Appraisal process for MPS civil staff

Report: 5
Date: 10 January 2002
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report has been produced in response to questions raised by MPA Members at the Competency Framework workshop held on 18 October 2001 and at the Human Resources Committee meeting on 1 November 2001. 

The paper outlines the new civil staff appraisal process, based on the competency framework, which will be introduced commencing in April 2002.

A. Recommendations

That members note the contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. A new appraisal process, initially developed for police officers, called a Performance Development Review (PDR) has recently been approved by Management Board. The PDR process is based upon the National Competency Framework and is therefore role specific.

Process

2. The process will be supported on OTIS. When an individual joins a team the line manager will select the appropriate role profile for the intended role from the intranet site, fill in the person's details and then save in their own directory. PDR forms for civil staff are currently being developed. For illustrative purposes, an example of the PDR form (for a patrol constable) is attached at appendix 1. Similar profiles to this will be prepared for civil staff. Attached to the appendix are outline role profiles for three civil staff roles. In each case, the Core Responsibilities and Activities would simply replace those on the attached example PDR. This ensures that appraisal is specifically against the role but that national standards are used.

3. The person's performance will be assessed against the core responsibilities of their particular role. Details of the standards of performance required for that core responsibility are contained within the activities listed on the PDR form.

4. Each role will be prioritised and formal assessment required only for the prioritised four or five core responsibilities. The other core responsibility areas and the behavioural profile will only require exception reports i.e. when performance is particularly noteworthy or the organisation could be at risk.

5. The process allows evidence to be recorded throughout the reporting period and acts as an audit trail. When the point in time PDR is due, the line manager is required to make a development assessment against the following categories:

• Consistently performs to standard – little development needed
• Capable of performing to standard – wider development needed
• Capable of performing to standard – previous development identified has not been undertaken
• Area not fully undertaken – development needed
• Not performing to standard – development needed
• Not performing to standard despite development
• New to role – development plan

6. These are not ratings but a summary of the level of development that may be required. All the line manager is required to provide is succinct evidence of performance for their judgement. This puts an onus on the line managers to show leadership and supervision in knowing what their staff do and how well they do it. To provide a global picture of the extent to which development is required across the MPS, there will be an overall assessment of development of the individual, contained within the PDR process.

7. To aid self –assessment and to encourage preparation, staff will be encouraged to use the underpinning standards and prompts within a published 'Guide to the PDR'. A specially devised self-assessment questionnaire will be prepared for this purpose.

8. If development is required, the line manager and member of staff can use the 'activities' to determine more accurately the precise nature of that development. It may be knowledge or skill or behavioural development that is required such as communication, respect for diversity or teamwork.

9. These development needs should then be assessed by an OCU. Those relating to critical core responsibilities such as investigation, patrol or community relations may be prioritised. This could inform the organisation as to where the main gaps are but also prevent the development requirements becoming a 'wish list'.

10. There is also a free text box for the line manager to summarise the individual's contribution to the OCU and what Policing Plan priorities, if any were set, were achieved.

Policing plan related objectives

11. There is an opportunity for priorities or objectives to be set. Experience has shown that for some roles, e.g. police constable patrol, additional objectives may not be helpful, but for other roles they are useful in directing staff to activities more closely related to the OCU policing plan. At the higher levels of the organisation, they are likely to become increasingly important.

Career development plan

12. The development previously mentioned is focused solely on the current role. It is recognised that the individual may wish to develop laterally or aim for promotion. They and the line manager should discuss whether, depending upon the amount of development still required, this is appropriate. It is expected that most people will require development, but this should not automatically prevent other opportunities. If however they have some core responsibilities where significant development is required, it is anticipated that all the development would be concentrated on the current role.

Training

13. A training needs analysis (TNA) has been conducted that in summary calls for training in three areas: the use of IT, knowledge and use of the competency framework, and general management skills in assessing performance.

14. Plans are in place for a small central team to conduct training sessions for local trainers, Senior Management Teams and personnel managers, local training managers, and high-level users. Training will then be given to local supervisors and staff by OCU trainers. This is in addition to the supplying of a full guide to the PDR with accompanying policies. It is planned that all police staff will be trained by the end June 2002.

Performance Development Review for civil staff

15. It is intended that the process for civil staff will be the same as that for police officers thereby increasing uniformity.

16. The current system for civil staff contains a numeric box marking against grade specific behavioural competencies and previously informed a performance related pay system. It is time consuming to complete, taking approximately four hours writing time, whilst the new system is estimated to take less than one hour's writing time.

17. The new process focuses on development and puts the onus on line managers to know how their staff performs. It also utilises the National Competency Framework and fits with a strategy for an integrated approach to HR policies and practices.

18. A separate team employed by the national project is currently researching civil staff roles and activities. This will provide the police service with specific roles for a large volume of the civil staff. Once these are finalised PDRs can be created for the specific roles. It is intended that the training will mirror that for the police officers, depending on any changes due to feedback.

19. The current timescales indicate that the national project team from April 2002 will supply a number of role profiles for civil staff. These role profiles will then need to be made MPS specific and PDRs created for them, and put onto the MPS intranet site. A new delivery and training plan, as described at paragraphs 13 -14, will be put in place in accordance with the role profiles that are available. It is anticipated that this training will commence during the summer of 2002. As long as the role profiles for civil staff are delivered at the appropriate time, we would anticipate the completion of training for all civil staff by December 2002.

20. It is not possible to state precisely the percentage of staff that will have role profiles from April 2002 because of the disparate nature of support roles and uncertainty nationally as to how occupational standards may affect the role profiles.

Integration with other HR processes

21. Whilst details have yet to be finalised by the appropriate departments the Competency Framework will provide the underpinning information required for recruitment and selection; training; induction; performance assessment of all types, including probationers and inefficiency aspects; promotion; development and risk assessment.

22. It is not intended that the appraisal will mechanistically inform such areas as promotion as it is primarily designed to have a developmental focus. However it will provide more objective information on which line

Diversity

23. In the construction of the framework, extensive consultation was carried out with staff associations, representative bodies of diverse groups and Sir Herman Ousley. This included showing, at various stages, draft products to a selection of the above groups. The purpose was to seek out any adverse impact of either the behavioural framework or the activities. The entire framework has also been cross-matched against the Community and Race Relations Occupational Standards. The entire product was also subject to national validation that included interviews and questionnaires. This was overseen by the outside consultancy – SHL.

C. Financial implications

There are few direct financial costs. Opportunity costs will be incurred through departments necessarily adapting their procedures and the training of managers and staff. However, these will be offset by savings in managers' time completing the new process.

D. Background papers

None.

E. Contact details

Report author: Superintendent Charles Phelps, Human Resources Directorate, MPS.

For information contact:

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

Appendix 1

This appendix is available in from MPA Secretariat, in hard copy only.

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