Recruitment targets

Report: 5
Date: 14 July 2011
By: Director of Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides details of recruitment activity and diversity of new entrants during the financial year 2010/11. The report provides a summary of the year-end strengths and diversity for key MPS roles. The report provides details of the current recruitment targets for 2011/12 and briefly discusses retention targets.

A. Recommendations

That Members note the report.

B. Supporting information

Performance 2010/11

1. The year 2010/11 was a challenging year for recruitment and workforce planning. The significant reduction in budgets coupled with the objective of maintaining operational resilience meant that staffing requirements have been adapted to meet the changing environmental conditions. Key developments during the year have included the push for Special Constables (MSC) to support local regular officers, police staff Star Chamber to ensure that external recruitment has been undertaken as a very last resort to fill essential posts, and the development of the new recruitment and training framework for regular police officers.

2. Table 1 provides a summary of the numbers recruited during the year.

Table 1 - MPS recruitment of key roles (2010/11)

Source: MPS Workforce Planning, 2011

Warranted officers – regular and special constables

3. Table 1 shows that the majority of recruitment was focused upon the MSC with a total of 2,399 officers recruited. This amounted to the highest number of MSC recruited in the last decade, pushing the strength up to an all time high. The MSC has continued to be attractive to recruits from ethnically diverse communities, with 639 (26.6%) BME officers recruited.

4. The MSC has remained popular with women from a wide range of local communities. During the year 783 (32.6%) female officers joined, which amounted to a 1.1 percentage point increase since last year (31.5% to 32.6%). The female representation within the White British and Irish group increased by 2.5 percentage points, increasing from 30.6% to 33.1%. The BME female representation level increased from 26.9% to 29.1% (increase of 2.2 percentage points). The female representation amongst the Bangladeshi and Pakistani group (predominantly Muslim) increased from 18.6% to 21.2% (increase of 2.6 percentage points). The Black female representation level rose by 3.3 percentage points, increasing from 33.9% to 37.2%, giving this group one of the highest female representation levels amongst MSC recruits. This result is particularly welcomed in light of the ongoing support from the Black Police Association.

5. Table 1 shows that even for a recruitment pause a total of 342 new police officers joined – these recruits were drawn mainly from PCSO and MSC groups and represents very limited activity compared to previous years. As anticipated, the BME representation was very good (18.1%) and was the second highest level during the last ten-years (2007//08 was highest at 20.0%). Female officers accounted for 30.4%.

6. During the year, the new police recruitment and training framework has been implemented. The implementation programme was undertaken jointly with recruitment, training school and MSC OCU, and has resulted in a clearly defined development pathway for MSC and PCSO who wish to become regular officers, new training programmes and a recruitment process geared towards the needs to different groups.

7. A forum event has been run as part of the communication plan, which generated considerable interest from MPS personnel. The MSC OCU has developed a tracking system to help monitor the whereabouts of individual MSC officers within the development programme, as well a quality control process to ensure MSC training standards remain consistently high. The recent Neyroyd report on police training and development commented positively about the new framework developed by the MPS. There are currently 83 MSC progressing through their training for appointment as a police officer with a further 398 who have gained Independent Patrol Status and applying for training to join the regular service during the year. Many others are working towards gaining Independent Patrol Status (IPS) so that they might apply in the future.

Non-warranted appointments – police staff

8. The police staff appointments covered a range of roles including administrative, managerial, technical and professional posts. As noted earlier, all police staff vacancies are carefully managed through the Star Chamber process, which only authorises external recruitment processes when absolutely necessary.

9. Table 1 shows that there were 472 external police staff appointments. The overall BME representation of the police staff joiners was 20.1% and fell broadly at a mid-point within the normal range for the last 10 years (15.1% to 25.3%). The reduced level of police staff recruitment has seen a slight decrease in female representation but overall levels remain positive at 42%.

