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1
The Police Service for Northern Ireland Submission
to the Police Remuneration Review Body for
Federated and Superintending Ranks
2016/17
January 2016
2
Contents
Page
Executive Summary 4
Chapter 1 – Introduction 6
PSNI’s Vision 6
Chapter 2 – The Policing Environment and Security Situation 7
The Policing Environment 7
Policing Parades, Protests and Related Disorders 9
The Security Situation 10
Security Funding 11
Crime Funding 13
Chapter 3 – Economy and Earnings 15
The Northern Ireland Economy 15
Earnings 16
Chapter 4 – Government Pay Policy and Affordability 18
Pay Policy 18
PSNI’s Pay Proposal 19
Affordability 20
Parity with England and Wales 21
Chapter 5 – The PSNI Police Officer Workforce 22
Police Officer Numbers 22
Recruitment – Background 24
Recruitment – Assessment of Need 29
Recruitment – 2015 Campaign 30
Mapping Demand to Resources 31
Police Promotion Process 31
Wastage 33
Exit Interviews 34
Talent Management – Background 35
The National Position – Fast Track Inspectors Scheme 35
The PSNI Position – Fast Track Inspectors Scheme 36
The Current England & Wales Position – Fast Track Supts Scheme 37
The Current PSNI Position – Fast Track Superintendents Scheme 38
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Crime and Leadership Training 38
Absence Management – Background 40
Absence Management - Current Position 40
Chapter 6 – Pay Proposals and Recommendations for 2016/17 42
Impact of Implementation of Winsor Recommendations 42
Pension Reforms 43
Basic Pay – Uplift Scenarios 44
Allowances 46
Northern Ireland Transitional Allowance (NITA) 46
Dog Handlers Allowance 48
Compensatory Related Threshold Payment (CRTP) 48
Transitional Rent/Housing Allowance 49
On-Call Allowance 50
Temporary Supplement for Inspectors and Chief Inspectors 52
Recommendations for 2016/17 52
Way Forward 53
Chapter 7 – Appendices: 54
Appendix A – Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Police Service of 55
Northern Ireland - Policing Plan 2015-2016
Appendix B – Pay Remit Approval Process/Contractual Legal 79
Entitlement to Pay Awards
Appendix C – Pay Remit Approval Process and Guidance 82
Appendix D – Minister of Justice’s letter to PRRB 93
Appendix E – Chief Secretary to the Treasury’s letter to PRRB 96
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THE POLICE SERVICE FOR NORTHERN IRELAND SUBMISSION TO THE POLICE
REMUNERATION REVIEW BODY FOR FEDERATED AND SUPERINTENDING RANKS
2016/17
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This is the PSNI’s second report to the independent Review body on the remuneration of
police officers in the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) up to and including the rank of
Chief Superintendent.
This report details the PSNI’s pay submission to the Police Remuneration Review Body
(PRRB) including information on the Northern Ireland Executive Pay Policy, recruitment and
retention issues, pay progression, affordability, motivation, the modernisation of terms and
conditions and a detailed account of the policing and security context in which officers
operate.
The PSNI continues to work in a challenging environment and the ongoing financial cuts
continue to add to these challenges. Despite this, the most recent Perceptions of Policing
survey indicates that overall confidence levels have been maintained at 80.6%. This
achievement is a tribute to those officers and staff who continue to work every day to keep
people safe through working with the community.
The terrorist threat to PSNI remains at SEVERE. PSNI officers continue to operate under
significant threat from violent Dissident Republican Paramilitaries whilst on and off duty.
Over recent months, officers have dealt with a number of security alerts and viable explosive
devices at various locations including the site of recent PSNI recruitment events.
The impact of these incidents on Policing causes disruption to both the local community and
availability for police resources for other duties. Officers are also injured as a result of these
ongoing incidents. The situation continues to have a detrimental effect on conventional
Policing. Ultimately there is an impact on the level of resources available to other core areas
of Policing. This could have a negative impact on public confidence.
The Chief Constable has received funding relating to National Security and Reserved
Matters. This funding is provided from the Northern Ireland Executive and Her Majesty’s
Treasurer. The PSNI is required to report on security funding expenditure to the Northern
Ireland Policing Board (NIPB), the Department of Justice [DOJ] and the Department of
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Finance and Personnel (DFP). This funding is subject to the normal PSNI policies and
procedures including external and internal auditing processes. It has been estimated that
PSNI spends approximately 27% of its main grant budget dealing with the current security
situation.
