Overtime costs – quarter 1

Report: 6
Date: 12 September 2011
By: Director of Resources on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides analysis on overtime paid to Police Officers, Police Staff and Police Community Support Officers during the quarter from 1st April to 30 June 2011.

A. Recommendations

That members

1. Note the Quarter 1 position for overtime costs of Police Officers, Police Staff and Police Community Support Officers and to make any comments.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. At the request of the MPA a report was presented to the Resources Sub Committee (8 October 2009) which provided information to give Members a better understanding of the use of Police Officer Overtime in the MPS and the actions being taken to control the level of expenditure. As a consequence of that report, Members asked for a quarterly report to update them on the position on overtime expenditure for Police Officers, Police Staff and Police Community Support Officers. This report provides a summary of the overtime position for the period 1 April to 30 June 2011 and expands on information requested by members. Appendices 1 to 5 provide additional analysis of overtime expenditure as explained in the report.

2. Following previous reports, members have requested that information regarding the extension of officer shifts at short notice and officers working in excess of 100 hours per month be continued. Additionally members asked for new information regarding the potential impact of shift pattern changes implemented within the MPS. These issues are addressed below.
2011/12 overtime expenditure.

3. The quarter 1 forecast indicates an overall overspend on overtime of £7.4m against a budget of £128.9m (5.8%). It should be noted that the overtime budget allocation for 2011/12 is currently some £11.5m lower than that applied to 2010/11 and that the forecast expenditure on overtime of £136.3m is some £3.6m lower than that incurred during 2010/11. This is despite a number of high profile events in the first quarter such as:

• the Royal Wedding;
• the visit to the UK by the US President;

which have impacted considerably on expenditure to date. As the Royal Wedding took place on a bank holiday, officers were entitled to claim double time and it is estimated to have cost an additional £2.7m in Police Officer overtime, 9.2% of the Police Officer overtime cost in Quarter 1. A further £0.1m of Police Staff overtime was incurred. Discussions are underway with the Home Office around additional funding to cover the Royal Wedding costs. The forecast does not yet reflect the impact of the recent public disorder in London and there is a significant risk that the forecast overspend on officer overtime will increase.

4. The public order demonstrations during 2010/11 tested how we respond to such events but the controls which cover the use of overtime will not be relaxed. Planning will continue to provide as much notice as possible to officers to avoid incurring unnecessary overtime costs but the spontaneous nature of recent events will undoubtedly have an effect on the use of casual overtime and the additional costs associated with such overtime.

5. Table 1 summarises the Q1 actual and forecast overtime position.

Table 1 - Quarter 1 actual and forecast overtime

6. Appendix 1 breaks down the actual expenditure on Police Officer overtime by Business Group, and Borough Operational Command Unit (BOCU) for Territorial Policing (TP), for four quarters from 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011. It provides a quarterly summary of overtime costs, number of eligible officers on active assignment at the end of each quarter, and an average quarterly overtime cost per eligible officer for historical comparison. Similar information is also provided in this appendix for Police Staff and Police Community Support Officers.

Casual overtime - Extension of officer shifts at short notice

7. As previously advised, planned overtime occurs when an officer is authorised to remain on duty and the officer is informed before, or at the beginning of, their rostered shift. Casual overtime occurs when an officer is authorised to continue working past their normal end-time and they are informed after they have begun their rostered shift. If casual overtime is worked, the duty state is noted to identify it as such. The stage of the officer’s shift at which casual overtime is authorised is not recorded.

There are a number of events that might occur during a shift where a need might arise for casual overtime. Examples include:

• Officers needing to remain on duty to process prisoners.
• Critical incidents requiring immediate responses to serious events or officers needing to work overtime to control a situation.

8. Table 2 shows the proportion of casual overtime hours worked by Business Groups as a proportion of planned overtime during Quarter 1 of 2011/12. Table 3 shows the trend of casual overtime as a percentage of all overtime for operational Business Groups over the last four quarters. This indicates that the vast majority of overtime within Business Groups is planned and that the overall trend of casual overtime working is reducing. Of that overtime which is casual, 99% is paid at Time + 1/3.

Table 2 - casual overtime worked by Business Groups during Quarter 1

Table 3 - trend of casual overtime as a percentage of all overtime worked in operational Business Groups during the last five quarters

9. The majority of casual overtime is worked within Territorial Policing and Table 4 provides a breakdown of the overtime categories where casual overtime has been incurred during quarter 1. This indicates that the majority of casual overtime relates to processing of prisoners.

