Police Staff Disciplinary cases involving police staff  (yearly report period – 1 April  2009-31 March 2010)

Report: 7
Date: 14 October 2010
By: Director of Human Resources on behalf of The Commissioner

Summary

This report provides information in respect of police staff who are subject to disciplinary proceedings.

The report concentrates on discipline cases from 1 April 2009 to 31 March 2010 and compares to the period 1 April 2008 to 31 March 2009.

A. Recommendations

That the report be noted.

B. Supporting information

1. The aim of the police staff discipline policy is to promote positive and constructive working relationships amongst the Metropolitan Police Service staff. The procedures are intended to help and encourage all employees to achieve and maintain acceptable standards of conduct, performance and attendance, and to provide a fair and effective method of dealing with alleged breaches of these standards.

2. The management of police staff discipline is a devolved function to local line managers. Both line managers and Human Resources Managers can access the HR Practice Support Team for advice and guidance in this area. The HR Practice Support Team’s responsibilities include monitoring the use of the discipline policy and ensuring consistency and integrity in its application.

Comparator - Discipline activity for the periods under review

April 2009 – March 2010

3. As of March 2010, 19,185 members of police staff were employed by the MPS. During this period, 227 disciplinary cases were recorded. This figure equates to 1.2% of police staff being subject to disciplinary action.

April 2008 – March 2009

4. As of March 2009, 19,057 members of police staff were employed by the MPS. During this period 194 disciplinary cases were recorded. This figure equates to 1.0% of police staff being subject to disciplinary action.

5. Note - recorded discipline includes formal warnings issued under Stage 1 to 3 of the discipline procedure covering underperformance, conduct and attendance management issues.

Roles of police staff subject to disciplinary action

6. Police community support officers (PCSOs):

• During the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010 – of the 227 cases recorded, 80 (35.2%) cases were recorded in respect of PCSOs.
• As of March 2010, PCSOs made up 24.0% (4,607) of the total police staff workforce.
• During the reporting period April 2008 to March 2009 – of the 194 cases recorded during this period, 78 (40.2%) were recorded against PCSOs.
• As of March 2009, PCSOs made up 24.0% (4,567) of the total police staff workforce.

7. Catering Staff:

• During the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010 – of the 227 cases recorded during this period, 7 (3.1%) were cases recorded in respect of Catering Staff.
• During the reporting period April 2008 to March 2009 – of the 194 cases recorded 7 (3.6%) were recorded against Catering Staff.

8. Communication Officers:

• During the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010 – of the 227 cases recorded during this period, 49 (21.6%) cases were recorded against Communications Officers.
• As of March 2010, police staff at the Central Communications Command made up 8.5% (1,626) of the total police staff workforce.
• During the reporting period April 2008 to March 2009 – of the 194 cases recorded during this period, 22 (11.3%) of cases were recorded against Communications Officers.
• As of March 2009, police staff at CCC made up 8.6%, (1,636) of the total police staff workforce.
• During this reporting period there has been an increase of 10.3% of Communications officers that were subject to discipline. A significant proportion of this increase can be attributed to management taking a robust stance to address attendance management concerns and this includes some long term absence cases. The Human Resources Practice Support Team along with the MPS Occupational Health will continue to monitor and provide necessary assistance and advice.

Diversity Information

9. Gender

• During the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010 – 107 (47.1%) cases were recorded against females and 120 for males.
• As of March 2010, females made up 52.2% (10,005) of the total police staff workforce.
• During the reporting period April 2008 to March 2009 – 85 (43.8%) cases were recorded against females and 109 for males.
• As of March 2009, females made up 52.7% (10,034) of the total police staff workforce.

10. Ethnicity

• During the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010 – 92 (40.5%) cases were recorded against staff from a black and minority ethnic group. A further 127 cases were recorded against staff classified as being from a white group. There were 8 cases recorded where no ethnicity was stated.
• As of March 2010, staff from a black and minority ethnic group made up 24.7% (4,732) of the total police staff workforce.
• During the reporting period April 2008 to March 2009 – 74 (38.1%) cases were recorded against staff classified as being from a black and minority ethnic group. A further 115 cases were recorded against staff classified as being from a white group. 5 cases were recorded as no ethnicity stated.
• As of March 2009, staff from a black and minority ethnic group made up 24.9% (4,751) of the total police staff workforce.
• Although numerically there has been an increase of 18 cases by black and minority ethnic staff that were subject to discipline, in statistical terms this equates only to a marginal overall increase.

