% BME, 36.6% female) resulting in strength of 5,099 (31% BME, 33% female)

B. Supporting information

Performance in 2008/09

2. The projected police officer strength at end March 2009 is 32,500, a 3.5% increase since March 2008. As well as the significant overall increase in police numbers, BME police officer strength is likely to reach a level of 2,864 (8.8% of the workforce), a 10.9% increase since March 2008. During the same period, female officer strength is also likely to reach 7,311 (22.5%) officers, a 9.1% increase since March 2008. Turnover amongst police officers has remained low i.e. 4.4% p.a. overall.

Recruitment issues 2008/09

3. There are several factors that impact upon the increase in police BME diversity.

• BME representation amongst applicants for 2008/09 is approximately 22% following the introduction of larger scale events to increase the number of applications to satisfy the demands of the MPS Deployment Plan. Of particular note, smaller targeted events in January and February 2009 resulted in BME representation in excess of 40%.
• The three-year residency requirement limits recruitment amongst the BME economically active population
• BME representation within the wider policing family (e.g. Police Community Support Officers and Special Constables) has reached parity with the wider London BME population, and currently exceeds 30% for both roles. There is evidence to suggest that the PCSO role is more attractive to some BME individuals interested in becoming police officers but wishing to ‘test the water’.

Police workforce 2009/10 - targets

4. Police Officer strength will increase to 33,353 officers during 2009/10. Taking into account turnover and the growth in officer strength, the police recruitment target is likely to be circa 2,448. Recruitment will be split between new recruits (IPLDP), transferees and the 30 plus scheme.

5. Table 1 provides a summary of different BME and female police strength targets for 2009/10 along with the number and representation amongst new recruits.

Table 1: BME and female police strength options

6. Table 1 shows the number of recruits and intake representation required to increase the overall BME representation of the MPS during 2009/10. Based upon current workforce modeling 9.6 – 9.7% BME strength target is realistic considering the projected wastage, yields from the existing application pool and known growth.

• To reach a BME officer strength of 10%, 588 BME officers need to be recruited accounting for 27% of new recruits
• To reach a BME officer strength of 9.6 – 9.7%, 449 – 484 BME officers need to be recruited accounting for 21 – 22.5% of new recruits.

All recruitment activity will focus on achieving the target strength of 10%.

7. Table 1 also shows the number of recruits and intake representation required to increase the overall female representation of the MPS during 2009/10.

• To reach a female officer strength of 23.75%, 878 female officers need to be recruited accounting for 41% of new recruits.

Provided this strength is achieved, then an overall female strength of 25% in 2010/11 is a realistic prospect.

Increasing BME representation beyond 9.7%

8. Although there is clear aspiration to increase BME strength to 10% by March 2010, as noted earlier, there are several constraints that make this target challenging. Table 2 provides a summary of the number of additional BME and female officers needed to be recruited having taken into account the existing application pool to meet different strength targets.

Table 2: BME recruitment gap to meet various representation targets

Source: Recruitment Directorate

9. Table 2 shows that having taken into account the existing application pool, in order to reach 10% BME strength, a further 309 BME recruits are needed. Although internal and PCSO applicants have substantially better application success rates, an over-reliance upon these two groups is risky and problematic, particularly with PCSO applicants as over-recruitment from this group results in higher than expected turnover within Safer Neighbourhoods Teams.

Summary of recruitment targets

10. Table 3 provides a summary of the indicative recruitment targets for police, staff, PCSO and specials:

Table 3: Summary of the indicative recruitment targets for police, staff, PCSO and specials

R

Source: Recruitment Directorate

11. The recruitment profile outlined at Table 3 will result in 11% BME and 26% female police strength, and 10,000 special constables by end March 2012 (see Appendix 1, for strength projections for key roles).

• The recruitment targets will result in an increase in overall police strength to 33,353 officers, and increase BME strength to 3,335 (10%) officers and female strength to 7,921 (23.75%) officers by March 2010.
• The PCSO strength will be increased to 4,746 (including 1,495 (31.5%) BME and 1,709 (36%) female PCSOs).
• The Specials’ strength will be increased to 5,099 (including 1,581 (31%) BME and 1,683 (33%) female specials).

12. The BME targets for police recruits assume that there is a 10% BME and 23.75% female strength target in 2009/10. Notional BME/female recruitment targets have been included for police transfers. The BME/female targets for PCSO, staff and specials are to either maintain existing levels of representation where equivalent to the London population, or increase representation where lower than the London population.

Delivery

13. The achievement of these challenging targets is dependent upon several critical activities.

• The community engagement strategy will focus initially upon the Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish communities. The outreach workers are currently mapping the community groups in London, as well as developing relationships with the priority community groups. However, although there is some evidence to suggest that the strategy has made a positive contribution to the number of Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Turkish officers within the workforce, the full benefits are longer term.
• The range of measures to help improve the applicant yield of BME groups will be developed further, including the use of action learning sets and proactive support during the recruitment process. It is hoped that these measures will provide applicants with not only a supportive network, but also with concrete steps on how to improve their chances of success.
• Finally, the admissions criteria will be applied to prioritise applicants onto intakes; this process makes use of a composite measurement of a range of self-declared qualities (e.g. language skills) that is then used to rank recruits onto intakes in response to operational demands and priorities. The Commission for Racial Equality has previously been consulted about the admissions criteria.

C. Race and equality impact

18. The recruitment profiles highlighted by this report show that on average BME officers will account for 26% and female officers around 50% of new recruits during the next three years. Consequently, BME officers will account for 1 in 4 recruits and female officers will account for 1 in 2 recruits.

D. Financial implications

19. The diversity profiles noted in this report are dependent upon the recruitment targets remaining constant. The organisation’s ability to impact upon its diversity mix is increased when there is a large recruitment requirement. Should budget issues dictate a reduction in police officer numbers the opportunity to improve the diversity mix will be jeopardised.

20. There are additional costs associated with the diversity modelling, events and attraction strategy and support provision (including the development of action learning sets).

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author(s): Majella Myers, George Clarke, Gabrielle Nelson, MPS

For information contact:

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

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