In this pay submission, the PSNI have requested that the PRRB considers the Service
Executive Team’s recommendations for 2016/17 which are as follows:
pay progression for Federated and Superintending ranks in line with public sector
pay policy (up to 1% increase for staff in post):
retention of Northern Ireland Transitional Allowance with an increase of 1%; and
retention of the Dog Handler’s Allowance with an increase of 1%.
This is in compliance with the Northern Ireland Executive’s Pay Policy, which is awaiting
confirmation from DOJ.
6
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
PSNI’s Vision
The 2014-17 Policing Plan published in conjunction with the Northern Ireland Policing Board
(NIPB) communicates the vision of the PSNI, which is to help build a confident, safe and
peaceful society.
The Plan outlines PSNI’s purpose, which is ‘Keeping People Safe’. This is achieved through
the prevention of crime, the protection of people and communities and the detection of those
who commit crime by bringing them to justice.
Underpinning the plan are the PSNI strategies to support service delivery, as well as the
revised Policing with the Community (PwC) Framework. PwC reinforces how the PSNI
connects with people as members of the general public, or as victims or witnesses of crime.
PwC also means connecting with partner agencies in criminal justice, public service and
voluntary and private sectors with the aim of supporting community safety and well-being.
To acknowledge the importance of Policing with the Community, the Plan was revised for
2015-16 to reflect a strengthened emphasis on quality of service, partnership working and a
focus on policing priorities (Appendix A).
The main theme of the plan is to improve community confidence in policing by:
• reducing the level of harm from crime and anti-social behaviour and domestic
burglaries;
• increasing rate of crime outcomes;
• continuous improvement, effectiveness and efficiency in our service; and
• enhancing our engagement, consultation and involvement with the community; and
working in partnership to deliver effective community engagement and joint problem
solving.
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CHAPTER 2 – THE POLICING ENVIRONMENT AND SECURITY SITUATION
The Policing Environment
The PSNI, like other public sector organisations is already under substantial financial strain
and has been impacted with budget cuts totalling some £364m since 2004. In the last 4
years alone, from 2011-2015, the PSNI budget had been reduced by £217.3m. Over the
same period, the Service has implemented organisational wide change programmes, dealt
with increasingly complex operational demands and absorbed many collateral pressures
from partner agencies.
The current Policing environment and reducing budgets present daily challenges for officers
facing a changing social environment with emerging crime patterns at a time when
Government spending is limited. Like all public sector organisations, the PSNI must continue
to deliver financial savings. In the past 5 years, Policing has realised savings of £175m. The
budget cuts for 2016/17 amounted to £40m representing a 5.1% cut, with further cuts of
£26.2m introduced in year at short notice. The Chancellor has announced his Autumn
Statement and unexpectedly provided protection for the Police Services in England and
Wales, in line with inflation. How this is translated to the Police budget in Northern Ireland is
yet to be determined. The draft Budget announced by the Finance Minister indicated the
reduction to the PSNI budget will be limited to 2% in 2016/17.
The Stormont Agreement has allowed the Northern Ireland Executive to finalise the
November Monitoring exercise. This resulted in PSNI contributing £22.6m to Departmental
and Block pressures. The January Monitoring exercise is currently under consideration.
Whilst the PSNI must share in the cuts impacting across the public sector, any reduction in
budgets will impact on our ability to deliver the scale of demands placed on Policing. The
PSNI has fewer officers and last year the Chief Constable had to make some difficult
decisions directly linked to head count. This resulted in a reduction in recruitment plans and
an end to the Agency Staff contract.
The PSNI has had to look at ways of reducing the cost of Policing – in 2005/06 the cost of
Policing per person per day in Northern Ireland was £1.72; in 2013/14 it was £1.05. These
challenges will continue and going forward the Chief Constable will have to prioritise
available resources to address the greatest threat, risk, harm and/or vulnerability.
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This will follow on from the work that has already been undertaken on the Review of Public
Administration (RPA) launched by the Northern Ireland Executive (NIE) in June 2002. The
remit of the review included an evaluation of the arrangements for the accountability,
development, administration and delivery of public services in Northern Ireland.
The review saw Northern Ireland move to a new 11 Council structure on 1st April 2015 and
the NIE charged with new powers and responsibilities including Community Planning. The
PSNI has realigned its frontline delivery from the previous 8 Districts to 11 which are co-
terminus with the 11 new Councils.
A key purpose of this alignment was to ensure Policing remains accountable to the public,
works effectively in partnership, has a clear local identity, and is responsive to local
concerns. Effective collaboration between service providers and partnership working
between Councils, Departments and Agencies equates to better co-ordination of service
delivery and less duplication. This will lead to more efficient, high quality services. Engaging
with the community and understanding local issues will also allow service delivery to be
more responsive to citizens’ needs.
