Report in sickness trends, causes of sickness absence and an update of the review of restricted duty officers

Report: 6
Date: 18 April 2011
By: Director of Human Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides information on sickness trends, the main causes of sickness absence, an update on the review of restricted duties, and actions being taken to improve the operational resilience and visibility of the MPS.

A. Recommendations

That Members note the content of this report.

B. Supporting information

Context

1. Sickness absence remains the responsibility of the line-manager supported by HR as necessary. Current activity within occupational health (part of Health and Wellbeing) is to reinforce that message and to encourage managers to manage the absence while occupational health manages the illness.

Sickness absence trends

2. Details of average working days lost by financial year and staff type for the years 2005/6 to 2009/10, together with details of the latest monthly figures (November 2010) are attached at Appendix 1. Although absence levels across the three main categories of staff have remained relatively static. Police officer absence levels are at an historical low at 6.8 days per officer and represents one of the best performance levels in the country. Overall sickness levels for the whole of the MPS average out at 7.72 days per person. (Although not specifically requested it is worth noting that in relation to the private sector and other government bodies, the MPS is doing very well. Information from the 2010 CIPD/ Simplyhealth annual survey shows the average days lost to sickness in large private sector companies (those with 5000+ employees) is 8.6 days and 10.6 days for the public sector. This compares with the MPS figure at November 2010 of 7.7 days per employee).

Causes of sickness absence

3. Attached at Appendix 2 is a spreadsheet showing the 12 sickness absence categories (using the Dorset code system which is itself currently subject to review), in order of days lost over the last five financial years. It will be noted that the main reasons for absence remain fairly static in that musculoskeletal and psychological disorders dominate the list with miscellaneous absences in second place. Miscellaneous sickness causes include amongst other things surgical interventions, post operative care, fatigue, carcinomas and trapped nerves etc. One of the reasons for the review of the Dorset code system is to provide much greater clarity on the miscellaneous heading by showing the substantive reasons separately.

Recuperative duties

4. Recuperative duties are designed to be a short-term rehabilitive programme. Work continues to reduce the frequency and extent of recuperative duties although its benefits of returning officers to work sooner by having them do some work rather than none is frequently underplayed even though the process pre-dates the government’s own Fit Note process, which is designed to address similar issues.

5. The number of officers on recuperative duties as at 31.12.10 was 980. This figure remains high, representing 2.7% of the workforce. At any one time approx 70% of recuperative officers are working full hours but not their full normal deployment activity.

6. Medical practitioners and managers are constantly reminded of the need to control recuperative duty arrangements for individual officers, while ensuring that duty of care considerations are not overlooked. The introduction of the HR Operational Support (HROS) teams has provided occupational health with an additional enquiry and compliance tool. HROS are now provided with details of all recuperative cases that remain a concern to occupational health and tasked to determine why the case has not progressed, who is responsible for the delay (occupational health, the manager or the individual) and what actions can be taken to resolve the problem. The initial exercise looked at 148 cases resulting in 74 being reclassified as resolved, including the identification of 52 cases that had previously been recommended for restricted duties but not progressed. While the exercise has resulted in some cases being closed down the number of cases awaiting restricted duty approval is challenging given the drive to reduce these numbers. It is hoped that the back log of potential restricted duty cases arises from legacy issues arising prior to the implementation of PeopleServices and that when this backlog is cleared the demand for restricted duty status will diminish.

7. The HROS team has now become the focus for action in reducing recuperative numbers specifically where the resolution is dependent on line manager activity and the process for utilising the HROS teams is evolving as more experience is gained and best and worst practice identified. It is hoped to reduce numbers to 750 by March 2012.

Review of restricted duties

8. The number of restricted officers as at 31.12.10 was 1096, representing 3.4% of the workforce. On-going iterations to the capability/activity form against which restricted officers are assessed make it difficult to make straight comparisons with earlier phases of the exercise. The form continues to evolve as new information is added. A spreadsheet showing outcomes for the latest phase of the exercise is attached at Appendix 3. In total over 400 officers have now been reviewed using the new system and later iterations of it.

9. Of the 58 cases reviewed under this phase of the programme 6 (10.3%) were returned to full duties. This compares very favourably with the 6% returned to full duties in the earlier phases of the programme and is due in part to the medical officer gaining more experience with the needs and requirements of police activities. No issues were raised by any of the officers returned to full operational duties.

10 The figures at Appendix 3 relate only to the reviews being undertaken en masse at one OCU at a time. All medical officers have now embedded this process in to their daily work practices and all officers being considered for restricted duties or subject to review are dealt with in an identical manner. The bulk reviews within TP will be completed by March 2012 but the process of reviews will continue indefinitely.

11. The early phase of the bulk reviews saw significant numbers going forward for consideration of ill health retirement (22 cases in the first phase representing 14.6% of those reviewed). That is no longer the case, with zero cases from the last 58 cases reviewed, although requests generally from officers outside of this process wishing to be considered for ill health retirement continue to grow. Balancing the need for operational resilience against the cost of ill health retirements remains an on-going problem, particularly in ensuring that decisions to retain officers who have been found to be permanently disabled from undertaking the ordinary duties of a police officer but who have the capability to perform a full time (or part time as appropriate) police officer role, are justified.

12. The intention at the moment is to hold ill health retirements to around 72 p.a. in line with financial provision, which has been increased in recent years to cope with the expected increased in ill health requests and the organisational imperative to improve operational resilience. Restricted numbers, as a consequence of these actions, may reach 1200 by March 2012.

Increasing operational resilience and a visible presence

13. While occupational health has always worked closely with managers and clients to reduce sickness absence, the most recent initiatives, while continuing for most part in that vein, also provide for a more focussed input by managers to do to more to manage absences. Occupational health is trying to engender a culture that encourages local managers to focus more on managing the absence while medical practitioners manage the illness. They are fundamentally different activities that do overlap but they can and must run in parallel to ensure earlier resolution of cases. The more recent initiatives include:

14. Eight-weekly sickness absence meetings with Area Commanders and equivalents, attended by the MPS senior physician, the head of health and wellbeing and other senior HR professionals, as required. The meetings are designed to improve communication between HR and the business community and to provide a vehicle for contentious issues and non progressing difficult cases to be discussed at a very senior level to ensure that outcomes are achieved through stricter local compliance. Although in their infancy these meetings have been very well received by operational colleagues.

15. The reinstatement of regular meetings between the individual medical officers and (B)OCU managers to progress cases and to provide a vehicle for both sides to challenge and seek clarity on recommendations and outcomes. It is hoped that these meetings will also reassure operational colleagues that the medical officers are focussed on the business needs of the MPS and reduce the misplaced perception that occupational health is too client-centric.

16. The introduction of PeopleServices has enabled occupational health to draw on the resources of the HROS teams to chase up and challenge local managers where cases are not progressing and/or there are indications that the recommendations made by occupational health practitioners, nurses and medical officers, are not being implemented. This has proved a useful tool for occupational health as HROS are able to devote more time on-site to these issues while at the same time providing much needed support to local managers.

17. Significant work has been done to address psychological disorder absences, including the provision of three training packages all of which have won national awards. The latest award - The 2010 National Training Award for large employer was given for the introduction of a training package that attempts to change the culture which stigmatises stress in the workplace to one where it is more acceptable for staff to discuss the pressures they face in their jobs and at home. The training course is designed to help staff build their own resilience to stress and develop a healthier work and life balance. Absences from psychological disorders have reduced proportionately over the last 5 years by around 18%.

New initiatives currently in the planning stage

18. Planning for a pilot rehabilitation programme through an external provider via Procurement Services, to determine whether faster progress can be made with those individuals who, while displaying an underlying musculoskeletal problem, are unable to return to work as envisaged due to overlapping psychological/social reasons. Any pilot that is implemented would be compared to an internal control group to check the veracity of claimed benefits.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. No negative race or equality issues have been identified. Disability issues are considered when dealing with sickness absences, recuperative and restricted duty deployments. Any deployment options, including those on return to work will be subject to risk assessment and reasonable adjustments where appropriate, including adjustments where the issue is unrelated to legislative requirement such as the Equalities Act 2010. The gender balance for restricted reviews is approximately 31% female and 69% male, which is almost identical to the current profile for restricted officers - 30% female, 70% male. The current gender profile for police officers is 23% female and 77% male, showing that more females are becoming restricted at a faster rate then males.

2. Sickness is to some extent influenced by gender with females taking anywhere between 3 and 5 days more days then males, dependent on the staff categorization - PCSOs are slightly under 3 days, police officers just over 3 days and police staff just under 5 days . Reasons for this are complex and include gender specific absences and the fact that many women have carer responsibilities which may be reflected in short term absences. A detailed analysis of sickness and how gender impacts upon it has just commenced by the HR Evaluation Team.

3. Concern exists from the potential for identified reasonable adjustments not being implemented within a timely manner. The risks are to the individual requiring the adjustments and the broader MPS from possible litigation. The new PeopleServices model does allow for significantly better monitoring and compliance around the implementation of reasonable adjustments through a dedicated Service Request (SR) process. Work to further develop this process is underway with the Disabled Staff association.

Consideration of MET Forward

4. All the activity described in this report is aimed at improving the resilience and capability of the MPS to address its key policing objectives, including increased visibility by having more officers available for duty, and improved value for money by reducing the cost of sickness absence.

Financial Implications

5. Other than the additional cost of employing a medical officer to undertake the borough by borough reviews at a cost of approx £50k pa (funding is provided by TP until 31.3.11 and a further bid for 2012 is being considered), all other activities are resourced through existing and approved budget provisions across the Service.

Legal Implications

6. The review of restricted duty officers and the work undertaken to support sick and injured staff members and officers when away from work and when being introduced back in to the workplace following an absence, will assist the MPS to demonstrate it’s duty of care to all employees, including those who may be affected by the illness or injury of their colleagues.

Environmental Implications

7. There are no environmental issues raised by the report.

Risk (including Health & Safety) Implications

8. The inability to proactively manage sickness absence and the elements that stem from it such as restricted and recuperative duties, and ill health retirements would have a negative impact on operational policing performance and bring with it significant cost implications. All activity is monitored at weekly and monthly intervals to ensure that action is taken to deal with performance issues both in the short and long term. The information in this report assists the MPA in the performance of its duties under Health and Safety legislation and of its strategic oversight role as set out in the joint MPA/MPS Corporate Health and Safety Policy.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author: Robert Crawley, Head of Health and Wellbeing, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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