10. At the end 2010/11 the MPS had an overall strength of 54,053 personnel in a range of roles. As noted earlier, the MPS has taken steps to reduce expenditure but maintain operational resilience. The recruitment activity undertaken during the year (see above) was determined by the requirements of business groups across the MPS, together with a pause which was intended to manage the reductions contained within the Medium Term Financial Plan (MTFP) targets for 2011/12.

11. Table 3 provides a summary of the year-end strength of a range of roles, including BME and female representation, as well strength figures for last year and five years previously for comparative purposes.

Table 3 - MPS strength key roles

Source: MPS Workforce Planning, 2011

12. Table 3 shows that the regular police officer strength at 32,370 officers in March 2011, in line with business requirements and to allow a more detailed assessment of the financial situation. Whilst the number of officers was lower than last year’s year-end strength by 890 officers, it was nearly 1500 officers greater than five years ago. The number of special constables (MSC) has increased by 1,821 officers during the last year and out-turned at 4,946 officers. Therefore, whilst the regular service strength decreased by 890 officers, this loss has been partially offset by the gain in MSC officers, providing operational resilience. The recruitment profile for MSC during 2011/12 has been predicated on delivering 6,667 MSC in time for the 2012 Games.

13. Table 3 shows that the overall PCSO strength has decreased from 4,607 to 3,963 officers during the last twelve months. The absence of PCSO recruitment during the last year to counter turnover is one of the main causes for the decrease in strength along with movement of 305 PCSOs into police officer roles.

14. Similarly, the overall police staff strength has decreased over the last year from 14,330 to 13,970 members of staff. As noted earlier, tightly controlled recruitment has halved the number of replacement staff required to match turnover and is accountable for the majority of the decrease. The MPS has also introduced voluntary exit to manage overall reductions in a number of key areas which has also impacted upon the overall strength.

15. Nevertheless, the diversity within the MPS continues to become richer. Both female and BME representation levels amongst regular police officers have reached an all time high of 23.5% and 9.6% respectively. The female representation amongst PCSO remains at a high of 34.8% (another record high), whilst BME representation reached 29.8% (an increase on last year’s level). The diversity within the MSC remains excellent with female and BME representation levels of 30.8% and 29.0% respectively.

Recruitment Targets 2011/12

16. The future recruitment targets are determined by the Deployment Plan’s strength requirements highlighted within the Policing London Business Plan 2011-14 (PLBP). Table 4 provides a summary of those recruitment targets by staff group for 2011/12. The planned strength thereafter remains provisional, reflecting the latest intelligence with regards to external funding and activity underway to bridge the budget gap for 2012/13, 2013/14 and beyond.

Table 4 - projected recruitment and strength 2011/12

Source: Policing London Business Plan 2011-14 and Deployment Plan 2011/12

17. Table 4 shows that at the end 2011/12, police officer strength will decrease to 32,320 officers. Currently the recruitment target stands at 1161 posts. The recruitment activity for regular police officers will continue to focus on PCSOs and MSC at a ratio of 2:1 in the first year dependent upon the numbers successfully completing training. The table reveals that BME and female officer strengths are likely to increase further to 10.1% BME and 24.3% female (predicated on the 20% Home Office target for BME and previous attainment levels for female recruits).

18. Table 4 shows that the number of MSC is likely to increase to 6,667 by the end 2011/12. To achieve this strength, the recruitment target for MSC in 2011/12 will be challenging at 2,884 MSC recruits. There is an expectation that BME and female representation amongst MSC will increase slightly to 29.4% BME and 32.6% female, based upon the diversity of applications within the recruitment pool.

19. Table 4 indicates that funding currently exists for 14,801 police staff posts, however as part of the service restructuring it is anticipated that this number will reduce by the end of the financial year. The MPS has entered a phase of voluntary exit and voluntary redundancy to manage the overall reductions and the Star Chamber has been set up to control vacancies, limit recruitment and manage the posting of staff who have been displaced through the various change programmes. Temporary Agency Workers are being sourced through the Reed Master Vendor Contract and deployed into roles to ensure service delivery and continuity as an interim measure. There is an expectation that BME and female police staff strengths will by the end of the year be at 21.7% BME and 54.8% female respectively.

