Recruitment & Retention 1 April 2004 - 31 July 2004

Report: 7
Date: 16 September 2004
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report summarises the activities undertaken by Recruitment and People Development Directorates within the reporting period.

A. Recommendation

That members note the report.

B. Supporting information

Police strength, wastage and recruitment

1. At the end of July 2004, the police workforce strength had reached 30,460 officers against a year-end budgeted workforce target (BWT) of 30,730. This amounts to growth of 4.8% since July 2003.

2. In parallel with the growth in overall police strength, has been an increase in the strengths of under-represented groups. The visible ethnic minority (VEM) officer strength has reached 2,048 (1,633 VEM male and 415 VEM female) officers against the year-end BWT of 2,151. Consequently, VEM police officers now represent 6.7% of the overall police strength. VEM police officer strength has increased by 24% in the last twelve months.

3. There has been a substantial increase in the number of female police officers, which now stands at 5,663 (5,248 non-VEM female and 415 VEM female) officers against a year-end BWT of 5,839. Female police officers now represent 18.6% of the overall police officer strength.

4. Police wastage continues to fall with 452 (51 female and 37 VEM) officers having left since the start of the financial year, compared to 544 (75 female and 46 VEM) in July 2003 and 612 (89 female and 36 VEM) in July 2002. This trend of improved wastage provides an indication of the effectiveness of the retention measures implemented. Further details of wastage can be found in Appendix 1.

5. The recruitment target for this financial year has been set at 2,248 i.e. 1,858 new police recruits and 390 (240 specialists, 150 generic) transferees and rejoining officers. This target is lower than in previous years.

6. Since the beginning of the financial year 678 officers have been recruited, of whom 552 have joined training school and 126 have joined boroughs or other specialist units.

7. During the current year targets have been set at 382 VEM and 652 female police officers, amounting to 17% and 29%, respectively, of all police officers recruited. Since April 2004, a total of 107 VEM (74 male and 33 female) and 233 female (200 non-VEM and 33 VEM) police officers have been recruited, amounting to 16% and 34%, respectively, of all recruits, and is in line with projections.

Substance misuse testing

8. Two screening processes have so far been conducted for the whole of the June and July intakes. These produced a 100% negative result for illegal substances. As of September, substance misuse testing will be part of the Day 2 selection process, with candidates being tested ‘in house’ by trained staff and via the purchase of specialist equipment.

Metropolitan Police Special Constabulary (MPSC) strength, wastage and recruitment

9. The MPSC strength at the end of July 2004 stood at 770 officers, an increase previous months, comprising 447 (58%) non-VEM males, 182 (24%) non-VEM female, 113 (15%) VEM male and 28 (4%) VEM female. The target for new recruits to the MPSC for the financial year 2004/2005 has been set at 375 but there is an anticipation that this is likely to increase to around 1,000 new recruits.

10. Since April 2004 54 MPSC officers have been recruited, comprising 26 non-VEM males, 5 VEM males, 18 non-VEM females and 5 VEM females.

Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) strength, wastage and recruitment

11. PCSO strength is currently 1,791 against a year-end BWT of 1,867. There are currently 589 (452 VEM male and 137 VEM female) from VEM groups and 528 (391 non-VEM and 137 VEM) females. As a proportion of strength, VEM PCSOs represent 32.8% and females 29.5%, compared to the year-end PCSO strength profiles of 654 (35%) VEM and 597 (32%) female PCSOs.

12. 34 PCSOs (18 non-VEM males, 7 VEM males, 8 non-VEM females, and 1 VEM female) have left the MPS during the financial year. A further 9 PCSOs have become police officers and 5 have re-graded to police staff.

13. Since July 2004, 391 (67 VEM male, 22 VEM female, 93 non-VEM female and 209 non-VEM male) PCSOs have joined against a community/security recruitment target of 567. This satisfies the recruitment need for ward-based teams. Currently, VEM PCSOs represent 23% of the PCSOs recruited. There is currently no recruitment of transport PCSOs.

Police Staff Strength, Wastage and Recruitment

14. Police staff workforce strength currently stands at 12,628 compared to 11,334 at the end of July 2003, amounting to an 11.4% increase. Within the police staff there are 2,523 members of staff from VEM groups (being 768 VEM male and 1,755 VEM female) and 7,454 females (being 5,699 non-VEM female and 1,755 VEM female). As proportions of police staff strength, VEM staff represents 20% and female 59.0%. Members of the Recruitment Directorate have begun to visit boroughs to undertake a quality assurance evaluation to identify good practice and assist those who fall short of the present 21% VEM target.

15. 271 members of police staff have left the MPS since April 2004 (183 female and 52 VEM). A further 21 police staff have commenced training as police officers. The level of police staff wastage is slightly higher than at the same point last year i.e. 272 against 250; however, this is offset by the 11% growth in police staff strength. Consequently, as a proportion, the overall level of wastage is low.

16. During the financial year, 720 members of police staff have been recruited. Of these, 154 were recruited from VEM groups (21.4%) and 438 are female (60.8%). Police staff recruitment has been particularly buoyant during the year with 18% increase on the number recruited during the same period last year.

Table 1: MPS strength summary at the end of July 2004

17. Table 1 provides a summary of current MPS strength for each major role along with representation of VEM and females. The table show that the highest proportion of VEM staff (32.8%) can be found in the PCSO role and the highest proportion of female staff (59%) can be found in the police staff role. Overall the MPS workforce has 12% VEM staff and 31% female staff.

Career Management and Retention

18. The Career Management and Retention Unit (CMRU) is leading on various projects, which are key to the retention of police officers and police staff.

19. In partnership with Leadership Research Development Ltd, the CMRU launched the outsourced Exit Survey pilot on 1 July and runs for six months. The company has a great deal of experience in the diversity field, which is particularly relevant to the disproportionate loss of women and visible ethnic minorities. The pilot covers 50% of the B/OCUs within the MPS, including the Recruit Training School, while the remainders are acting as a control group using the existing survey for an evaluation by ICG. When police officers and police staff tender their resignation, they are invited to have an in-depth interview with an independent consultant from LRDL to ascertain more information about the reasons that caused them to leave prematurely, in order that issues of concern can be addressed. The pilot has been well received with 54 people leaving to date. 12 people have been interviewed with the majority of leavers happy to participate in the pilot. The first monthly report is being presented in the first week of August to the steering group with a more in-depth report being presented by LRDL in October. A verbal update will be given on this at the meeting.

20. The Multi-Media Induction Programme was launched on 1 July and it is accessible via the CMRU Intranet site. This audio-visual programme includes a range of information for police officers and police staff joining the MPS, including the Mission, Vision and Values, the organisational structure, health and safety and diversity issues. Further sections will be added in the coming months, such as an interview with the new Chairman of the Metropolitan Police Authority. This facility will complement, not replace, local induction. Feedback has been positive.

21. The work areas on the Development Programme for Superintending Ranks are being progressed, and Business Groups are identifying command challenges. In particular, the model that was developed to assess chief superintendent posts for the purposes of the new post-related allowance may be used to inform the chief superintendent postings process in the future. The MPS has received a draft of the likely selection and assessment criteria for the revised Police National Assessment Centre (PNAC) in July 2005. The emphasis in the draft criteria is on a 'proven track record of delivery'. Through the development interviews that have been held with all chief superintendents who have expressed an interest in applying for the PNAC, a number of likely candidates for the PNAC have been identified. Each has been given an assessment of his/her 'standing' against the competencies for the first chief officer rank. Those who are likely to require development to be ready for PNAC in July 2005 have had individual development plans drawn up.

22. Following a Management Board paper in July, work is commencing to develop career pathways to support PIP and NIM. In parallel, the CMRU is developing a new Intranet site, Met Careers, to help officers and police staff to manage their careers.

23. With the Age Discrimination Act coming into effect from October 2006, the MPS needs to have HR policies in place that conform to the new legislation. The CMRU has accepted an invitation from the University of Surrey's Centre for Research into the Older Workforce (CROW) to participate in research commissioned by DTI. This project will study and identify the implications of age discrimination legislation for organisations, e.g. HR policies, staff management and employee relations. Our participation will inform the DTI about organisational needs, as well as helping the MPS to identify good employment practice and prepare for this legislation. Senior managers with a strategic overview and who are able to assess the longer term implications of the act will be interviewed along with the Director of human resources, and other relevant heads of units, to look at the implications for employee resourcing, development, retention and termination and day to day staff management. Director of finance, and other relevant heads of units, will also be interviewed in order to assess any cost implications. CROW will also be carrying out three group interviews (of eight to ten people each), with older workers (over 45 years), younger workers (under 25) and line managers.

24. The Retention Strategy was produced in 2003 with the majority of proposals being met and/or is work in progress. The Retention Strategy will be reviewed in early 2005. The following proposals made within the strategy outline at what stage the recommendations are at:

• Formation of MPS Career Management & Retention Unit – unit formed June 2003 – action completed
• Ensuring best practice in retention is applied across the organisation – retention & intervention guidelines were produced. Information provided to aid local managers with support from the CMRU being offered in order to educate, prevent and intervene in retention issues – completed April 2004
• MPS pilot staff exit process – please see item 1. The pilot will run until 31 December 2004 with final recommendations being made by LRDL and Internal Consultancy Group by February 2005. – action in progress
• Collation and distribution of staff turnover information – Strategic Management Unit now produce monthly scorecards outlining recruitment and retention rates, and whether retention targets are being met. This information is provided on a monthly basis. – ongoing
• Improving managers’ abilities to retain staff (management training) – the provision of a inclusive management training programme, for both police officers and police staff, is currently under review in line with the new leadership academy – work in progress
• Multi media induction – see item 2 – work in progress

Actual or potential problems and risk update

25. The introduction of an internal recruitment campaign has been very successful. At all stages of the recruitment process there has been a significant increase in the numbers of candidates progressing through the system, especially in targeted groups. As a result, the ratio of successful candidates to enquiries is approximately 1:5, whilst this figure is closer to 1:15 for external candidates. The overall assessment pass rates for VEM candidates and females are also greater when compared to those from external sources.

26. The marketing and advertising strategy has been developed to raising the profile of the MPS as an employer, particularly amongst underrepresented groups.

C. Race and equality impact

As previously reported the achievement of the, Home Office targets remain extremely challenging in the longer term. The level of VEM recruitment will need to be substantially increased and sustained over a considerable period of time. Taking into account the anticipated recruitment targets associated with ‘step change’ at least 68% of applicants and recruits will need to be VEM. Although adjustments to advertising, marketing and positive action strategies will make a positive contribution towards this goal, the scale of change required for achieving the Home Office and GLA targets can realistically only be met by employing a strategy of positive discrimination. Under current legislation this is unlawful. Therefore, a change in or temporary dispensation from the law is necessary. To this end, the MPS has lobbied the Home Office within the response to the Green Paper on Community Partnerships, and discussions have also been held with the Commission for Racial Equality. That is not to say that nothing can be done to increase representation levels in the meantime. The recruitment strategy provides a detailed analysis of actions and measures to significantly impact in this area.

D. Financial implications

There are no financial implications arising from this report.

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Simon Marshall, Director of Recruitment and Gordon Davison, Director of People Development

For more information contact:

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

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