Table 4 - overtime categories where casual overtime has been incurred within Territorial Policing during quarter 1 of 2011/12

Officers working in excess of 100 hours overtime per month

10. As previously advised, there are certain roles within the MPS, principally relating to protection duties, where high levels of overtime are necessary to carry out the duties effectively. However, there are also many other occasions when particular operations require a concentration of work over a short period of time.

11. Appendix 2 shows a bar chart which provides details of numbers of Police Officers, Police Staff and PCSOs claiming overtime and the average number of hours claimed by individuals for the 12 month period to the end of June 2011 (excludes Officers that have not claimed any overtime during the year). This shows that 138 Police Officers (0.5% of those working overtime) and 16 Police Staff (0.3%) have worked an average of over 100 hours per month during the year. The majority of Police Officers (69%) who have undertaken overtime, work less than 20 hours overtime per month, with 21% working between 20 and 40 hours per month. 95% of PCSOs work less than 20 hours a month of overtime.

12. Appendix 3 provides an analysis of the number of Police Officers, Police Staff and PCSOs by Business Group who were paid at least 100 hours in any month in Quarter 1. Analysis is provided for each month within the quarter. In some instances, the payments relate to claims for overtime worked over a period greater than one month and do not accurately represent the overtime actually worked in that period. Advice is given in these instances to ensure that claims are not unduly delayed and to ensure that the work-life balance and health and safety criteria is being adhered to. It should also be noted that in some cases the average hourly payments shown on Appendix 3 can appear low in comparison to other similar ranks. This is because backdated overtime payments can be made following a promotion; the number of hours reported as paid can therefore be high but the payments will only be for the difference between the amount paid at the old rate and the new rate, thereby reducing the average hourly payment shown. It is also an explanation as to why some officers appear to working over 100 hours when in fact it can be a combination of several months backdated and paid in one month.

13. Appendix 4 shows a bar chart which provides a monthly comparison of the number of officers and staff receiving payment for over 100 hours of overtime for the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011, and Appendix 5 shows the monthly comparison for Police Officers receiving payment for over 100 hours overtime during the period 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2011 by operational Business Group. The peak in June relates to overtime hours paid in Territorial Policing, Specialist Operations and Specialist Crime due to a combination of events; the overtime period that was paid in June covered a 5 week period between 11th April and 15th May. This period included the Royal Wedding and the Easter and May bank holidays. Additionally a higher number of “arrears” payments have been recorded in June which have increased the number of officers reported as working over 100 hours.

14. The previous overtime report to RAP Committee set out the controls in place to manage the issue of individuals who may work excessive overtime which included MPS Finance managers running monthly overtime reports which show:

• officers who are earning overtime pay in excess of a set amount in a month
• officers who are working in excess of a set number of overtime hours in a month

and advised of the questions that would typically be asked by Finance Managers and the actions they would take to ensure the situation was properly managed and controlled. These would include:

Question Follow up

15. Within Specialist Operations a monthly report is prepared for the Chief Officer Groups detailing information on high earners and those working high levels of overtime. The information is also scrutinised by DACSO as a standing item in the inspection and review process. It is worth noting that many officers within Specialist Operations have chosen to opt out of the working time directive, understanding that the nature of their roles often requires periods of working long hours.

16. Within Specialist Crime, monthly overtime reports are prepared for the senior management team and any particular issues are dealt with by visits to the OCUs, although responsibility for action is generally left to local management to arrange.

17. Within Territorial Policing, overtime issues tend to be standing items on the agenda for both the Area Commander and Borough Commander meetings, with Inspectors held to account for managing issues relating to those working high levels of overtime.

18. Within Central Operations the top 100 earners/users of overtime are reported to senior management and OCU Commanders on a monthly basis to take any necessary action to ensure health and safety and work/life balance issues are managed.

19. It should be noted that there are a number of benefits to be gained by the use of overtime. In particular it is an effective tool to:

• Cover spikes in operational demand, sickness, secondments, aid deployments and other absences, in a flexible way without the need to recruit additional officers;
• Gain additional manpower, often at short notice;
• Maintain the evidential process and carry out ongoing investigations to ensure continuity;
• Maintain agreed minimum staffing levels; and
• Ensure that relevant specialist skills are available when required.

20. MPS Management Board recognise the need to focus on both controlling and reducing overall costs and the other risks associated with the use of overtime which include:

• Potential impact on work / life balance and Police Officer and Staff safety;
• Officers and Staff can become reliant on the additional income and it can become institutionalised;
• Increased administration effort and costs;
• Potential for lack of management control and fraudulent claims; and
• Potential to “hang out” enquiries in order to obtain overtime.