20. Table 4 shows that the number of PCSO is likely to decrease slightly to 3,825 officers in 2011/12. Around 100 traffic wardens are likely to become PCSOs during the year as a measure to manage the redeployment of traffic wardens. A further 708 PCSO will be recruited from the public. The relatively high number of external PCSO recruits is to help offset the artificially inflated PCSO turnover due to the 826 officers leaving to become regular police officers. The diversity amongst PCSO is likely to remain good at 31.7% BME and 37.1% female.

Retention Targets

21. The Policing Minister’s Assessment of Minority Ethnic Recruitment, Retention and Progression in the Police Service (2008) made use of resignations and dismissals as a percentage of police officer strength as a way of measuring retention. At that time the report revealed that at a national level, BME retention was worse than the retention of white officers at all levels of the service.

22. Making use of this method, Table 5 provides a summary of the resignation/dismissal rates for police officers broken down in BME and White groups for the last three years.

Table 5 - resignation/dismissal rates for police officers

Source: MPS Strategic Centre Workforce Planning and Recruitment, 2011

23. Table 5 shows that the BME rate has steadily decreased during the last three years from 1.6% (n=43) in 2008/09 to 1.3% (n=41) in 2010/11. The rate for white officers has been lower than the BME rate. The odds ratio reveals that the gap between the BME/White rates was greatest in 2009/10 but has decreased during the last year. The resignation rates are monitored through the HR performance Scorecard with progress towards parity between BME/White resignation rates being monitored. Wastage and turnover, including retirements and transfers, is monitored regularly as part of the Deployment Plan; adjustments are often made to recruitment targets in light of any significant variation between actual and assumed wastage.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. A key activity within the MPS Diversity and Equality strategy is to work towards employing a workforce that is reflective of the customers we serve. It is encouraging to note that diversity information relating to recruitment of volunteers, officers and staff remains good with recruitment levels across BME and female representation remaining high especially in a climate of change and uncertainty. The MPS will continue to monitor diversity information relating to recruitment and take appropriate action if it becomes apparent that we are not achieving or maintaining these good levels.

Consideration of MET Forward

2. The report highlights the positive impact upon the Met People strand of Met Forward through the increased diversity and representation of the workforce.

Financial Implications

3. All costs associated with the activities set out within this report will be contained within approved HR and Business wide budgets for 2011/12. However, it should be noted that the Service is required to make significant additional savings in 2012/13 and beyond in developing the Policing London Business Plan in line with the Mayor’s guidance Recruitment targets may therefore be affected by decisions on future budgets.

Legal Implications

4. As a public authority the MPA is under an active duty to take remedial steps to reduce inequalities. As part of this duty the MPA regularly sets recruitment targets for the MPS. Currently targets are only set for BME and female staff and officers where there must be evidence of under representation, in the past 12 months, in persons doing that work at the work place or compared to the local population.

5. The CRE Code of Guidance gives as examples of encouragement the wording of job advertisements and information about careers and vacancies provided to areas with large ethnic minority populations. The report identifies where this has been effective in attracting applications from key priority communities.

6. This is a limited right to take positive action in respect of providing access to work related training and encouraging persons to take advantage of opportunities for doing that work and the MPS recognises that the provision of aspirational targets does not allow for the maintenance of quotas regardless of a candidate’s merits.

7. The issues around local target setting have been highlighted and specific legal advice should be provided once it is known how such targets might operate.

Environmental Implications

8. There are no environmental implications within this report.

Risk (including Health and Safety) Implications

9. There are no risks arising from this report.

D. Background papers

None

E. Contact details

Report author: Gabrielle Nelson A/Director of Recruitment and Workforce Planning, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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