Employment Tribunals

Report: 9
Date: 06 April 2006
By: Commissioner

Summary

This report is the regular report to the HR Committee containing management information and performance analysis on employment tribunal claims brought against the Commissioner.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the report.

B. Supporting information

1. Six monthly reports are provided to the HR Committee providing statistical data and analysis regarding MPS performance in terms of Employment Tribunals (ETs) brought against the Commissioner. It will concentrate on ETs lodged from 1 April to 31 December 2005 (nine month period). The data and trends will be compared to the period 1 April 2004 to 31 March 2005.

2. The HR Employment Tribunal Unit (HR ET Unit) is part of HR Services Directorate working alongside the HR Practice Support Managers who oversee the Fairness at Work (FAWP) policy and process. There are also close links with those responsible for developing HR policy and promoting good practice in people management activities. The learning from ET cases is a key part of this. The ET cases continue to be considered as part of the MPA/MPS risk management procedure. This ensures that through a variety of means, senior managers are well briefed on significant cases and that appropriate and timely decisions are made.

New and on-going employment tribunal claims

3. The number of new ET cases lodged against the Commissioner shows a slight increase this financial year. The average number of new claims received per quarter in 2003/4 was 17 and in 2004/5 it was 16. The average for the current year after the first nine months is 19. The total number of current on-going ETs however is showing a significant decrease. In June 2004 the total number of cases was 84, whereas in December 2005 the total was down to 57 cases, a reduction of 32%.

4. In 2004/5 and the current year to date eight claims have been brought under the new Employment Equality Regulations, which prohibits discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, religion and belief. It should be noted that the majority of the religious belief claims also involve allegations of race discrimination.

5. The number of claims brought under the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) remains low (as at December 2005 there were seven current claims). There has not been a significant increase in the number of claims brought under the DDA despite the extension of the DDA on 1 October 2004 to cover police officers, including applicants to join the MPS. As above however, it should be noted that some claimants have brought claims which involve allegations of less favourable treatment on the grounds of disability, race and/or sex discrimination.

6. Since 1 October 2004 there has been a statutory requirement under the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations 2004 for employees (police staff only) to use an internal process prior to lodging an ET claim. This requirement does not apply to police officers but the MPS Fairness at Work Policy offers all MPS personnel the opportunity to raise matters of concern. However, not all police officers are raising FAWP concerns before lodging tribunal proceedings. In fact, some officers are actively stating to tribunals that as a police officer they are not required to follow FAWP and are not seeking to do so. It is hoped that the revised Fairness at Work Policy will encourage police officers to enter into the process before lodging ET proceedings including exploring options for informal resolution such as mediation.

Ranks and bands of personnel bringing ETs

7. In 2004/5, 37 (65%) of claims were brought by police officers and 20 (35%) by police staff. The percentages for the first nine months of the current financial year show a slight increase in the number of claims brought by police officers i.e. 41 (73%) of claims being brought by police officers and 15 (27%) of claims by police staff. As might be expected the largest groups of personnel by rank or band are those represented in the greatest numbers in the MPS i.e. police constables/sergeants and administrative staff. There has been a slight increase in the number of claims brought by PCSOs (three in 2004/05 and seven in the first nine months of 2005/6).

Diversity information

8. Diversity Information is provided comparing those pursuing ETs in 2004/05 and in the first nine months of 2005/06.

Gender

9. In the first nine months of the current financial year 26 cases (44.9%) were lodged by female police officers/staff compared to 36 cases (51.5%) in 2004/05. For some years females have accounted for slightly more than half of the ETs being pursued but there has been some reverse of this trend over the last year. Corporate strength for female police officers/staff (including PCSOs and traffic wardens) as at 31 December 2005 is 32%, which shows there is disproportionality with regard to gender.

Ethnicity

10. In the first nine months of the current financial year 35 claims (60.3%) were brought by white police officers/staff, nine claims (15.5%) by black police officers/staff, nine claims (15.5%) by Asian police officers/staff and three (5.1%) other groups. This compares with 29 (46%) by white police officers/staff, 13 (20.7%) black police officers/staff, seven (11.1%) Asian police officers/staff and seven (11.1%) other groups in the financial year 2004/05. This shows that the number of claims lodged by black police officers/staff has reduced this year in comparison to 2004/05 but that the number of claims lodged by Asian police officers/staff has slightly increased.

11. The total percentage of claims brought by black and minority ethnic police officers/staff in the first nine months of 2005/06 is 36.1% and in 2004/05 is 42.9%.

Timeliness

12. Data has been provided for the financial year 2004/05 and for the first nine months of the current financial year. In 2004/05, 54 cases took more than 400 days to reach a conclusion and in the first nine months of 2005/06 19 cases took more than 400 days to reach a conclusion. Over a number of years, the non-MPS cases of Liversidge and Baskerville had a considerable impact on the length of time taken to conclude cases as claims were prevented from progressing through the tribunal process. (These cases involved the issue of liability of a Chief Officer for the acts of his constables.) By late Autumn 2003, the issues of jurisdiction were largely resolved and since that point it has proved possible through a number of intervention strategies for a high number of long-standing claims to be concluded. As a result of this the remaining live claims which are over 400 days old has decreased from 41 in April 2004 to eight in December 2005 (an 80% reduction).

13. Two of the eight claims are long-standing part-time pension claims that have been awaiting a decision from the House of Lords in relation to non - MPS test cases. This decision was received on 8 March 2006. The House of Lords upheld the Court of Appeal decision in the ‘Preston’ test cases holding that where there is a TUPE transfer the six month time limit to bring an equal pay claim applies from the date of transfer. The judgement also makes it clear that if there is no claim against the transferor there is also no claim against the transferee. On this basis the MPS will seek a strike out of these two claims. Two cases are in relation to complex vetting issues. Two cases (relating to one claimant) have been stayed by the Tribunal pending the outcome of a Police Appeals Tribunal decision. One case has been listed by the Tribunal for hearing in October 2006. The remaining case was withdrawn by the Claimant in January 2006. All long-standing claims are now the subject of regular review to ensure that all opportunities have been explored to reach a resolution outside the tribunal process.

Location

14. The HR ET Unit will shortly be undertaking an analysis on the basis of ETs notified in 2004/05 and for the first nine months of 2005/06 by location of the party making the claim. It is proposed that once this research has been completed the ET Unit will work closely with the HR Practice Support Team to identify any location where both the numbers of ET claims and Fairness at Work cases raise issues for concern. Appropriate action will be taken to support any location appearing to feature prominently.

15. The Commander, Directorate of Professional Standards (DPS) heads a Strategic Co-ordinating and Tasking Group that regularly receives strategic intelligence reports based on the range of DPS activity to identify locations or issues warranting further examination or intervention. The ET Unit regularly provides employment tribunal data on location to DPS as part of this process.

Categories of cases

16. Race and sex discrimination cases form the largest claim groups of the ongoing claims. Commensurate with the overall reduction of ET claims during the period from the end of June 2004 to December 2005 race discrimination claims have reduced by 24% and sex discrimination claims have reduced by 40%. The numbers of claims involving allegations of both race and sex discrimination have also reduced by 26%. The ETs pursued by police staff for unfair dismissal and other contractual issues have also reduced (three claims to one) and there has been a small increase in the numbers of disability discrimination claims (five to seven).

Results

17. An examination of ET outcomes for 2004/05 shows that 29% of claims were withdrawn by applicants and 12% of claims were struck out by the Tribunal for want of jurisdiction. 45% of claims were settled. 12% of claims were won at tribunal and 2% were lost. The first nine months of 2005/06 indicates that of those cases concluded 40% have been withdrawn and the tribunal has struck out 10% of claims. 8% of claims were won at tribunal and 8% were lost. The 8% (four claims) lost in 2005/06 relates to one consolidated hearing involving three claimants. 34% of claims resulted in a settlement. It should be noted that some of these figures comprise multiple claims by a single claimant.

Settlements

18. Information on settlements and the financial implications arising from these is contained in Appendix 1 (exempt).

Significant cases

19. In December 2005 there were 42 exceptional/significant cases in progress which is at a similar level to the position in December 2004. These cases have been categorised as A, B or C under the terms defined in the MPS/MPA protocol. Weekly reports of all the categorised cases are provided to the MPA Chief Executive and the Deputy Chief Executive with further briefings and information provided when required. It is also proposed that regular meetings will take place with the Deputy Chief Executive to review all current cases.

Early resolution and learning

20. On receipt of new employment tribunal claims, the head of the HR ET Unit and the relevant case manager make an assessment of the claim to consider whether there is any capacity for early resolution or whether some form of intervention strategy might be appropriate to resolve the case. If it is not possible at this early stage the cases are subsequently regularly reviewed to identify any opportunity to reach a resolution without the need to go before a Tribunal panel. In many cases at the time the ET is received there is often already some form of intervention in progress. This could be a Fairness at Work procedure or an internal investigation. Mediation has been successfully used in some cases, which has avoided matters progressing to a tribunal hearing.

21. Learning from ET cases is a key aspect in the work of the HR ET Unit. With the introduction of the new post of Performance and Learning Manager dedicated work has been undertaken to identify and promote learning from ET cases. Good practice advice and learning has been identified for inclusion on the HR ET Unit intranet site, which is available to the entire MPS workforce. This has recently included material with guidance/good practice advice on issues such as sexual harassment, selection/promotion, police staff disciplinary process, victimisation and support for individuals who are named respondents within tribunal proceedings. A range of means are utilised to share organisational learning, in addition to the website. This has included input to training events and seminars for key personnel. Learning material has also been provided to the Recruit School to develop leadership/management skills for trainers and to the Met Careers Team in respect of issues raised by disability discrimination claims.

22. Debriefings of the Commissioner’s witnesses have been undertaken by the ET cases managers in certain significant cases to identify and draw out organisational learning. It has also provided an opportunity for individuals who have been the subject of complaints to understand the rationale for strategic decisions taken to ensure the successful resolution of the claims. In order to maximise learning from two significant ET cases the Performance and Learning Manager arranged debriefing sessions with a Claimant and a key witness. This provided the opportunity for the individuals to focus on the organisational learning from the cases. It also provided valuable feedback regarding the impact the ET process has on both the individuals who lodge claims but also the staff and managers who may have been the subject of allegations of discrimination or unfair treatment. It is hoped to further extend this activity to other key cases.

C. Race and equality impact

The MPS remains committed to the achievement of a hospitable working environment in which all groups of personnel can work with dignity and have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. It is recognised that early intervention at an appropriate level is a key factor in managing conflict resolution. A wide range of activities takes place to ensure that the MPS learns lessons from ET cases.

D. Financial implications

See appendix 1 (exempt).

E. Background papers

None

F. Contact details

Report author: Esme Crowther, Head of HR ET Unit.

For more information contact:

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

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