Management of this new structure has involved the creation of an Area tier which divides the
11 Districts into 3 Areas; Belfast, North and South. The PSNI saw the first real effects of
RPA on 20th October 2014 when A and B Districts merged under the Service First
Programme to form Belfast City Policing District. This was the initial phase in a re-design of
the organisation.
One of the central themes and objectives of the District Policing Command (DPC) Change
Programme was to embed Policing with the Community as the culture, ethos and attitude
across all frontline delivery resources. This is being achieved through the establishment of
Local Policing Teams (LPTs). This has facilitated more effective management of demand
through streamlining core policing functions, consolidating roles and making efficiencies
where possible.
A significant amount of work has been undertaken to make sure that these changes have
been implemented as seamlessly as possible by the deadline of 1st October 2015. The
following work is planned in Phase 2 for completion by April 2016:
Review of Public Administration (RPA)
Phase 2: systems realignment Apr 2016;
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Review of Crime Operations Department (RPA)
Phase 2: Demand analysis Apr 2016;
Review of Operational Support Department (OSD) (RPA)
Phase 2: Scoping of (OSD) review of future OSD arrangements Apr 2016;
Review of Business Services (RPA)
Phase 2: Scope full re-structuring project Apr 2016.
Policing Parades, Protests and Related Disorders
The PSNI continues to experience considerable pressures in the summer months relating to
the parading issue in Northern Ireland. Parades in contested areas continue to require a
huge public order deployment. The PSNI is required to provide significant levels of public
order and other related resources to keep people safe over the marching season. This leads
to long hours for officers in potentially violent and confrontational situations and requires
backfill in the Districts to keep the day-to-day business running. The provision of Mutual Aid
from other Police services may also be required.
The total cost for the 5 month period from 1st April 2015 to 31st August 2015 for policing
parades, protests and related disorders was in the region of £6,744k. As the table below
shows, this represents a decrease on the 2014 costs due to the reduction in additional costs
with the 12th July taking place on a Sunday and the 13th July on a Monday.
Table 1 - Summary year on year costs of policing parades, protests & related disorder
The indications for political progress on the issues of flags and parades is positive and
the Chief Constable hopes that progress can be sustained on these complex issues in
the weeks and months ahead.
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In the incoming year, PSNI will have to police a series of competing events, including:
100th anniversary of the Easter Rising; and
100th anniversary of the Battle of the Somme and other significant World War I
commemorations.
Effectively this will extend the number of days when the PSNI will potentially have to deploy
large numbers for Public Order related duty. And on some of these dates, there may be
events taking place involving both communities.
Additional commitments have resulted in the accumulation of Modified Rest Days
(MRDs)/Monthly leave days. Officers are often accumulating these days for taskings which
are not associated with their normal duties. The management of MRDs and monthly leave
days is set out in the PSNI Regulations 2005 and associated Determinations. It was
identified that through custom and practice there was a divergence from the Regulations
which resulted in the number of banked MRDs/Monthly leave days reaching an
unacceptable level. In August 2014 in excess of 50,000 MRDs/Monthly leave days were
banked and unused. The Service Executive Team issued instructions at that time to instigate
a phased reduction in the number of days held with a view to clearing the banks by the 31st
March 2016.
PFNI Chairman, Mark Lindsay, stated in a press release on 28th October 2015 that “our
officers are working in trying conditions, day in, day out. They’re not able to take time off,
rest days are cancelled at short notice and their work-life-balance is severely affected which
impacts on their families and home life”. In October 2015 the Service Executive Board
chaired by the Chief Constable gave approval to extend the time limit for the reduction of
MRDs/Monthly leave days to 31st March 2017. As of November 2015 there are a recorded
37,266 days remaining on the Options system.
The Security Situation
The Security Service (MI5) assess that the overall threat from Northern Ireland Related
Terrorism remains SEVERE – meaning that at any time an attack is highly likely. This threat
(which has been at this level since February 2009) comes primarily from dissident
republicans (DRs) who have rejected the political and peace process and seek to keep alive
the flame of violent republicanism. Since 1998 these groups have mounted between 15 and
40 attacks each year, killing nine people.
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The PSNI remain the principal targets for DRs and a number of police officers have narrowly
escaped injury in the past twelve months. Officers have been targeted both on and off duty
(brief details of a number of these attacks are detailed in Table 2 below). Members of the
armed forces and prison officers are also at risk and commercial premises have been
attacked.
