MPS civil staff - location allowance boundaries

Report: 8
Date: 21 June 2001
By: Clerk

Summary

This paper reports on some issues raised in relation to location allowance boundaries following the approval by the Human Resources (HR) Committee at its meeting on 19 April 2001 of new zones and rates.

A. Recommendation

That the Committee agrees the current location allowance boundaries and that allowance rates be unchanged.

B. Supporting information

1. At its meeting on 19 April 2001, the Committee approved recommendations relating to revised location allowance zones and rates in a comprehensive paper about improvements to civil staff pay. It was agreed that the location allowance zones should be co-terminous with the London local authorities' zones. This also removed the administrative difficulties of some Borough Operational Command Units (OCUs) having the boundary running through the OCU. As a result, 11 London boroughs became zone 1 (inner), with the remainder zone 2 (outer).

2. A member of the Committee has now queried whether the zone 1 boroughs should include Newham and some others which were classified as inner London by the education authorities, resulting in teachers in those boroughs receiving the higher teachers' rate of London weighting. In addition, some concerns have been raised by staff about the impact of the changes in Brent. This paper deals with those issues.

3. The zone 1 boroughs are: Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Hammersmith and Fulham, Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Islington, Camden.

Newham and others

4. The Education Act 1988 abolished with effect from 1 April 1990, the Inner London Education Authority and the inner London education area. At that time, the 11 inner London boroughs in the MPS zone 1 plus the City of London were in the inner London education area, together with Newham, Merton, Greenwich and Barking and Dagenham. For teachers in these boroughs, the higher London weighting rate was paid. It did not apply to administrative staff.

5. That position still applies. Teachers are now paid £3,000 (inner) and £1,974 (outer) compared with the agreed new rates for MPS civil staff of £2,556 and £1,359 (the same as those paid to local authorities' administrative staff).

6. If the additional four boroughs referred to in paragraph 4 were to be included in the MPS zone 1, the additional cost implications would be as follows:

• Total staff in OCUs and HQ units in those boroughs = 490
• Extra location allowance per member (£1,359 to £2,556) = £1,197
• Total additional cost (490 x £1,197) =£586,530

7. This additional cost would have to come from the remainder of the £22 million available for improvements to civil staff pay.

8. It should be noted that Barking and Dagenham was in the former outer zone. If it were to go into the new zone 1, it would be the only borough which had gone from outer to zone 1. All other outer boroughs went into zone 2. Such a move would give staff there an increase in location allowance of £1,964 (i.e. from £592 to £2,556), an increase not paid to any other staff. In addition, Merton and Barking and Dagenham are geographically further from central London than a number of other boroughs, which now fall into zone 2.

9. If these two boroughs were to go into zone 1, there would undoubtedly be claims of unfairness from staff in other boroughs.

10. In none of Newham, Merton, Greenwich and Barking and Dagenham is there evidence of severe recruitment and/or retention difficulties. Newham has most difficulties with 15 vacancies from a budgeted civil staff workforce target of 129 as at 31 March 2001.

Brent

11. Members may be aware that some civil staff in Brent OCU are concerned about the impact of the changes in their OCU. Previously, Brent was an OCU through which ran the old boundary between the inner and intermediate zones. Kilburn police station was in the inner zone; all other stations in the borough OCU were in the intermediate zone. Brent now falls in zone 2. In order to ensure that staff at Kilburn benefited from the additional funds available, they have received the same increase as those elsewhere in the borough. The intermediate zone staff moved from £911 (old intermediate rate) to £1,359, an increase of £448. The inner zone staff (i.e. those at Kilburn) have been given an identical increase, taking their rate from £1,784 (old inner rate) to £2,232. This increased amount will be on a personal basis. It will remain at that level until the zone 2 rate reaches or exceeds it. It is not the rate for Kilburn, which will be the zone 2 rate applicable to Brent of £1,359 for new staff. This arrangement will ensure that, in time, all staff on Brent OCU will be paid the zone 2 rate.

12. All staff in Brent have received an increase of £448, the increase applicable to staff in any borough which moved from old intermediate to new zone 2. The current special arrangement for Kilburn staff will result in some staff receiving more than others but this occurred under the old arrangements. The new arrangement will ensure that this anomaly will not be permanent.

13. Staff in Brent are suggesting that they should be in zone 1. Such an arrangement would conflict with the arrangements now in place which mirror the location allowance zones applicable to the London local authorities. It is intended, therefore, to maintain the boundary between zone 1 and zone 2 as agreed by the Committee at its meeting on 19 April 2001.

Conclusions

14. The arrangements which apply to teachers in Newham and a few other boroughs relate only to teachers and would have cost and administrative implications if they were to be implemented in the MPS. Any change to the position in relation to Brent OCU would also have implications throughout the rest of the MPS. It would undermine the agreement reached that the MPS should mirror the London local authorities in respect of location allowance zones.

15. For the following reasons, therefore, it is recommended that no changes be made to the current location allowance zones and rates as approved by the Committee on 19 April 2001.

• the position in relation to London weighting for teachers in Newham, Merton, Greenwich and Barking and Dagenham affected only teachers, not administrative staff. The MPS does not employ teachers;
• higher rates of London weighting still apply to teachers compared with administrative staff;
• the MPS zones and rates now align with those applicable to the London local authorities' staff;
• including additional boroughs in MPS zone 1 would create unfairness to staff in the remaining zone 2 boroughs;
• There is no business case for bringing additional boroughs into zone 1.

16. The MPS will continue to monitor developments in boroughs in zone 2 and will report back to the Committee as necessary.

C. Financial implications

On the assumption that the recommendation in paragraph 15 above is accepted, there will be no financial implications.

D. Background papers

• Human Resources Committee - Civil Staff Pay and Grading - 19 April 2001

E. Contact details

The author of this report is Ian Wardrop, MPS.

For information contact:

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

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