Provision of additional police officers on boroughs

Report: 4
Date: 10 January 2008
By: Assistant Commissioner Territorial Policing on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This initiative would involve local authorities making a two-year financial contribution to the cost of providing up to an additional 320 police officers within their areas to support the delivery of LAA performance targets subject to the MPA’s approval of a budget growth proposal of £3.9m in 2008/09 and £3.3m in 2009/2010

A. Recommendations

That

1. members support the initiative and agree that discussions can begin with local authorities within the proposed financial framework set out in Section D and subject to final budget decisions;

2. agree that the provision of the officers is on a cost sharing basis rather than full cost recovery; and

3. agree that, subject to recommendations 1 and 2 being supported, delegated authority is given to the Commissioner to exercise the MPA’s powers under section 92 of the Police Act 1996 (power to receive grants from local authorities) to take forward this initiative with local authorities, subject to the Chief Executive approving model terms and conditions in relation to grants to be received from local authorities, and for the Chief Executive to enter into appropriate agreements recording the terms agreed for each grant.

B. Supporting information

1. An opportunity has arisen through Local Area Agreements (LAAs) to support the delivery of local services. The LAA will ‘pool’ existing funding streams such as Stronger & Safer Communities Fund (SSCF) and Drugs Intervention Programme into four new blocks - Children & Young People (CYP), Safer Stronger Communities (SCC), Health and Older People and Economic Development & Enterprise. The Basic Command Unit (BCU) fund may be incorporated in the LAA pool from 09/10. Crime is most prominent under SCC but also features under CYP.

2. Within the LAA there is a ‘stretch target’ element (a reward mechanism potentially allocating £8m of new money to recognise success) if the local partnership hit their performance targets. Joint working between the local authority and the MPA/MPS is likely to provide the best opportunity to achieve those targets and therefore attract additional funding.

3. Experience has shown that joint working on community safety issues such as reassurance and reduction in fear of crime can tackle effectively those incidents of crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour that impact upon communities. This initiative has been developed to enable the MPS to take advantage of this opportunity by working with local authorities to provide additional officers at a substantially reduced cost to the MPA by gaining the agreement of local authorities to contribute to the costs of the officers. Local authorities are keen to provide additional staff to tackle the problems referred to above - the cost to a local authority of, say, a warden to undertake such activity is about £35k including overheads. Providing officers at a cost similar to that of wardens is likely to attract the interest of many local authorities. A police officer offers more advantages through a wider range of powers than a warden and can therefore be used more effectively to achieve LAA targets. The proposal would however, imply an MPA contribution equivalent to the difference between actual and recoverable costs.

4. The cost of a police constable at 2006/07 prices is £54,900, of which just some £10,600 are overhead costs with £44,300 pay costs. The provision of officers at £37,500 - a similar cost to a warden, or a PCSO - would imply a contribution level per police constable to be £17,400 at 2006/07 prices. However, within the budget submission for 2008/09 and beyond, TP has tackled on costs and support costs to drive them down, and they have realigned functions to be delivered in a different way, which would allow the TP budget to consume the overhead costs of up to 320 additional officers. As set out in the financial implications section, that would therefore mean MPA funding is needed to cover £6,800 per officer (at 2006/07 prices). This would also apply to other ranks if officers numbers purchased require supervision ranks to be deployed within the partnership arrangement.

5. Several local authorities have shown an interest in acquiring more police officers on their boroughs and it is clearly advantageous to the MPS to encourage such involvement from local authorities in funding police officer posts. It is proposed that the initial offer to local authorities in terms of the number of officers available to them within the 320 would reflect crime levels, so those boroughs with higher crime levels would have the opportunity to gain a higher number of additional officers to help tackle those problems. Any officers not taken up by a local authority could be offered subsequently to another local authority.

6. The officers obtained under this initiative would be managed and tasked by the MPS but against neighbourhood and local authority targets, focusing on dealing with local issues in supporting the challenging performance targets that will be contained within the Local Area Agreements. Such an initiative would be the subject of formal contracts, probably for two years. At the end of the two years, either the initiative would be extended depending on the commitment of the local authority and on them being able to meet the funding gap referred to below on an on going basis, or these officers would need to be redeployed to vacant officer posts

7. The number of police officers in the MPS in 2008/09 and beyond may grow as a result of additional funding for activities such as CT. This initiative however offers the opportunity to provide up to an additional 320 officers to TP boroughs BWT, focused on tackling specific community issues, at a much reduced cost to the MPA as a consequence of local authority contributions.