The level of DR threat and activity has remained significant throughout 2015. There have
been 15 DR attacks on national security targets as well as dozens of other serious incidents
including shootings, paramilitary shows of strength and munitions seizures (details of the
2015 national security attacks are detailed below). DR intent and capability remain high and
all groups are actively engaged in attack planning. Although pressure from the PSNI and
security partners is constraining the threat, and all DR groups are under pressure, some
attacks continue to get through as shown in Table 2 below.
Table 2 – Attacks on Police 2006/07 – 2015/16
25
37 7
2 35
1 0
73
7
13
23
14
2220
9 8
0
5
10
15
20
25
2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 2015/16*
Atta
cks o
n Po
lice
Shooting Incidents Bombing Incidents
* Data supplied covers the period 1st April 2015 to 31
st October 2015
Many DR attacks involve small relatively unsophisticated improvised explosive devices
(IEDs) such as pipe bombs and postal IEDs. However recent attacks involving under vehicle
UVIEDs containing military-grade high explosive, as well as attacks in 2014 involving
improvised anti-armour weapons, are a reminder of the lethality of the threat. Improvised
mortars, rockets, radio controlled and larger vehicle borne IEDs are also in the DR
repertoire. They have also conducted close quarter shooting attacks using automatic
weapons.
The terrorist threat picture in Northern Ireland (NI) is unlikely to change significantly in the
coming years. DRs retain the intent, arms, money and manpower to sustain their campaign
at current levels for the foreseeable future – the threat will remain SEVERE. DRs will
continue to be innovative and there will be a continued risk of police fatalities.
Security Funding
In 2011 the National Security Council (NSC) agreed to provide additional annual funding to
assist PSNI to tackle the increased terrorist threat in Northern Ireland. In June 2013, the UK
Government, through its spending review announced that an annual amount of £31m would
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be allocated to the PSNI. The DOJ funded an additional £30m per annum. Both funding
streams were to be specifically utilised in tackling the ongoing terrorist threat. This level of
funding continued to the end of the 2015-16 financial year. The PSNI submitted a bid
covering the financial years 2016 - 2021, requesting an additional £161m from HM
Government (HMG) and £164m from the NI Executive (approx. £65m per annum in each
financial year). Her Majesty’s Government (HMG) have recently announced approval of
£160m for that period.
The additional security funding is used to support and enhance a number of different
operational areas, these include:
• operational capability;
• technical support;
• close protection;
• station security;
• additional surveillance capability, and
• additional capability in regard to terrorist investigations.
As the PSNI are the only routinely armed police service in the United Kingdom this
additional funding will allow the PSNI to develop the capability to be used as a national
resource to provide assistance with terrorist incidents.
According to David Anderson Q.C. global terrorist casualties increased sharply in 2014.
There were no Islamist or extreme right wing attacks in the UK but numerous Northern
Ireland related incidents, some of them potentially deadly.
Northern Ireland’s progress towards a post-conflict society is unfortunately far from
complete. A real terrorist threat persists in parts of Northern Ireland, as the following facts
demonstrate:
in 2014/15 there were 3 security-related deaths, 73 shooting incidents and 36
bombing incidents, together with 58 casualties resulting from paramilitary-style
assaults. In the current financial year up to 31st October 2015 there was 1 security
related death, 23 shooting incidents, 28 bombing incidents and 31 casualties
resulting from paramilitary-style assaults.
there were 16 dissident republican attacks on national security targets during 2015,
ranging from rudimentary letter bombs to explosively formed projectiles (EFPs)
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demonstrating a developing armour-piercing capability. None caused injuries or
fatalities. The Director General of MI5 has said that “for every one of those attacks
we and our colleagues in the Police have stopped three or four others coming to
fruition.”
the threat level to Northern Ireland from Northern Ireland-related terrorism remains at
SEVERE (an attack is highly likely) while the threat to Great Britain is MODERATE
(an attack is possible but not likely).
Europol stated in its annual Overview of Terrorism in the EU that the 109 shooting and
bombing incidents reported in Northern Ireland during 2014 were the only terrorist attacks in
the United Kingdom, and “represent more than half of the total number of terrorist incidents
in the European Union (EU) for the reporting period”.
It is striking to note that more than three times as many people were arrested under the
Terrorism Act in Northern Ireland than in Great Britain. This is despite the fact that according
to the 2011 Census, Northern Ireland comprises only 2.9% of the population of the United
Kingdom.
In August 2014 the threat from International terrorism was increased to SEVERE indicating
that attacks were highly likely. This was followed by attacks in other Western countries and
the interruption of several life threatening terrorist operations in the UK.
