Civilianisation

Report: 6
Date: 6 May 2004
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on the progress of civilianisation, the complexities facing the MPS concerning civilianisation and the civilianisation plan.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

Progress so far

1. Progress in implementing civilianisation in the MPS since 2003 is outlined for each Business Group/Directorate preceded by a section on Workforce Modernisation. It is important to note that this report can only deal with generalities, as Management Board are due to consider a re-shaped civilianisation plan at its meeting in June.

Workforce modernisation

2. Certainly in respect of Workforce Modernisation, the MPS has been at the forefront of police reform and change, and has taken a lead in developing the concept and practice of the extended police family, particularly in relation to Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs).

3. The MPS is keen to maximise the opportunities presented by Police Reform in terms of new powers to police staff such as detention officers and civilian investigators to facilitate civilianisation in these roles. The commitment to engage communities more effectively in policing their localities will require skills different from or additional to those for which we currently recruit. Real engagement will require the police service to become more permeable identifying a wider range of roles within the police family, with different mixes of powers and skills, into which members of communities can be recruited.

4. The table below shows the progress of Workforce Modernisation from 2003, detailing the separate roles and numbers of each police staff role introduced as a result of Police Reform, where police officers may, hitherto, been acquired.

5. Proposed roles for Workforce Modernisation pilot at Bexley Borough include:

• problem solving co-ordinators
• Extended Policing Family Co-ordinator
• PCSOs in specialist roles (e.g. in Safer Schools Partnerships)
• Witness Support Co-ordinator
• Crime Prevention Advisors
• Case Investigation Officers
• Technical Support Officers (servicing the increasing use of technical means and certain surveillance duties)
• Designated Detention Officers (taking over prisoner handling duties with powers under the Police Reform Act)

Specialist operations (SO)

6. The table below shows Civilianisation within SO since 2003

Specialist crime (SCD)

7. The following are a list of posts that demonstrate the increasing range of activities carried out by police staff in operational fields within the Specialist Crime Directorate:

• Murder Review Group SCD2 (Homicide Support enquiry officers). The police staff consist mainly of ex-police officers who have been brought in over the last few years to review historical cases. This work would previously been undertaken by police officers.
• Forensic Services SCD4 (crime scene managers). The crime scene manager provides a function previously carried out by borough officers, quantifiable in terms of saved police officer hours.
• Child Protection SCD5 (introduction of care officers following Climbié enquiry). These police staff were introduced following a Lord Laming recommendation, it is a new function and does not replace a police officer role.
• Economic and Specialist Crime SCD6 (financial investigators and specialist accountants). These police staff are also an additional asset.

Territorial policing (TP)

8. The following posts have been civilianised in TP:

Other growth posts

9. It is also important to note the amount of police staff growth posts arising from Step Change. The following table illustrates the number of police staff allocated to business groups due to Step Change:

Complexities facing the MPS in regard to civilianisation

10. There are major benefits arising from civilianisation, not least the increase in visibility by releasing more police officers for front line operational duties. Indeed, the 2004/05 Policing Plan, has two relevant objectives in terms of Reassurance: to achieve a 5% increase in “the average number of hours uniformed operational police officers and police staff are visible” and to ”increase the proportion of police officer time available for front line policing”. However, that being said it is also true to say that achieving successful civilianisation is a difficult and complex process.

11. Impact of Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) and recuperative and restricted duties

• Although a great deal of work is being done around the impact of the DDA within the MPS and nationally by the Home office, (which effects police officers from October 2004) the total impact of the DDA is relatively unknown at this stage in terms of potential consequences for further civilianisation. In reality, this could possibly impede the types and numbers of roles with the potential for civilianisation, if the numbers of police officers that fall under the provisions of DDA are greater than anticipated.
• The same could be said with regard to recuperative and restricted duties, whereby those officers could again restrict the numbers and types of posts that police staff could instead be performing. For these reasons, Accenture concluded that it was appropriate to ringfence a number of posts (250) that had already been identified for civilianisation within their research. However, It has recently become clear that further work needs to be conducted around these numbers, as they may not accurately reflect the current trends.

