Police reform – progress on pay and conditions

Report: 10
Date: 6 February 2003
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report sets out developments in respect of Threshold Payments and Special Priority Payments since the last meeting of the HR Committee and the current position regarding some other aspects of the Police Reform programme.

A. Recommendation

That members note the content of this report.

B. Supporting information

Background

1. The paper provides an update on progress since the MPA Human Resources Committee considered the last report on 5 December 2002.

Competence Related Threshold Payments (CRTP)

2. CRTP of £1,002 a year is payable to members of the Federated ranks who have been at the maximum of the pay scale for one year. In order to qualify for payment individuals are required to demonstrate high professional competence under the following national standards:

• Professional competence and results;
• Commitment to the job;
• Relations with the public and colleagues; and
• Willingness to learn and adjust its new circumstances.

3. Arrangements for implementation of the CRTP scheme were considered by the Clerk and Chair of the Human Resources Committee under the urgent business powers protocol in order to confirm that arrangements were efficient and effective. In turn, MPS guidelines were supported by a series of comprehensive briefings for managers, which were observed by an officer from the MPA. The arrangements are supported by a comprehensive communications plan with information being provided to officers through Notices, the Intranet, articles in the JOB, newsletters and posters, backed up with the provision of a help desk facility. Accordingly, the Chair of the Human Resources Committee was able to recommend to the Clerk that the scheme arrangements were efficient and effective.

4. The guidelines were published on 24 December 2002 with a requirement for applications to be submitted by 31 January 2003 in order to ensure payment in April 2003. They included use of an MPS application form, which is both shorter and less time-consuming to complete than the Police Negotiating Board (PNB) form. The Federation supported the use of the revised MPS form

5. The meeting will be updated verbally on response rates.

Special Priority Payments (SPPs)

6. Payments under this scheme will not be less than £500 a year or more than £3,000 a year, although exceptionally, payments up to £5,000 a year may be made. They will be taxable but not pensionable and will, it is intended, be paid as a single lump sum in December 2003.

7. The PNB expects that payments will be targeted towards front line operational officers in roles meeting the following criteria:

• Carry a significantly higher responsibility level than the norm for the rank; or
• Present particular difficulties in recruitment and retention; or
• Have specially demanding working conditions or working environments.

In addition:

• To qualify for payment, officers must demonstrate that they are fully competent in and highly committed to their duties and responsibilities; and
• No less than 20% of MPS strength and no more than 30% will benefit, save in exceptional circumstances.

Timescales

8. In accordance with the recently published Home Office schedule, details of the scheme need to be agreed between Management Board and the MPA by 28 February 2003. Also, there is a requirement to notify the Home Office in March 2003 of the minimum spend between April and December 2003 in order that funding can be approved. The scheme should be finalised and published by 31 March 2003.

9. Work is advanced in identifying the roles likely to qualify for payment, focusing on front line operational roles where there are particular difficulties in recruitment and retention. This work is being carried out in consultation with senior managers within the MPS and the staff associations. Further information on the latest position will be reported at the meeting in Part 2 (exempt).

10. Arrangements for formal approval of the proposals are to be advised.

Bonus payments

11. A scheme for bonus payments of between £50 and £500 per head will be introduced from 1 April 2003 to recognise ‘occasional work of an outstandingly unpleasant, demanding or important nature’.

12. Payments will be taxable and non pensionable. The scheme is to be agreed between the MPA and the Commissioner, in consultation with the staff associations.

13. A draft Notice outlining the details of the scheme is to be discussed at the meeting of the HR Police Steering Group on 5 February 2003. It is proposed that:

• Recommendations are made locally based on a matrix of qualifying criteria and associated weighting factors;
• For consistency purposes recommendations are endorsed by respective business group panels for the first year;
• Payments are funded from within existing local budgets, subject to an upper limit of 0.2% of the local pay bill, in line with the civil staff bonus payment scheme.

14. As with Special Priority Payments, arrangements for formal approval of the proposals are to be advised.

Rationalisation of allowances

15. Plain clothes allowance will be halved from 1 April 2003 and discontinued from 1 April 2004. Subsistence, refreshment and lodging allowances and removal allowances will be replaced by reimbursement of actual expenditure incurred provided expenditure is necessary, reasonable and backed by receipts. Firearms users’ allowance will be discontinued from 1 April 2003 but individuals may be eligible for payment as a special priority payment. Payment for fingerprinting and searching badly decomposed bodies will also be discontinued from that date but where it may have been paid, a bonus payment might be appropriate instead. Recurring escort duty allowance will be discontinued from 1 April 2003 but be replaced by an equivalent allowance authorised under regulation 50 of the Police Regulations 1995. A list of regulations to be deleted and allowances to be discontinued is attached at Appendix 1.

16. These changes will require formal amendments to the Police Regulations 1995 and the necessary amendment. Changed regulations have yet to be received. The changes will, however, be included in the comprehensive Notice being drafted on the changes to the pay structure. Arrangements have been made to monitor the financial implications and other organisational impact of these changes.

30 Plus pilot

17. The Home Office announced on 11 November 2002 that five forces, including the MPS, had been selected to pilot a new 30+ scheme.

18. The Scheme is intended to benefit officers who wish to stay on beyond 30 years service and enables forces to make best use of their commitment and expertise. The pilot forces are Avon and Somerset, Metropolitan Police Service, North Wales, West Mercia and West Midlands.

19. The scheme will enable forces to retain the important skills of experienced officers who have completed 30 years of service and who are therefore entitled to retire with maximum benefits. It is hoped the scheme will help ease possible recruitment shortfalls, help police numbers rise to, and be sustained at higher levels and retain much needed skills and experience in the service. It is anticipated that approximately 25 officers in the MPS will be eligible for phase 1 of the pilot and business groups have been consulted to establish their priorities. The estimated cost of this pilot will be in the region of £2m, which can be met from the existing budgetary provision. This information is currently being collated.

C. Equality and diversity implications

The PNB agreement on the threshold payments requires that forces put in place systems to examine and validate the complete process. Arrangements are in place for monitoring in respect of ethnicity, gender, disability and part time/full time. Appropriate monitoring systems will be put in place in respect of special priority payments, bonus payments and other aspects of the PNB agreement.

D. Financial implications

The costs of implications of Police Reform were presented to the Human Resources Committee meeting on 3 October 2002. These have not changed significantly since that date. Further updates will be provided as the financial implications become clearer and the costings are refined.

D. Background papers

• HR/02/62 Police Reform – Progress on Pay and Conditions Report.

E. Contact details

Report author: Michael Shurety, Director of HR Services

For more information contact:

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

Appendix 1

Regulations which should be deleted

Note: alternative arrangements are proposed for some deleted allowances.

Allowances which are to be discontinued

• Plain clothes allowance
  From 1 April 2004 – halved from 1 April 2003
• Subsistence, refreshment and lodging allowances
  Future reimbursement for actual expenditure incurred, backed by receipts
• Removal allowance
  Future reimbursement will be for actual expenditure incurred, backed by receipts
• Frozen undermanning allowances
• Firearms users’ standby allowance
  Will become eligible for special priority payment
• Gratuity for fingerprinting dead bodies
  A bonus payment might be appropriate instead
• Recurring escort duty allowance
  To be replaced by same amount allowance under Regulation 50 of the Police Regulations 1995

Send an e-mail linking to this page

Feedback