MPS HR Directorate allocation, spend and forecast 2002-03 and 2003-04

Report: 12
Date: 3 April 2003
By: Commissioner

Summary

This paper provides information about the budget allocation to the HR Directorate for 2002-03 and forecast expenditure for the year. At the request of the Committee, it provides specific information about the expenditure on recruitment activity costs that fall to HR Directorate. It also provides the working assumptions for HR Directorate’s allocation for 2003-04; these are subject to change as the budget for 2003-04 evolves.

A. Recommendations

That members note the contents of this report.

B. Supporting information

Budget allocations for 2002-03, current spend and forecast spend

1. The table below summarises the budget allocations, forecast expenditure and variance in respect of the four HR Directorates, the Holding Branch budget and the corporate pensions budget in 2002-03. The figures are taken from the corporate Metfin account and reconcile with those provided to the MPA Finance Committee.

2. The revisions to the original budget (as published in the MPA Revenue Budget Book 2002-03) include the in-year increases to police pay budget and associated running costs as additional trainers and other staff arrived in HR Directorate as part of the Mayor’s additional 1000 officers in 2002-03. The revisions also incorporate the movement of funds from Holding Branch to the Directorates (childcare, medical expenses budgets) and the transfer of the Awards and Commendations unit from HR Directorate. Additionally, there were adjustments made in-year to the pension budget.

Financial Year 2002-03 (£k)

HR Directorate’s budgets

3. Appendix 1A shows the more detailed budget allocations for the HR Directorate in the various cost categories; the actual spend at period 11 and the end-year forecast spend are also shown. The categories of allocation reflect the layout of the MPA Revenue Budget Book 2002-03. These appendices are high-level summaries of lower-level information recorded in the 52 local cost centres that make up the four Directorates, Holding Branch and corporate pensions.

4. The original budget allocation to the four HR Directorates (Selection, Services, Strategy and DTD) for 2002-03 was £45.02m. This increased during the year to £52.09m as a result of extra funding for additional officers in HR Directorate and other in-year changes. The budgets provide for the four Directorates’ staffing costs, running expenses, supplies and equipment and some corporate budgets. There is currently a total forecast underspend of £498k; however this is expected to increase once some mispostings of pay costs have been corrected.

Holding Branch budget

5. The Holding Branch budget includes the pay, overtime and running costs of recruits while at training school, MPS officers seconded to the National Crime Squad, National Criminal Intelligence Service and those on attachments to other bodies both in the UK and abroad. The £13.20m overspend reflects the misalignment of the budget for recruits’ pay, housing allowance and running costs at the start of 2002-03. Work is underway in Finance Directorate to prepare new allocations in these categories for 2003-04.

Pension budgets

6. HR Directorate forecasts expenditure for both the ring-fenced police and civil staff pension schemes. At period 11 the projected bottom line underspend was £1.28m. The underspend reflects the increased income to the schemes as a result of older recruits bringing higher levels of funds transferring to the MPS.

Recruitment advertising budgets in 2002-03

7. Within the Selection Directorate’s allocation for 2002-03 is the corporate recruitment budget; this is included in the ‘Employee Expenditure’ budget line in Appendix 1A. The allocation covers four areas of recruitment activity and the forecast expenditure on each budget is below.

8. The figures include an additional £200k, which was allocated in-year to HR Directorate from the corporate Counter Terrorism fund to assist with the backfilling of vacancies in the MPS; this is held in a separate cost centre.

9. In 2002-03 the recruiting budgets provided funding for national, regional and local press campaigns for police, civil staff and special constabulary and PCSOs. Amongst other spending initiatives Positive Action ‘toolkits’ have been supplied to BOCUs to help local recruitment, the Intromet recruitment initiatives have occurred in Leicester and Leeds, and there have been a series of recruitment events organised to coincide with several community celebrations in London at Eid, Diwali and Chinese New Year. In addition, a video has been produced to show applicants what it is like to be a recruit at Peel Centre.

Recruitment advertising – average cost per recruit

10. Information about the average cost per recruit will be provided to the Committee at the meeting.

Recruitment activity – pay and running costs in 2002-03

11. As well as the expenditure on recruitment advertising budgets above, there is other expenditure on recruitment activity. The table below summarises the remainder of the expenditure on pay and other running costs associated with recruitment activity in 2002-03. It provides a comparison with 2001-02 outturn in these categories. The costs are recorded in two cost centres, recruitment/selection and Positive Action Team; the table below combines the two to show total pay and running costs of recruitment activity which fall to HR Directorate.

12. Although successfully reaching police recruitment targets for 2002-03 the recruitment unit continues to be heavily reliant on agency staff to operate call centres and to process the increasing number of applications. The costs of agency staff in 2002-03 account for the overspend in the civil staff pay category.

Recruitment activity – vetting team and other costs

13. Although the vetting team transferred from the former PRS to HR Directorate in December 2002, its costs do not yet appear in HR Directorate’s budget; this will be rectified by corporate Finance Directorate before the start of 2003-04. There are other costs associated with recruitment activity (including accommodation, rates, rents, overheads, catering etc.), which fall to other Business Groups in the MPS.

2003-04 allocation – working assumptions, savings required

14. Appendix 1B shows the estimated allocation for the four HR Directorates, Holding Branch and pensions for 2003-04; they are built up from the revised allocation for 2002-03. At the time of writing, the allocations are continuing to evolve but currently stand at £50.81m, £28.29m and £301.53m respectively. The estimates incorporate the £2.535m reductions that have to be made in HR Directorate and Holding branch expenditure as part of the achievement of the corporate savings. The savings are mainly in overtime, running costs and supplies and include the increased income expected in 2003-04 from those MPS officers seconded to other forces and organisations.

15. There will be further adjustments to the budget estimate as decisions are made within the MPS about the allocation of additional police and civil staff numbers to HR Directorate for 2003-04 and the changes to the way that recruits’ budgets are allocated next year. The budget estimate will also be adjusted by Finance Directorate to reflect the additional funding required following the move of the vetting team to HR Directorate from the former PRS.

C. Equality and diversity implications

1. In 2003-04 the corporate recruitment budgets will continue to support a recruitment programme aimed at improving the proportion and progression of female and minority ethnic staff in the MPS. The overall aim will be to achieve an increased representation of all the diverse groups of London within the extended police family of the MPS, i.e. police officers, civil staff, community support officers, traffic wardens and Metropolitan Police special constabulary.

2. HR Directorate will build on the work of the central Positive Action Team by developing internal and external partnerships in supporting women and individuals from ethnic and other minority groups who wish to join the extended police family of the MPS; internally through staff support associations; externally through educational establishments, commercial organisations, public bodies, and community, religious and youth groups. In 2003-04 the Directorate will ensure that the policies and processes we develop are inclusive and meet the needs of all minority groups within the workforce, including gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, disability, and religious issues, in partnership with the Development and Organisation Improvement Team.

3. While the final allocation to HR Directorate for 2003-04 has yet to be settled, the budget will continue to be directed to the recruitment, training and retention of MPS staff and to ensure that the workforce becomes more representative of the capital as a whole.

D. Financial implications

There are no direct financial implications arising from this paper.

E. Background papers

• MPA Budget Book 2002-03
• MPS Budget submission November 2002

F. Contact details

Report author: Mark Thomson, HR Business Manager, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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