MPS personnel budget

Report: 10
Date: 6 September 2001
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides further information about the MPS Personnel Department budget, current spend and projected spend for 2001/02.

A. Recommendation

That the Committee note the report

B. Supporting information

Budget, current spend and projected spend for 2001/02

1. Information on the budget allocations for 2001/02 for the MPS Personnel Department was reported to the Committee in May; the data in that report have been updated to show the latest position and the predicted end-year position. These are shown at appendix 1.

2. Similarly, information on those Servicewide budgets managed by Personnel Department on behalf of the MPS as a whole is included at appendix 2.

Budget spend for 2001/02 - Personnel Department

3. The allocation for Personnel Department at the start of 2001/02 was £30.919m; this baseline was reduced to £30.883m as a result of the transfer of a post and associated funding from Personnel Department to Finance Department. The allocation for Personnel Department provided a budgeted workforce target (BWT) for 380 police officers and 596.79 civil staff and their supporting costs. The BWT breakdown by Directorate is at appendix 3.

4. In the May budget paper, reference was made to the successful growth bid for recruiting activity (£531k) but warned that this increase alone would not be sufficient to match the significant increase in recruitment activity expected in Personnel Department in 2001/02. As the financial year has continued, that prediction has come true.

Increased demands and budget pressures

5. The increased recruitment activity has had a large impact on Personnel Department's staffing levels and funding. Appendix 3 sets out the additional staff requirement to manage the impact of recruiting activity across different Directorates. Some of the additional staff are in post now, the remainder will arrive by the end of the financial year.

6. The Recruitment and Positive Action Directorate has experienced a heavy increase in workload this year where the recruitment target is 2570 for 2001/02; this is nearly double the previous year's target (1350). To tackle its increasing number of applications, to reduce its backlog to reasonable levels, to relinquish its current reliance on agency staff and secondments from Boroughs and elsewhere, this Directorate alone requires an increase of 40 police and civil staff posts over and above its BWT this year.

7. The dramatic increase in recruitment also has implications for other Directorates and appendix 3 summarises the requirement for additional trainers at the Recruit School and other units at Peel Centre who are directly affected by the increased throughput of recruits. Occupational Health is also faced with increased demands for medical staff and Physical Training Instructors as a direct result of the increased intakes.

8. The increase in the staffing of the Corporate Personnel Strategic Resources Directorate results from unbudgeted requirement for performance management team in the Directorate and in the Competency Framework programme.

Impact of additional demands on baseline for 2001/02

9. Appendices 1 and 3 show, respectively, the impact on funding and staffing. In terms of funding we estimate that the additional demands will result in a £2.117m overspend at year-end. In terms of staffing, numbers have continued to grow during the year so far and we predict that another 83 police and 39 civil staff (in excess of the current BWT) will be in post by the year-end.

In-house savings by Personnel Department

10. As a result of a scrutiny into scope for savings in its non-pay budgets, Personnel Department will be able to offset some of the predicted overspend. A total of £735k in savings has been identified from efficiencies in overtime and other running costs budgets; as a result the predicted £2.117m overspend can be reduced to £1.382m.

11. Paragraph 12 describes how this overspend could be met from predicted underspend in the corporate budgets.

Budget allocation for 2001/02 - Corporate budgets

12. Appendix 2 sets out the allocations for 2001/02, current and committed spend and the forecast end-year position. Excluding pensions budgets, the total adjusted budget for corporate personnel budgets is £14.066m; the forecast end-year spend is £11.734m. The projections therefore currently suggest an underspend of £2.332m, with the recruiting and Positive Action budgets contributing the bulk of it.

Proposals for offsetting Personnel Department's overspend

13. As mentioned above, Personnel Department will realise £735k in savings from cutting back on running costs in 2001/02. This will make some impact on its predicted overspend. In addition, we would seek to use £1.382m of the predicted underspend in the corporate police and civil staff recruitment and Positive Action budgets this year to offset the additional staff costs associated with the corporate recruitment activity. While these corporate budgets are held by Personnel Department on behalf of the Service to pay for recruitment advertising primarily, there is a clear connection between the outcome of the advertising campaigns and the increased activity in processing applications, interviewing, fitness testing and so on. The latter activities have increased significantly and we feel that it would be appropriate to use part of the corporate budgets' underspend to offset the departmental budget deficit (£1.382m), with the remainder of the predicted underspend (£950k) being immediately regenerated by the MPS to meet other operational demands. Any further underspends will be similarly treated as the year progresses.

14. The budget position and proposals for using the corporate underspends have been registered with Finance Department and will be further discussed at the MPA Finance, Planning and Best Value meeting on 14 September.

C. Financial implications

As described above.

D. Background papers

• Personnel Department Business and Performance Plan 2001/02, Report 5 to HRC 17 May 2001

E. Contact details

Report author: Mark Thomson, MPS.

For information contact:

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

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