Contents
Report 7 of the 21 Jun 01 meeting of the Human Resources Committee and provides a range of personnel related management information to the end of April 2001.
Warning: This is archived material and may be out of date. The Metropolitan Police Authority has been replaced by the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPC).
See the MOPC website for further information.
Personnel management information
Report: 7
Date: 21 June 2001
By: Clerk
Summary
This report provides a range of personnel related management information to the end of April 2001, with a summary of key points.
A. Recommendation
That members note the contents of this report and the management information provided.
B. Supporting information
Management information charts
1. Appendix 1 shows, the position against the personnel related Policing and Performance Plan objectives for 2001/02, and Appendix 2 shows a range of supplementary personnel management information to the end of April 2001.
2. Appendix 3 provides data on sickness absence rates to the end of March 2001.
3. All Best Value Performance Indicators for 2001/02 are covered by specific Policing and Performance Plan objectives, as reported at Appendix 1, or are covered by standing items contained in Appendices 2 and 3.
Key points
4. The key points to emerge from the reports are set out below:
Strength
5. Police strength at the end of April 2001 was 25,473 (full time equivalents). The intake in April was 177 against wastage of 132.
6. Civil staff and traffic warden strengths continue to fall though the rate of decrease has slowed. At the end of April civil staff strength was 10,178 (full time equivalents) and traffic wardens strength was 692 (full time equivalents) compared to 10,197 and 698 respectively at the end of March.
7. The police, civil staff and traffic warden strengths remain under the budgeted workforce targets (BWT) - police by 1,177 (4.42 per cent), civil staff 932 (8.39 per cent) and traffic wardens 267 (27.80 per cent), though the police BWT was increased by 1050 for 2001/02.
Ethnicity
8. The target set by the Home Secretary (Dismantling Barriers) required the MPS to increase the number of minority ethnic officers to 5,662 (based on early 2000 figures) within ten years ie: by 2009. This is to achieve parity with the make up of the population of London, of which ethnic minorities represent 25.5 per cent. Civil staff, traffic wardens and the Special Constabulary are inclusive in the MPS strategy and the targets are the same.
9. Police, civil staff and traffic wardens have all seen small rises in April in the percentage of visible ethnic minority (VEM) staff as a proportion of strength.
10. 86 per cent of VEM civil staff are in grades 11, 12 and 13. This does not provide for a proportional representation at higher grades. Accordingly a new objective has been set for 2001/02 to increase the VEM proportion of civil staff in the higher grades.
Gender
11. The percentage of females as a proportion of police, civil staff and traffic warden strengths have not changed significantly in April.
Command and operational resilience
12. The "Others" BWT represents various grades for which a BWT has been included in Business Group figures but which cannot be redistributed across the unified grades as no definitive designation is available. The strength for "Other" refers to the number of college based students currently employed.
13. The difference between the BWT and strength for Grade 11's occurs because the BWT includes a number of catering grades that are not part of the unified grading structure, and are categorised as Grade 11s for workforce records purposes.
Police recruitment
14. The police recruitment target for 2001/02 as published in the Policing and Performance Plan is 2,475. This was calculated before the end of 2000/01 and was based on projections. The recruitment target has since been revised to take account of actual strength at the beginning of April 2001 and current wastage rates. The revised target, as at the end of April is 2578. This number might need to be further revised as the year progresses depending on the actual numbers recruited and ongoing turnover rates.
15. The total joining the MPS in April was 177. 155 were new recruits to the police service who went to Hendon for full recruit training. 22 were transfers from other forces or people rejoining the MPS who were posted directly to Boroughs.
16. The trend in the recruitment of both ethnic minorities and female officers exceeding wastage continues and consequently the proportion of these groups in the police workforce continues to increase, albeit slowly.
Police wastage
17. Wastage this month was 132, a decrease from March (140) but greater than the average for 2000/01 (122). Retention remains a top priority and the wastage rate needs to reduce significantly in order for the overall police strength to increase to planned levels.
18. The number of medical retirements as a proportion of all retirements in April was 40.41 per cent, exceeding the target level of 33 per cent but lower than last month's figure of 48 per cent.
19. Wastage in April of VEM officers as a proportion of VEM average strength was 3.04 per cent (4) compared to a VEM proportionate strength of 4.17 per cent.
20. Overall, resignations and officers joining other forces continued to form virtually half of all wastage in April: 15.49 per cent (20) resigned and 31.52 per cent (42) transferred to other forces.
Civil staff wastage
21. Civil staff wastage continues to exceed recruitment though the difference was less in April than for some time.
22. Medical retirements as a proportion all civil staff retirements in April were 46.15 per cent, above the 33 per cent target. As with the higher than target police medical retirements, this situation will need to be carefully watched to ensure past improvements are not reversed.
Traffic warden wastage
23. Seven traffic wardens left in April. Following an established pattern, 4 (57 per cent) regraded to civil staff grades.
Extended sick pay for police officers (Regulation 46)
24. 227 officers were off on extended sick leave in April: 107 on full pay, 93 on half pay and 27 are off pay. The was a general increase in numbers until January 2001 but the last three months (February, March and April) has seen a slight sustained reduction.
Grievances
25. There were eight new grievances in April. This compares with last month's 15, a reduction of 53 per cent (seven new cases).
Employment tribunals
26. The number of new employment tribunal cases in April was eight , similar to last month (seven) and the monthly average for 2000/01 (nine).
Occupational health
27. The number of new occupational health referrals (excluding welfare) in April was 324, lower than last month's 360. The number of staff returning to full duties during the month was 166, a slight decrease from last month's 180.
Sickness data
28. Sickness absence data for April 2001 has yet to finalised by PIB. This information will be included in the next report. This report covers the full year's performance for 2000/01 not previously reported.
Police sickness
29. There was an exceptional increase in the sickness absence rate for March, increasing by two days to 11 days. The average police sickness rate for the year to the end of March 2001 was 9.8 days, 0.8 days greater than the nine days target. The rate in 2000/01 was very similar to the level for 1999/2000 (9.7 days).
Civil staff sickness excluding traffic wardens
30. The average rate of civil staff sickness in 2000/01 was 10.85 days, 0.85 days above the target of 10 days. This was however lower than the average in the previous year (11.2 days). There was very little variation in absence rates over the year.
Traffic warden sickness
31. Traffic warden sickness continues at a much higher rate than for other staff. Over 2000/01, there was an average of 21 days absence per traffic warden. The rate is also higher than for the previous year. There was a gradual but steady increase during the year. A programme of action, with Occupational Health working in concert with line management, is being pursued.
C. Financial implications
None.
D. Background papers
None.
E. Contact details
The author of this report is Chris Haselden, MPS.
For information contact:
MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18
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