Women in Policing

Report: 7
Date: 14 July 2011
By: Director of Human Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

The following report addresses questions raised by members regarding women in policing. The report considers a range of issues including the progression, promotion and retention of women. The report highlights how the MPS now has the highest female representation ever, as well as some of the measures being taken to increase female representation and progression.

A. Recommendations

That Members note the report.

B. Supporting information

Representation and progression

1. The MPS is becoming an ever-increasingly popular employer of choice for women. In 2011 women accounted for around 1 in 4 officers compared to just 1 in 7 officers ten-years ago. There are now 7,596 women police officers in the MPS, accounting for 23.5% of the overall police officer workforce.

2. The new recruitment and training framework for regular police officers will draw participants primarily from the Police Community Support Officers and Special Constables. There is an expectation that the high female representation within these groups (over 30%) will map across into the regular service, pushing up female representation levels amongst police officers. Furthermore, the knowledge and skills acquired by officers within these roles is likely to provide a wealth of experience that can be drawn upon for those seeking promotion or lateral development into specialist roles.

3. Within the MPS, female officers appeared to have progressed at a faster rate than male officers. According to workforce information, the proportion of women attaining the ranks of sergeant and above increased from 12.2% in March 2000 to 17.0% in March 2011. By contrast, the change for male officers was more modest (i.e. 25.4% to 28.9%).

4. Since March 2000, the number of female sergeants has risen by 136% from 393 (9.8%) to 933 (12.3%), whilst the increase in the number of male sergeants was significantly lower at 32%, increasing from 3,833 (17.4%) to 5,052 (20.4%); during the same period, the number of female inspectors has also increased substantially by nearly 300%, increasing from 63 (1.6%) to 250 (3.3%), compared to male inspectors where there has been only a 24% increase, rising from 1,139 (5.2%) to 1,414 (5.7%). The number of women within ACPO ranks has more than doubled since 2000 (increasing from 3 to 8), and the Commissioner’s Senior Management Team now comprises around 40% women at ACPO ranks or Director equivalent.

Promotion

5. Generally, higher application and pass rates are associated with women during police promotion selection processes. Table 1 provides the average application rates for female and male officers for key police promotion selection processes.

Table 1 - Average application rate since 2003

6. Table 1 shows that the average application rates for female officers tend to be higher than for male officers, with the exception of Constables to Sergeant, where the male application rate is higher. Table 1 shows that the average application rate for women during the PC to DC process was 5.2% compared to 3.5%, with women around 1.5 times more likely to apply. The PC to PS process, however, shows that the male application rate was higher than the female rate (4.6% male, 3.0% female). The average application rate for female Sergeants was 9.9% compared to 9.3% for male Sergeants. Thereafter the differences between the application rates were negligible, though tending towards higher female application rates. Whilst the average application rate for female Chief Inspectors is lower (33.4% female, 37.1% male), an examination of the annual data reveals that from 2007 the female rate has been consistently higher than the male rate, but before this the male rate was higher.

7. The average pass rates of female officers during assessment centres are generally higher than for male officers. Table 2 provides a summary of the average pass rates for key promotion selection processes.

Table 2 - Average pass rate since 2003

Source: MPS People Services

8. Table 2 reveals that female officers are between 1.2 to nearly 2 times more likely to pass selection processes than male colleagues, with the differential between female and male officers increasing slightly with rank. During the Police Constable to Detective Constable selection the average pass rate for female officers was higher than the male rate at 76.6% compared to 72.9%. The average female pass rate during the Constable to Sergeant process was higher at 64.6% female compared to 60.3% male, partly offsetting the lower female application rate. The average female pass rate during the Sergeant to Inspector process was 58.7% female compared to 52.5% male. The average female pass rate during the Inspector to Chief Inspector process was slightly higher than the male pass rate (34.6% female, 32.6% male). The difference between female and male average pass rates became wider with the Superintendent and Chief Superintendent processes. During the Superintendents’ process the female average pass rate was 1.6 times higher than the male rate (45.9% female, 28.0% male); and during the Chief Superintendents’ the average pass rate for female officers increased to 1.7 times greater than the male average (60.3% female, 34.8% male).

Sickness absence

9. Sickness is to some extent influenced by gender with females taking anywhere between 3 and 5 days more days than 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. Gender differences, in the broadest sense, are replicated across nearly all police Forces in England and Wales.

Resignations

10. During 2010/11 a total of 291 police officers resigned from the MPS, accounting for 21.5% of the overall leavers. A total of 71 female police officers resigned, which accounted for 36.5% of female leavers compared to 18.9% male leavers. In terms of police staff, a total of 1064 staff resigned, accounting for 50.1% of the leavers; resignations accounted for a significant proportion of both female and male leavers (44.7% female, 54.5% male).