Flexible working arrangements

12. Within TP, two Operational Command Units (OCUs) were asked to provide information on the officers in posts that had been identified for civilianisation. The pen pictures provided included staff with child care issues and staff who are primary carers for relatives and for whom flexible working arrangements are required. In addition, some police officers require retraining to enable them to return to operational duty. In such circumstances, moving officers out of current posts will require sensitive managing and/or be time consuming.

Data capture

13. The original data upon which Accenture reported for civilianisation was captured in late 2002, and now needs revisiting to provide an accurate up to date picture. Clearly any data capture can be argued to be purely a snapshot in time. Consequently, work is underway to ascertain if the posts identified by Accenture are still appropriate for civilianisation and to identify any further posts that have potential for civilianisation. The Step Change Programme and the HR Directorate Civilianisation coordinator will complete this work in the next few months.

Budget

14. Shortfalls in budgets lead to the need to find savings, and the police staff budget is often a victim of this. Budget cutting in this area clearly hampers civilianisation efforts. Issues regarding budget shortfalls for this financial year have clearly had a significant effect on the civilianisation programme. Management Board have agreed to review civilianisation in year 1 of the programme (2004/05) for TP and SCD by finding ‘one-off ‘alternative funding to enable growth to take place in 2004/05 without the need for savings that would arise from transferring the police officer posts to help fund Step Change growth.

Reduction in ill-health retirements

15. A government target is for all forces to reduce the number of ill-health retirements to that of the best quartile of forces in 2000/01 by 2005/06. This translates into a target of 6.5 ill-health retirements per 1,000 officers by 2005/06. A way of reducing ill-health retirements is to place those officers who would previously have been ill-health retired into posts that match their capabilities. Some of these posts might hold the potential for civilianisation.

Scrutiny on police ‘numbers’

16. There is a tendency at both national and London levels to focus on the absolute number of police officers and not with the amount of officer time spent on policing duties or the numbers of police staff including PCSOs, performing operational activities. As long as the focus remains on police numbers, the MPS is limited in its ability to make full use of police staff - principally because, in an environment of financial constraint, OCU commanders will always look to maximise the size of their uniformed strength. This will be regardless of whether uniformed officers are employed on policing duties or in fact placed in other roles that could be undertaken more efficiently by police staff. Accenture also found that there is a perception amongst police officers that putting a police officer in a support role provides more operational resilience.

Civilianisation plan

17. For the reasons outlined in the sections above regarding complexities, the original plan needs redefining. A Management Board paper on the reshaping of the civilianisation plan is currently being drafted and will be discussed by the MPS’s Management Board in June. This paper will focus on an agreed definition of civilianisation and the relationship with Step Change. It also considers a reshaping of the Civilianisation plan, in light of the budgetary constraints for this financial year.

C. Race and equality impact

1. An analysis by TP has revealed that civilianisation of certain police officer posts could have some implications in terms of flexible working arrangements e.g. officers with childcare commitments. Consequently, further work will be undertaken to discover the extent of this. However, the corporate guidance issued will help to guide each local Human Resources Manager through the process in consideration of such issues.

2. As stated above, the full effect of the DDA and its potential impact on civilianisation, will not be known until at least October. Further analysis will need to be performed around the types of posts available for those officers falling under the DDA and also the numbers on recuperative and restricted duties.

D. Financial implications

As stated above, the cost implications of the Civilianisation Programme for all business groups are incorporated into the Step Change Programme (SCP) for years 05/06 onwards (though this is still true for HR and the Deputy Commissioners Command (DCC) for this financial year). As stated above, Management Board have agreed to defer civilianisation in 2004/05 for TP and SCD by finding ‘one-off ‘alternative funding to enable growth to take place in 2004/05 without the need for savings that would arise from transferring the police officer posts to help fund Step Change growth.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Clare Mehlman, Corporate Change Team, HR Directorate

For more information contact:

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

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