Impact of shift pattern changes on overtime working within the MPS

21. Following presentation of the Q4 overtime monitoring report to MPA Resources & Productivity sub committee, members enquired whether any information could be provided that would identify any overtime issues arising from the implementation of new shift patterns. It has proved difficult to establish any firm conclusions from the information gathered as there are a number of factors that can affect whether overtime is worked or not. Potential reductions arising from shift pattern changes could be masked by increased overtime arising from events such as the Royal Wedding and President Obama’s visit to London as well as the general reduction in Police Officer numbers. It is anticipated that the £2.3m of savings expected from the introduction of new shift patterns within Territorial Policing will not be fully achieved, with an overspend of £1.5m forecast within Territorial Policing.

22. A review of the shift pattern changes introduced in Camden Borough from December 2010 has been undertaken by the Borough Commander. Whilst the review concentrated mostly on performance issues, it also identified an increase in average officer sickness levels and that the shift pattern adopted in Camden was not sympathetic to the peak time of dealing with incidents of Most Serious Violence, both of which could have an impact on overtime working. This has led to a recommendation that the shift patterns be further amended with reviews to determine their effectiveness in six months time.

23. Within Central Communications Command (CCC) overtime costs remain similar to previous years but, again, it is difficult to assess what effect shift pattern changes have had on overtime levels as other issues such as staff vacancy levels and the introduction of the national 101 emergency number might have had an adverse effect on overtime working. Table 5 provides a comparison of overtime costs within CCC since 2008/09.

Table 5 - overtime costs within CCC since 2008/09

However, as overall overtime expenditure in the MPS is currently forecast to be £3.6m lower than that incurred during 2010/11, it is clear that local controls on overtime are as robust as ever. The position will continue to be monitored to ensure it is used effectively and efficiently and that shift pattern changes help to align resources with demand in the most cost effective way.

Police Officer Overtime

24. Table 6 provides a summary of Police Officer Overtime expenditure compared to budget by Business Group for 2011/12 compared with 2010/11 and 2009/10. For comparative purposes the 2009/10 and 2010/11figures have been adjusted to match the organisational structure for 2011/12 and have been rebased to 2011/12 levels to recognise pay inflation. This shows that the current forecast 2011/12 outturn position is an overspend of £4.9m. Total expenditure in 2011/12 is forecast to be £2.9m less than in 2010/11 and £27.1m less than 2009/10.

Table 6 - Summary of Police Officer Overtime by Business Group

25. Explanations of the significant variances are summarised below for each Business Group.

26. Territorial Policing estimate a forecast overspend of £1.5m. This is due primarily to commitments which occurred at the beginning of the financial year (such as policing the Royal Wedding - discussions are underway with the Home Office around additional funding to cover the Royal Wedding costs) which are expected to lead to an overspend position. As noted, this report does not yet reflect the impact of the recent public disorder in London.

Officers have worked in excess of 100 hours overtime per month due to a number of factors which include policing of the Royal Wedding, the state visit of the US President and providing cover to maintain 24/7 capability in the Central Communications Command.

27. Specialist Crime Directorate report a minor forecast overspend of £0.2m. The high overtime earners in SCD are fairly evenly distributed between Homicide, Trident and Serious and Organised Crime. This is due to the high level of operational activity with officers having to work long hours on various operations.

28. Specialist Operations report a forecast overspend of £2.5m.This relates to expenditure on policing the Royal Wedding, and the state visit of the US President. Action is being taken to minimise the overspend position, and OCU Commanders are being made aware of the year to date position and the need to carefully manage budgets for the remainder of the year.

29. Central Operations (including the Olympics Security Directorate) report a forecast overspend of £0.6m. The overspend is primarily within the Territorial Support Group OCU, which is below strength and has used overtime to cover operational commitments such as policing the Royal Wedding and the state visit of the US President.

The officers working in excess of 100 hours overtime per month in CO are mostly in the Specialist Firearms Operations Unit. The nature of the work within the unit is at the top end of the fight against armed criminality, counter terrorist and kidnap operations. The main critical areas include:

• Counter terrorist operations - covert and overt
• Hostage rescue
• Armed support to surveillance
• Execution of warrants for all MPS OCUs
• Protection operations at high profile ceremonial events

There are a limited number of operators due to the demands of firearms assessment and selection. This combined with the nature of the work means that officers are often required to work extended hours to support critical MPS operations. For example, a kidnap operation may run for several days requiring 24/7 support and with limited numbers of operators the unit does not have the flexibility to change staff mid way through the operation.

