Workforce modernisation - APA perspective

ps/10/06
02 March 2006
MPA briefing paper

Author: Alan Johnson, Head of Human Resources, MPA

This briefing paper has been prepared to inform members and staff. It is not a committee report and no decisions are required.

Background

Workforce Modernisation is intended to provide a flexible, professional workforce that will increase performance, capability, productivity, visibility and impact. It includes discussions around changes to:

Terms and conditions

• an outdated pay structure that does not recognise regional market forces or reward skill and performance
• a single point entry and inflexible recruiting practices
• a modernised, Citizen Focused service

Force restructuring

• realistic timescales for transition and full-scale implementation
• the identification of appropriate selection/exit arrangements

Police reform

• the role of enhanced constables
• the changes to accreditation of roles and updating of skills
• improving the quality and value of performance development reviews
• integrating all the elements of police reform

Training

• the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP)
• increased training demands for the policing family

In October 2005, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) began their development of their vision for workforce reform. They are the only group on either the Official Side or the Staff Side of the Police Negotiating Board or Police Advisory Board to have done so. The draft vision and programme objectives (as of late 2005) are attached to this document as Annexes A and B. This briefing paper sets out the initial Association of Police Authorities (APA) position in relation to ACPO’s draft vision.

1. The challenge – shifting and growing public need

The draft vision states that policing is facing an unprecedented level of demand for service, both in terms of delivery of current services and delivering new or expanded services. This includes the need to ensure a much more citizen-focused service.

The APA endorses this view and welcomes the focus on creating a citizen-focused service. The APA believes that local satisfaction with policing is possibly more important than the achievement of numerical performance targets.

2. New opportunities – citizen focus and the latent capacity in policing

ACPO considers that the need for workforce modernisation highlights the need to move from outdated employment arrangements to the use of a “mixed economy” of warranted, partially warranted and unwarranted staff, based on an analysis of business processes.

A number of workforce modernisation pilots – including the Bexley project - have produced benefits in the areas of volume crime investigation, major crime investigation and offender management, while supporting key programmes such as neighbourhood policing and diversity. ACPO believes that these pilots show that this approach will result in better service, improved results, and cashable savings, unlocking an estimated 20% latent capability that goes unrealised due to outdated arrangements.

The APA supports the mixed economy approach to deliver benefits in terms of efficient and effective policing. However, the APA is cautious about the scale of the benefits given the significant nature of the changes that will be involved. More detailed work will be undertaken to refine these estimates to ensure that the estimates are realistic, evidence based and sustainable in the long term.

3. The barriers to change

ACPO considers that a major obstacle to realising the envisaged benefits is an outdated employment structure, including an emphasis on warranted status, length of service and rank rather than rewarding and recognising the skills and demands of particular roles. The single point of entry restricts recruitment opportunities that already have the necessary skills. In addition, the terms and conditions of different parts of the police family are not integrated, whilst the concentration upon officer numbers hampers the development of tailored solutions.

The APA agrees with ACPO’s view on the barriers to change and unlocking capability. However, it is also important not to lose the benefits of current arrangements, e.g. a very experienced workforce.

ACPO proposes a number of principles to guide the creation of a modernised police service, as follows:

1. Retaining the Office of Constable as the heart of policing;
2. Retain core operational competencies to maintain flexibility of deployment;
3. Be an integrated single mission service;
4. Be able to deal effectively and efficiently with both crime volume and complexity;
5. Reward and recognise skills, expertise, performance and learning;
6. Skills are matched to role and expertise is utilised to optimal effect; and
7. Chief Constables have responsibility and accountability for delivery, with the opportunity to design and develop services around the needs of local communities.

The APA supports the proposed principles and believes the Office of Constable is vital for preserving the independence and neutrality of policing, while retaining core operational competencies is crucial for ensuring that the service can react in times of crisis. The APA consider better integration will help to overcome the barriers between police staff and police officers; rewarding skill and performance, and matching role and expertise, are both logical and beneficial.

The APA acknowledges that chief officers have both responsibility and accountability for delivery, but police authorities have important and statutory responsibilities for the provision of an effective and efficient police force and for consulting local communities about their policing needs. The APA would like to see the addition of principles emphasising key aspects of organisational culture e.g. citizen focus, respect for race and diversity and a commitment to ethics and maintaining professional standards.

4. A coherent strategy for workforce modernisation

ACPO highlights the lack to date of a coherent approach to workforce modernisation and identifies a number of interdependent strands, including:

• Modernised Citizen-focused services – shaping teams to provide the best service to citizens, including the utilisation of officers with additional powers to facilitate a speedier response to problems such as antisocial behaviour, and employment conditions that are flexible and responsive to operational need.