11. Ethnicity impact within the PCSO role

• During the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010 - 37 of the 92 cases involving black and ethnic minority staff (40.2%) were recorded against PCSOs.
• As of March 2010 28.8% (1,326) of PCSOs were from a black and minority ethnic group.
• During the reporting period April 2008 to March 2009 - 40 of the 74 black and minority ethnic cases (54.1%) were recorded against PCSOs.
• As of March 2009 30.1% (1,374) of PCSOs were from a black and minority ethnic group.

Disability

12. Disabilities declared by members of staff are recorded on MetHR. This information has not been declared or collated specifically for disciplinary purposes and relies on voluntary disclosure by individuals.

13. Of the 227 disciplinary cases during the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010, in 3 cases (1.3%) staff had declared themselves as having one or more disability. This compares to the total police staff workforce that declared a disability of 0.7% of the total workforce. The small size of this total precludes analysis.

14. Additionally, discipline procedures make specific reference to disabled members of staff and state “consideration must always be given to an individual’s disability when contemplating any disciplinary action and in conducting the disciplinary procedure in relation to a disabled member of staff”. Advice must be sought from the local HR Manager, Occupational Health and the appropriate HR Practice Manager to ensure compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act.

Equality Strands - Age, Faith, Sexual Orientation

15. This information has not been collated specifically for disciplinary purposes and it is not possible presently to provide any meaningful analysis around remaining diversity areas and their representation within the disciplinary process. As part of the Transforming HR programme, and specifically through MetHR, the Practice Support Team are scoping the viability of running reports remotely that enable the capturing of this broader diversity data. Any such standardised reports would not be available until after the launch of People Services.

16. Primary reasons for invoking the disciplinary process

The four main causes triggering disciplinary action are:

• Unsatisfactory attendance
• Integrity issues
• Criminal acts under investigation
• Unacceptable behaviour

17. Unsatisfactory attendance remains the biggest causal factor for disciplinary action to be taken against staff. In this area the MPS is working hard to bring down the total number of sickness absences lost by police staff, as has been achieved with their police officer colleagues. To this end the HR Directorate supporting the wider MPS continues to work hard to reduce absenteeism. Intervention techniques have included the taking of disciplinary action on a number of occasions (albeit as a last resort).

18. The HR Practice Support Team has recently redesigned the classification of all police staff discipline cases to better align with the Commissioner’s 5 Ps programme. Within the Professionalism strand of the 5Ps, one of the new categories highlights general integrity issues. Disciplinary cases within this category range from falsification of timekeeping records through to abuse of a management position.

Timeliness: Suspension Cases

19. Suspension is not a disciplinary sanction and is without prejudice to the outcome of any subsequent proceedings. The circumstances justifying suspension are recorded and monitored by the Practice Support Team and weekly updates are sought from investigating officers to encourage timely progress and minimise the risk of lengthy suspension periods. The Director of Human Resources monitors all suspensions and seeks weekly and more detailed monthly updates surrounding all discipline cases. This approach has proved successful. During the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010 the average time taken for a suspension discipline case to conclude was 75 days. This is a reduction of 9 days from the corresponding period the previous year.

20. The suspension list changes on a daily basis as staff are included or removed from the list dependent on the outcome of discipline investigations.

21. Those suspension cases that feature criminal aspects have to be managed within the constraints of working with internal agencies such as the Directorate of Professional Standards and external agencies such as the Crown Prosecution Service and the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Ethnicity Impact Within Suspension Cases

22. During the reporting period April 2009 to March 2010, 121 members of police staff had been suspended of which 48 (39.7%) were from a black and minority ethnic group.

23. During the reporting period April 2008 to March 2009, 100 members of police staff were suspended of which 44 (44.0%) members of staff were from a black and minority ethnic group.