11. Generally, the resignation rates for police officers have decreased from 1.4% (2004/05) to the current level of 0.9% (the resignation rate was similar to last year). The resignation rates for female and male officers have both decreased during the same period and both now stand at less than 1 percent.

12. Table 3 provides a summary of recent resignation rates (i.e. number of resignations over average strength for year) for police officers and police staff broken down by length of service during 2010/11 (odds ratios have been used to measure differences between rates, female relative to male, with 1 equalling parity).

Table 3 - resignation rate comparison (2010/11)

Source: HR Strategic Centre – Recruitment and Workforce Planning, 2011

13. Table 3 shows that for police officers, the resignation rate for all groups of police officers is 0.9%, with very little difference between female and male officers. However, Table 3 also reveals differences in the resignation rates between female and male officers when length of service is taken into account.

14. According to Table 3, during the first five years of service, the resignation rates for female and male police officers were identical. After 5 years’ service, though, the female resignation rate became greater than the male rate, peaking at the 20 – 24 years service group. The resignation rate of male officers became higher with 25 years’ or more service. However, the number of resignations is very low and account for only one in five leavers.

15. The resignation rate for police staff is much higher than for police officers at 7.5%, accounting for half of the leavers. The highest resignation rate was found with the group with less than 5 years’ service. Higher resignation rates were associated for male staff. However, once length of service is taken into account, the female resignation rate becomes greater than the male rate between 10 – 20 years service in a similar trend to police officers.

Work life balance

16. PeopleStrategy Employment Relations have introduced the Work/Life Balance Reps scheme to assist individuals and line managers with applications and management of all work/life balance issues. The Reps are all volunteers and to date we have 180+ advisors in Boroughs and Directorates across the MPS. The Reps are trained centrally by the PeopleStrategy Employment Relations team and they receive ongoing support and information via a newsletter from the team.

17. PeopleStrategy Employment Relations have previously held seminars on maternity leave, work/life balance and childcare issues which were well attended. Issues raised at the seminars have fed into improving Standard Operating Procedures during Policy Reviews.

18. The Professionalism Team held a focus group at the end of 2010 to explore the experiences of officers and staff returning from maternity and adoption leave. The team is looking to introduce a Borough SPOC scheme for Officers and Staff to provide support whilst away from work and to help when returning.

19. The Promoting Difference Team run the Springboard programme which is an inspirational development programme for women who are in non-managerial roles. The aim of the programme is to enable women to identify their work and personal goals and to equip them with the confidence and skills to achieve those goals. It encompasses four one day workshops, which are held once a month and cover areas such as assertiveness, change management, balancing work and home life, dealing with stress and presenting a positive image.

20. The Promoting Difference Team offer a range of development opportunities open to all of those from under represented groups. Elements of the PD programme attended by women in 2010 include promotion study groups, the Encompass programme, networking workshops, leadership booster sessions and the Positive Action Leadership Programme (PALP). In total, 335 women took part in elements of the PD programme. Independent analysis shows that the PD programme has an unprecedented impact upon promotion or selection for specialist roles. For example, an analysis of the impact of PALP showed that of 32 BME females who responded to the evaluation questionnaire, 31 were promoted or selected for a specialist role within one year of attending. To strengthen the MPS commitment to positive action, HR has added the two most highly effective PALP trainers, who are personal leadership and diversity specialists, to the PD team. They will be working on MPS programmes to replace PALP, Springboard and Encompass as well as workshops for women returning from maternity leave.

Exploratory qualitative research

21. A brief review has been undertaken to gain an insight into the personal experience of female officers working within specialist units, particularly those units such as SCD 2 (Sapphire) and SCD 5 (Child Abuse Investigation) where female representation is higher than elsewhere within the MPS. The research made use of a brief questionnaire followed by facilitated discussions to gain the personal accounts of a range of female officers. The findings revealed that within the context of SCD 2 and 5 there was a primary emphasis upon protection and victim care. The participants felt that this focus was ‘infinitely rewarding’ and provided a clear source of motivation. The participants agreed that the flexible working policy coupled with adaptable, flexible local management enabled them to combine caring responsibilities with a demanding professional role. The participants also highlighted that the sympathetic, locally empowered management helped facilitate the introduction of 24/7 working patterns without significant long-term impact upon officers with primary-caring.

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. The initiatives highlighted within this report have led to positive outcomes for women within the organisation. The MPS will continue to monitor the efficacy of these initiatives and seek out new initiatives to ensure the MPS continues to be an employer of choice.

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 female officers.

Financial Implications

3. All costs associated with the activities set out in this report will be contained within approved HR and business wide budgets.

Legal Implications

4. There are no legal implications arising from this report.

Environmental Implications

5. There are no environmental issues raised within this report.

Risk (including Health and Safety) Implications

6. There are no risk implications in 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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