Restricted Duty Review

Report: 3
Date: 17 September 2009
By: Martin Tiplady on behalf of the Commissioner

Summary

This report provides an update on the restricted duty review currently being funded by and conducted within Territorial Operations (TP), and includes a summary of the evaluation that was undertaken after completing reviews at three Borough Command Units (BOCU). This report also includes feedback from stakeholders as well as organisational learning.

A. Recommendation

That Members note the content of this report.

B. Supporting information

Context

1. The review of restricted duty officers is designed to improve operational resilience by ensuring that officers’ capabilities are clearly understood, deployment options are maximized in relation to those capabilities and that officers are in a position to fulfill their own potential for lateral and upward development. The process has changed from a simplistic medical capability approach to one that converts the medical capability in to a list of policing activities that can then be managed locally without recourse to occupational health. The activity list will continue to develop as more policing activities are added. In addition to supporting new deployment opportunities the activity list will be particularly useful should an officer need to be urgently and safely redeployed in response to an urgent operational need or in the event of a major incident in London.

2 Officers can be categorised as restricted when unable to perform the full operational role of a police officer. In day to day terms this means either one or a combination of the following; unable to undertake officer safety training (OST), to patrol in uniform and/or to be available to undertake major aid commitments. The inability to perform one or other of these roles can stem from an illness or injury, some of which may be covered by the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA). It follows therefore that an officer could undertake 100% of a specific role, such as in the telephone investigation unit but because of their inability to do OST, patrol in uniform or undertake an aid commitment they would still be categorized as restricted despite making a meaningful policing contribution to the MPS.

3. Where necessary risk assessments are undertaken in relation to specific tasks to ensure that the officer is not put at undue risk. Presently there are 1014 restricted duty officers across the entire MPS, all of whom work their full contracted hours but are unable to undertake the full range of police officer roles, such as patrol, aid commitments or become involved in confrontational situations where further injury is likely etc. Any restriction is specific to the individual officer’s circumstances.

4. The TP process for dedicated BOCU reviews is prioritized and currently funded to the end of March 2010, although individual officers who require a review due to a change in their medical circumstances can be seen as and when necessary.

Evaluation - learning to date

An evaluation of the process was undertaken jointly by Occupational Health and Territorial Policing Business Group.

The evaluation drew on data taken from officers who were reviewed, and a sample group who were offered one to one feedback sessions. Both of these mechanisms identified a number of learning points most notably around:

• communication of the rationale for the review;
• how the feedback to managers is acted upon;
• how restricted officers are managed generally, irrespective of being reviewed or not;
• how the medical officer can improve the process for the individual both during and after the assessment,
• the need to manage officer expectations arising from the assessments – most notably in the area of potential IHR cases where there are no guarantees and the process can take some months to complete.
• All the above points were addressed prior to any further reviews through improved communication to those being reviewed but also to their line-managers, senior management colleagues and the wider MPS audience.

5. In total 87 officers were reviewed from the three Borough units. The Boroughs comprised a mix on inner, semi-inner and outer London units in order to experience a broader range of demographics as possible.

6. Appendix 1 demonstrates how the medical officer conducts the capability review by considering a list of policing activities.

7. Appendix 2 shows the number and percentage of officers who after the new assessment process were deemed capable of undertaking any of the listed activities and provides clarity from the previous system of a ‘stand alone’ medical capability assessment. The figures show that 4 officers returned to full duty. This is in itself a positive outcome both in terms for the officer and their line-managers. Those officers who have returned to full duties have done so positively and may not have had the confidence or impetus to do so had the review not taken place. However, success can also be measured in terms of the additional information and clarification of what an officer is capable of doing. This aspect has been most welcomed by the Boroughs and line managers and is seen as a useful tool in their work on the Presence and Productivity strands.

8. In terms of Service capability issues the fact that 39% of the officers can attend Emergency Life Support training is a significant benefit as well the 11% who can now attend Officer Safety Training.