Application of the 5Ps

24. The core function of the Practice Support Team is to build the capability of local managers by providing professional advice and practical support in areas of performance and conduct management. This advice takes into account whether the disciplinary action proposed is fair, reasonable and proportionate and complies with policy. The essence of the police staff discipline policy is to help and encourage all employees to achieve and maintain acceptable standards of conduct, performance and attendance, and to provide a fair and effective method of dealing with alleged breaches of these standards. Overarching all of the above policy is the Commissioners 5Ps agenda. In the context of supporting and delivering against the 5Ps, and specifically in support of the Professionalism strand, the Practice Support Team has undertaken the following work.

• Since May 2009 the Practice Support Team has presented a professional standards seminar to every PCSO cohort passing out from their six week training. This session provides strong messages around acceptable standards of conduct behaviour by PCSOs both inside and outside of work. An impactive part of the presentation are DVD clips of actual members of staff describing their experiences having been previously the subject to discipline. Since launch approximately 900 PCSOs have participated in these sessions. To date only two of these participants have subsequently become the subject of discipline.
• Based upon the success of the PCSO professional standards seminar, it has been extended and is now included within the induction training process of all new Dedicated Detention Officers and Custody Practice Nurses.
• To further professionalise the delivery of professional standards and to augment the training delivered in November 2009 to disciplinary panel members, the Human Resources Directorate appointed a dedicated chair of disciplinary appeals. The appeal chair not only provides consistency and continuity when handling disciplinary appeals, the post holder is better able to promulgate organisational learning. Based upon the early success of this new appointment, the Directorate of Professional Standards has now appointed their own permanent equivalent to sit on police officer disciplinary panels.
• The Practice Support Managers continue to work with the Employment Tribunal Performance and Learning Manager and the Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS). This dialogue is to share information and intelligence, identify any trends on potential high-risk cases and seeks to identify any opportunities to build on learning and minimise risk of staff falling into the disciplinary process.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. A core aim of the police staff discipline policy, monitored by the Practice Support Team, is to ensure that the policy is being applied fairly and consistently to all police staff employed by the MPS regardless of personal characteristics such as gender, race, religion and belief, creed, ethnic origin, marital status, disability, age, sexual orientation, working hours or working arrangement.

In the event that any member of staff feels that the disciplinary process has not been applied proportionately or fairly, they have full and proper recourse to appeal procedures. Representations may also be made through their line manager or staff support representative. The HR Practice Support Team has access to intelligence from Fairness at Work and, in partnership with the Employee Relations Team, monitors and acts on any such concerns.

In full consultation with the trade union side the disciplinary policy has been reviewed. The revised discipline policy has been designed to match the new way of working following the launch of the Transforming HR (T/HR) programme. As such the revised discipline policy publication date will coincide with the launch date for T/HR.

Financial Implications

2. There are no specific financial considerations arising from this report.

MET Forward

3. This report fully reflects and supports MPS delivery of the following key outcomes of Met Forward: increasing confidence in policing; giving better value for money and valuing our people. These are achieved by activities to minimise the risk of members of staff becoming the subject of discipline. Activities including tackling issues of concern at an early stage, communicating standards of expected behaviour and by sharing learning across the MPS to improve awareness and prevent recurring problems.

Legal Implications

4. The MPS is under a statutory duty to have due regard for the:

1. elimination of unlawful discrimination and harassment;
2. promotion of good relations between peoples of different groups;
3. promotion of positive attitudes towards others.

The MPS Equalities Scheme 2006-2010 is designed to ensure continuous improvement in service delivery in this regard by improvements in the standard of policing and staff awareness of the organisational strategy. Effective governance is required to ensure improvements are achieved and is itself an aspect of the Equalities Scheme.

In providing management information and statistical data in respect of police staff subject to disciplinary proceedings and in addressing issues relating to equality and diversity with regard to the discipline process this report assists the MPA in monitoring MPS performance under the MPS Equalities Scheme.

Environmental Implications

5. There are no environmental issues raised by the report. It should be noted however, that the MPS Environment Strategy will, during the course of the 09/10 financial year, be superseded by a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Strategy that is currently in development, and which will take into account a broader scope of issues, including social and economic issues. It is possible that the material issues identified by the strategy and which inform the CSR reporting framework, will include issues addressed by the Disciplinary Cases Report, for example, in relation to working standards, equality and diversity, organisational reputation, etc.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author: Darren Bird, Assistant Director HR Services, Simon Hockley HR Practice Manager, MPS

For more information contact:

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

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback