Review of the Resource Allocation Formula (RAF) 2005/06

Report: 4
Date: 07 May 2004
By: Deputy Commissioner

Summary

PCSOs are one of the resources that are being considered within the terms of reference of the Resource Allocation Formula (RAF) review.

This paper is intended to seek a decision on the future allocation methodology for those Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) on BOCUs that are not allocated as part of the dedicated Safer Neighbourhood teams.

A. Recommendations

That PCSOs should continue to be allocated to BOCUs on the basis of the size of a borough’s resident population, together with a Commissioner’s Judgement allocation based on security requirements (Option 3 below – i.e. retain existing arrangements previously approved by the MPA).

B. Supporting information

Background and current position

1. The Co-ordination and Policing (COP) Committee acts as the project board for the review of the Resource Allocation Formula (RAF). At its meeting on 5 March members agreed the evolving consultation arrangements in relation to the review and noted some of the early themes emerging from the formula development workshops. These included: deprivation, anti social behaviour, late night disorder, young people, drugs, gun crime, transient population, diverse communities, mental illness and the geographical size of boroughs.

2. The development workshops, attended by a wide range of stakeholders, will run until June and some exemplifications from the new formula showing the impacts for BOCUs should be available in September. The formula is scheduled to be approved by the Full Authority in December in preparation for implementation in April 2005. An overview of the project timeframe with key dates and milestones is attached at Appendix 1.

Application of the formula

3. The project board agreed within the terms of reference that the review should consider extending the application of RAF beyond solely police officers to include police staff, PCSOs, vehicles and other locally managed budget lines where appropriate. The intention is that each BOCU will receive a budgetary allocation in 2005/06, based on RAF, from which each BOCU Commander will be able to select the most appropriate mix of resources for that borough. The RAF team is already in preliminary discussion with representatives from TPHQ, the devolution programme and Finance Directorate about existing allocation systems and how these might be modified and simplified.

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)

4. During the RAF development workshops the issue of the allocation of PCSOs has been raised frequently and, in particular, the relationship with Safer Neighbourhood units, which are being funded separately under the Step Change Programme. The purpose of this paper is to set out some options and a recommendation on how the remaining PCSOs on borough not working on these dedicated neighbourhood teams might be allocated.

5. The existing methodology for allocating PCSOs to BOCUs is largely based on the relative size of residential borough populations (700 PCSOs), augmented by a Commissioner’s Judgement for a security allocation (300 PCSOs). There were also a small number of additional adjustments for Camden, Kensington & Chelsea and Lambeth. The full breakdown by borough of the allocation of the 1000 PCSOs for 2003/04 was approved by the MPA Full Authority in March 2003 and is set out in Appendix 2.

6. For 2004/05 the existing BWT of 1000 PCSOs already allocated to BOCUs will remain unchanged. The additional 288 PCSOs in the process of being recruited will be allocated to the new Safer Neighbourhood sites identified on each borough, funded and accounted for outside of the RAF arrangements. The options set out below consider how the residual 1000 PCSOs (or the equivalent number in 2005/06) might be most appropriately allocated. PCSOs that are purchased independently by boroughs will be over and above the corporate allocation; these boroughs will not be penalised because they have chosen to purchase additional PCSOs.

7. It is acknowledged that as the Safer Neighbourhood teams continue to roll out in the years ahead there will need to be further discussion on the role of PCSOs on boroughs, and whether there will be a continuing requirement for their existence outside of these neighbourhood teams. The existing teams are constructed around a minimum model of three PCSOs but they are capable of being augmented by PCSOs already allocated and working on the borough, at the discretion of the borough commander, in order to meet local needs and taking account of the views of partners.

Option 1

PCSOs allocated in accordance with new RAF

8. This option is the simplest to adopt since it is predicated on the outcome of the current review of the formula and will be consistent with the allocation of police officers. The disadvantages of this option are that the role and functions of PCSOs are different from police (eg no response or arrest role). This methodology would also conflict with the allocation approach currently agreed and favoured by MPA members.

Option 2

PCSOs allocated in accordance with the ‘need’ component of the new RAF

9. This option recognises the public reassurance and crime prevention role of the PCSO that to some extent can be represented by the basket of crime indicators contained within the need component of RAF. This component of the formula is designed to reflect the longer-term social and environmental characteristics of a borough. The advantage of this option is that it is based on resident population of boroughs and also discounts the demand element of RAF that reflects the response element of policing.

Option 3

PCSOs allocated on existing MPA approved methodology (resident population + security allocation)

10. The benefit of this option is that it is a methodology that has been approved and is understood by MPA members, is the result of an extensive consultation process, has been used to allocate PCSOs in 2003/04 and will continue into 2004/05. It is predicated on the size of resident populations and therefore incorporates a key aspect of Option 2.

Recommendation

11. The RAF project team has developed three proposed options for the allocation of those PCSOs on BOCUs that are not allocated to dedicated Safer Neighbourhood teams and has considered each in turn. Option 3 is seen by the team as the preferred option for the following reasons:

• It has been well researched previously and is broadly supported by MPA members
• It contains some of the key elements of the RAF model
• It will help to stabilise any resource shifts created by the emerging RAF formula
• It will provide a useful planning assumption for BOCU Commanders

C. Race and equality impact

There are no direct equality or diversity issues arising from this report.

D. Financial implications

The financial implications to this project relate both to the direct cost to the budget estimated at 100k, primarily falling in financial year 2004/05, and the transfer of resources between borough OCUs.

E. Background papers

None.

F. Contact details

Report author: Michael Debens, Corporate Planning Group, MPS.

For more information contact:

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

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