Feedback - Senior Managers, line Managers and individuals

9. Feedback from the Borough senior management teams has been positive in terms of their understanding of officers’ individual needs and how this may be translated in to the Presence and Productivity strands. That said more work is required to convert this theoretical understanding in to reality. Another important factor that has been identified by the boroughs is the fact that if applications to the Selected Medical Practitioner (SMP) for ill health retirements are successful there will be a clear advantage to their operational resilience. Decisions are awaited on a number of referrals to the SMP but current responses indicate an 80% rate in achieving ill-health retirement. The cost of ill health retirements will need to be monitored should this rate be maintained for the duration of the process although existing ill health retirements outside of this review process have been at an historical low for a number of years at around the 40 mark each year.

Feedback - Federation and Staff Associations

The review initiative has support from staff representatives. Issues of fairness and the need for a corporate approach to the reviews were raised in respect of only TP funding and conducting the current review schedule and the impact that this could have on individuals within those groups. The Disabled Staff Association welcome the encouragement of maximising potential and would want the review to be an emphasis on retention and not exit.

Next steps

10. The review was halted pending the evaluation but restarted at another Borough in September and will continue to be rolled out until March 2010. Funding will be sought prior to that time to allow the process to continue in its present form thereafter. All medical officers are however trained in the new process and all subsequent individual reviews or requests to become restricted will be undertaken using the new system. Lessons learnt from the evaluation were implemented prior to the resumption of the reviews. An immediate action will be to work with managers across the MPS to ensure that all restricted duty officers (whether recently reviewed or not) are actively managed and encouraged to fulfill their full operational potential within their current physical or psychological constraints. The DDA provides the potential for officers to become restricted much younger in service (through the application of reasonable adjustments) and therefore their careers and career aspirations require a more coordinated and longer term approach. The MPS Health and Wellbeing team will take this action forward.

C. Race and equality impact

1. No negative race or equality issues have been identified. Although the reviews are mandatory, no officer can be compulsory ill health retired and any redeployment options considered will be subject to risk assessment and reasonable adjustments where appropriate. Disability issues are addressed as part of the review process and are no different to the previous process.

D. Financial implications

1. The cost of carrying out a basic review is approximately £100, i.e. review and no further action required by the reviewing medical officer. This can rise to over £400 a review for those cases where there is a need to seek reports or assessments from third parties and to prepare detailed reports for submission to the SMP where ill health retirement is being actively considered, plus miscellaneous administration costs for managing the process.

2. To carry out reviews of some 1,000 officers at the rate of 250 officers a year would cost approximately £100,000 based on one medical officer working for one day a week. Figures are very approximate as the cases vary enormously in complexity. Cases to be submitted to the SMP require significant additional input from the medical officer with resultant additional cost implications.

3. The increased costs of additional ill health retirements is difficult at present to quantify until a better assessment of potential numbers is available based on a longer trend analysis. The number of ill-health retirements could however double from the present average of 40 cases approved each year. This increase would however last only 4 years based on 250 reviews each year generating 50 applications for ill health retirement of which 40 are likely to be successful. After four years all 1000 reviews should be completed assuming that additional applicants for review will be minimal during this period.

4. If an ill health application is successful a capital equivalent charge is payable in full by the Service in the year in which the retirement occurs. The charge is set at twice the average pensionable pay of the officer concerned. This currently averages at about £80,000 per officer. The total cost of ill health retirement including payment for Injury Awards has averaged at about £29,000,000 over the past few years and is funded from a centrally held budget. Of this provision £3m relates to ill health retirements which covers some 40 officers. The current proposals are, therefore, expected to double the level of ill health retirement. This would require additional resources of some £3m for each of the next four years.

5. This annual provision of £3m is not currently built into the MPA/MPS budget plans and would widen the budget gap of £67.6m, £202.7m and £263m in 2010/11, 2011/12 and 2012/13 respectively which needs to be closed to meet the Mayor’s budget guidance.

E. Legal implications

Some of the restricted duty officers will be disabled persons under the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA). In relation to those officers, changes made should comply with duties owed under the DDA.

F. Background papers

None

G. Contact details

Report author(s): Robert Crawley, MPS

For more information contact:

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

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