Police Staff Overtime

30. Table 7 provides a summary of Police Staff Overtime expenditure compared to budget by Business Group for 2011/12 compared with 2010/11 and 2009/10. For comparative purposes the 2009/10 and 2010/11 figures have been adjusted to match the organisational structure for 2011/12 and have been rebased to 2011/12 levels to recognise pay inflation. This shows that the 2011/12 outturn position is an overspend of £2.3m. Forecast expenditure is £0.6m more than in 2010/11 but £5.2m less than in 2009/10.

It should be noted that overtime can be a cheaper way of providing variable staff cover needs outside of normal working hours as opposed to paying shift premiums on a regular basis and therefore is a useful and efficient management tool, although one that it is recognised needs to be carefully managed.

Table 7 - Summary of Police Staff Overtime by Business Group

31. Explanations of the significant variances are summarised below for each Business Group.

32. Territorial Policing reports an overspend of £1.5m, principally due to the need to backfill staff involved in training relating to TP Development programmes (enhance CCC resources) savings from which are not currently forecast to be achieved in full in 2011/12 and managing vacancies within the Central Communications Command.

33. Specialist Operations is forecasting an overspend of £0.4m, due to the use of overtime to cover vacant security officer posts at the Palace Of Westminster. This overspend is matched by a corresponding over-recovery of Income.

Police Community Support Officers

34. Table 8 provides a summary of PCSO overtime expenditure compared to budget by Business Group for 2011/12 compared with 2010/11 and 2009/10. For comparative purposes the 2009/10 and 2010/11 figures have been adjusted to match the organisational structure for 2011/12 and have been rebased to 2011/12 levels to recognise pay inflation. Whilst PCSO overtime forecast for 2011/12 is considered to be understated based on expenditure incurred to date and will require robust management if the forecast is not to be exceeded, it is still anticipated to be considerably less than that incurred in previous years. As noted, this report does not yet reflect the impact of the recent public disorder in London which could adversely affect the overtime forecast.

Table 8 - Summary of PCSO Overtime by Business Group

Traffic Wardens

35. Table 9 provides a summary of Traffic Warden overtime expenditure compared to budget by Business Group for 2011/12 compared with 2010/11 and 2009/10. The Traffic Warden overtime forecast for 2011/12 is considered to be overstated as it is anticipated that the majority of Traffic Warden posts will have been removed by the end of October, and it will therefore be considerably less than that incurred in previous years. At the time when budgets were being set for 2011/12 it was anticipated that no overtime budget was required within Territorial Policing for Traffic Wardens as they converted to become PCSOs, but delays to the changes have resulted in some overtime being incurred.

Table 9 - Summary of Traffic Warden overtime by Business Group

C. Other organisational and community implications

Equality and Diversity Impact

1. MPS Finance Managers run monthly overtime reports to show individuals who are working in excess of a set number of hours each month. The Finance Manager carries out checks for trends and causes of the overtime and assesses whether the overtime might be having an impact on the officer's work/life balance, bringing cases to the attention of the line manager and reviews action taken to check for effectiveness. Equality Impact Assessments are completed on business group activities undertaken where there is deemed to be an impact. The equality and diversity implications are identified in business cases and reports on individual proposals through our normal decision making process.

Consideration of MET Forward

2. Met Forward recognises that the MPS has to make challenging financial decisions whilst minimising the impact on front line policing. This report sets out the position against the approved budget for overtime as included in the 2010-13 Policing London Business Plan which supports the strategic direction set out in MET Forward.

Financial implications

3. The financial implications are those set out in this report.

Legal implications

4. There are no direct legal implications arising from this report which is for information only.

Police Officers are paid overtime in accordance with the Police Regulations 2003 (“the regulations”) and the Secretary of State’s Determinations under those regulations, whilst contractual provisions will determine whether overtime is paid for all other police staff. Both officers and staff are however also bound by internal policy, which is set out in the relevant Standing Operating Procedures.

Environmental implications

5. There are none specific to this report.

Risk (including Health & Safety) Implications

6. Risk management is integrated into the Service’s budget, business planning and performance management processes. Business Groups and Management Board monitor risks on a regular basis. This report sets out the financial risks and pressures currently being managed by the Service in regard to overtime as well as recognising the health and safety implications for individuals and the MPS that can arise from unmanaged use of overtime.

D. Background papers

• Previous 2010/11 Quarterly Overtime Monitoring reports.

E. Contact details

Report authors: Nick Rogers, Director of Finance Services, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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