The concept of an advanced constable with additional powers to deal with particular situations or offences is one that the APA considers is worthy of serious consideration. ACPO envisage that extra powers would only be allocated to selected suitable officers. However, the concept would have to be considered in depth, including criteria, reward, etc, and in terms of their specific powers.

The APA welcomes ACPO’s focus on the needs of the citizen, but recognises that there is not one version of these needs. Some parts of the community are concerned about the extension of policing powers whilst others wish to see social problems such as anti-social behaviour addressed.

On the issue of flexible employment conditions, these will be necessary in a mixed economy that relies on groups other than traditional constables although the specific details will be critical to their success. Additionally, while the integration of conditions is important, it is also the differences between the different types of officers and staff, and the attendant levels of pay and other rewards, that provide the benefits of the workforce modernisation approach.

• One team – modernised and integrated employment - focusing recognition and reward on performance and expertise; valuing all members of the service reflected in integrated terms and conditions, with the possibility of rapid progression and multi-point entry based upon merit.

The APA supports coherent terms and conditions for police officers and police staff that reflect different roles, and the focus on performance and expertise. These elements provide opportunities in terms of realising a diverse policing service that is representative of the communities it serves. A key part of protecting the public will be reflected in the implementation of the “one team” principle, and in maintaining sufficient general capability and capacity to deal with emergency situations. The APA believes these proposals will require careful consideration in terms of the overall balance and composition of the police workforce; it will also be a much more complicated management challenge with a mixed economy approach.

• Professionalisation – individuals are responsible for their own learning and development, supported by the organisation and rewarded for their learning and expertise. Greater opportunity to join the police service through direct entry into different levels or the organisation, and for specialisation. It is estimated that this could result in savings in training costs of up to 50% through employing pre-qualified or self-developing staff;

The APA supports the further professionalisation of policing, including the focus on learning and development, opportunities for specialisation, multi-point entry, and rewarding performance and expertise that is applied effectively. However, the suggestion of major savings in training costs is less clear given the current pressure on training costs due to the increasing complexity of policing and the employment of a mixed economy workforce will result in new training requirements. In any event, there is an expectation that additional rewards and recognition will be given to people who have pre-existing or acquired skills.

• Leadership – leadership is to be exhibited by all levels of the police workforce, focused on developing public confidence and public value.

The APA fully supports the development of leadership in policing. While recognising that this may be implicit, it is necessary to fully develop and define what leadership means and how it fits with other areas, such as recognition and reward.

• Freedom to succeed – Chief Constables and police authorities to have the flexibility to develop services around local needs, for efficiency and citizen focused policing, including being able to vary the staff mix, degree of specialisation, and intensity (core establishment as opposed to use of part-time or contingent workers) of workforce design. This includes regional pay arrangements in line with regional market forces, and removal of restrictions around officer numbers imposed by central funds.

The APA supports forces and authorities having the freedom, within an appropriate framework, to tailor services to local needs. This includes removing restrictive barriers, such as central requirements for numbers of police officers and Pesos. In terms of regional pay and conditions, the APA would support the introduction of some flexibility in nationally negotiated agreements to reflect the local situation. However, the APA does not support completely separate and regionally negotiated terms and conditions.

ACPO considers that all the strands of the workforce model are linked and simultaneous implementation is necessary to maximise the benefits. For example, freedom to succeed is needed to make use of modernised terms and conditions.

The APA agrees that all the strands are linked and mutually reinforcing. However, an implementation plan will be required to make progress from the current employment framework and this will likely require a phased approach with different elements of the agenda progressing at different times and speeds.

5. Conclusion

ACPO concludes by reiterating the limitations of the current arrangements and the potential benefits of modernisation. However, they also call for an integrated programme of police reform, with workforce modernisation alongside structural reform and changing working practices, such as neighbourhood policing.

The APA supports the development of an integrated programme, once final decisions are made in areas such as structural reform. A key issue will be ensuring coordination between the various strands of reform, and in terms of workforce modernisation, integrating it with structural reform. It will be beneficial to all strands of reform if implementation is closely co-ordinated.

Summary – APA position

The APA broadly supports the ACPO vision for workforce modernisation, and there are no major areas of significant disagreement. Overall, the APA supports workforce modernisation as being a key component of police reform, and wish to see police authorities closely involved in the development of workforce modernisation.

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