8. The outcome of successful implementation of such an initiative would be additional police officers in the MPS, available to contribute to the delivery of our targets, at a relatively small cost to the MPA per officer.

C. Race and equality impact

There are no specific race or equality implications.

D. Financial implications

1. Management Board supports a proposal to develop two-year partnership agreements with local authorities to provide up to 320 police officers to support the delivery of LAA performance targets. The proposal involves local authorities making a contribution of £37,500 for each police constable provided.

2. The MPA policy (FR8.7) is that ‘All agreements for the provision of services to other organisations will be on the basis of full cost recovery, except with the specific approval of the Authority’. As the proposals currently being developed will deliver MPA/MPS, as well as local authority, objectives they involve a cost sharing arrangement and would not achieve full cost recovery on the officers provided.

3. It is proposed that local authorities cover costs equivalent to £37,500 per police constable per year that is broadly in line with the full cost of a PCSO at 2006/07 prices. Based on some initial consultation, it is considered that this charge would be attractive to local authorities in encouraging them to participate in the scheme, which aims to provide additional policing resources to support the delivery of local priorities.

4. Based on full cost recovery the cost of the 320 officers and the proposed funding package is set out below:

5. The local authority contribution will start from the first day of service and will, therefore, cover in large part the cost of the first 18 weeks of service when they are on borough IPLDP. Any balance can be accommodated within the TP budget. On the basis of a fixed contribution of £37,500 from local authorities for each of the two years, the cost of pay awards will fall on the MPA/MPS. The estimates above include the pay award provision included in the 2008 –11 draft budget submission. If pay awards exceed that provision then the cost to the Authority/Service will increase.

6. The proposed sharing of costs between the MPA/MPS and the local authorities reflects the potential impact of other proposals included in the 2008 -11 budget proposals considered at the joint meeting of the PPRC and Finance Committee on 19 November 2007 and the Full Authority on 22 November 2007 - in particular, the proposals by TP to tackle on costs, support costs and realign the delivery of functions to create the capacity within their budget to consume the overhead costs of up to 320 additional officers.

7. The current 2008–11 draft budget submission includes a contribution of £3.9m for both of the financial years. The latest proposal would imply an estimated additional cost of £3.9m in 2008/09 and £3.3m in 2009/10 which will be reflected in the final budget for 2008 -11.

8. In developing the 2008 –11 draft budget submission, proposals for efficiencies have been focussed on overheads and support services. In developing the current proposals, consideration has been given to the potential impact on support services. On the basis of no new requirements on the property estate, additional marginal costs are only anticipated on HR recruitment activity given the overall potential net increase in officers and staff included in the 2008/09 draft budget submission. Having considered these issues, a provision of £1m has been included in the proposal for the anticipated additional costs by HR that cannot be contained in their existing budget provision.

9. In considering these arrangements the MPA/MPS need to have due regard to their fiduciary duty in terms of non-recovery of the full cost of the officers involved in the proposed partnerships. In reaching a decision, regard must be taken of all relevant, both financial and non-financial, factors. The MPA/MPS need to be satisfied that the cost to the service is commensurate with the benefits gained.

10. This proposal has been included in the growth proposals for the 2008 –11 draft budget submission and is reflected in the Mayor’s draft budget proposals for 2008 -11 which were published for consultation on 13 December 2007. Final budget decisions will not, however, be made until February 2008. Given the lead in time for the implementation of these proposals, approval is sought for officers to start negotiations with boroughs on the basis outlined in this report. Final decisions on implementation will, however, be dependent on the 2008/09 budget settlement.

11. Any extension of the proposed two-year arrangement, together with the associated costs, will need to be considered in developing future years’ budgets. If the arrangement is not extended, existing officers will be redeployed to other posts within the approved BWT.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report authors: Anne McMeel, Director of Strategic Finance and Diana Marchant, Director of Business Development, TP, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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