The recent terrorist related incidents in Hanover and in Saint Denis, Paris have served as a
stark reminder of the unprecedented attack on the way of life, freedoms and the peace and
security of our nations. It is clear that Europeans now demand a police response that is
unlike anything ever seen in Europe before. These expectations must be matched by
commitments from European Governments to enable the police to provide safety for our
citizens. The security funding provided by HMG to the PSNI will go some way to ensure that
the PSNI makes a positive contribution to this overall effort.
Crime Funding
In 2015 the political talk’s processes in Northern Ireland considered the issue of investigating
Paramilitary Organised Crime Gangs. A PSNI proposal providing the minimum resource
levels required to deliver the NI Secretary of States vision was developed and submitted to
the value of £18m covering a four year period. The plans outlined a dedicated investigation
team whose work would seek to tackle the grip that paramilitary groups have within
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communities and encourage support for the relevant Criminal Justice Agencies. The
Secretary of State (SoS) for Northern Ireland has recently announced the approval of this
additional funding.
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CHAPTER 3 – ECONOMY AND EARNINGS
The Northern Ireland Economy
The recession has had a pronounced on-going effect in Northern Ireland, however,
according to the Executive, local economic conditions are slowly improving.
In the Spring 2015 report of the Ulster University Economic Policy Centre for Northern
Ireland (UUEPC) it has been highlighted that the NI economy enjoyed a relatively strong
2014. Increased employment levels have supported high levels of business and consumer
confidence. Furthermore, the positive shock of lower oil prices has created a boon for
consumers and businesses alike. As a consequence it is expected that 2015 will deliver
relatively strong economic growth. Stronger growth is forecast in manufacturing and private
sector more generally, but with job losses expected in the public sector.
The NI employment rate has consistently been below the UK average over the last 10 years.
The most recent NI employment rate for those aged 16-64 for the period July to September
2015 was estimated at 816,000 or 67.9%, which represented an increase of 2,000 over the
quarter and a decrease of 5,000 over the year.
The UUEPC forecast that there will be an employment growth of approximately 12,400 net
new jobs over the next 4 year period which contrasts with over 27,000 created between
2012 and 2014. The reduction in public sector employment explains the sharp fall in job
creation however almost 21,000 private sector jobs are expected to be created over the
forecast period.
The Office of Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast the wage growth increasing from 1.5% in
2014 to 4% in 2019. This level of wage inflation assumes an economy approaching full
capacity and requires a willingness of firms to increase pay settlements at levels not seen
since before the financial crisis. The UUEPC consider that a more modest wage growth will
be seen due to the additional supply of labour from public sector job losses and the potential
from inward migration and the desire of firms to rebuild their margins.
The UUEPC have reported that austerity will be the new normal for the rest of this decade.
Northern Ireland is still catching up with the rest of the UK in terms of public sector job
losses. The forecast is for a loss of 8,400 jobs across the public sector over the next four
years as head count reductions, rather than changing pay and conditions, is the chosen
response to reduced public funding. In this environment the PSNI recognise that work force
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planning is important to ensure internal capability continues to meet critical service delivery
needs.
Earnings
Provisional results from the 2015 Northern Ireland Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings
(ASHE) were published on 18th November 2015 by the Northern Ireland Statistics and
Research Agency (NISRA). The key findings are that:
In April 2015 median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were £485, up
5.4% from £460 in 2014. This represents the largest annual percentage increase in
earnings since 2004 and the first increase in inflation adjusted earnings since 2009.
In the UK, median gross weekly earnings for full-time employees were £528, an
increase of 1.8% since 2014 (£518). At 92%, the ratio of NI/UK full-time weekly
earnings is the highest since the ASHE time series began in 1997.
The increase in median gross weekly earnings was more marked in the private than
in the public sector. The full-time median gross weekly earnings in the private sector
increased by 6.7% to £429, compared to a 1.6% increase in the public sector, to
£577. This is the largest annual increase in private sector earnings since 2006.
However, NI private sector full-time weekly earnings were 86% of those in the UK.
Those in the lowest 25% of the full-time weekly earnings distribution experienced a
larger increase (6.4%) than those in the highest 25% (2.2%).
In 2015, median gross annual earnings for full-time employees in NI were £25,800, an
increase of 5.5% over the year. This was lower than the UK annual earnings of £27,600 (an
increase of 1.6% since 2014).
The average earnings of a police officer in the PSNI continue to be higher than the average
earning of a full time employee in Northern Ireland. This may be due to the difference in
remuneration of the number of hours that are worked and the conditions under which police
are required to perform.
Table 3 below shows details of the average earnings for a PSNI officer per rank excluding
and including overtime. Pay rates in Northern Ireland continue to be one of the lowest rates
of pay across the UK; however pay rates for officers would rank among the top end for all
pay sectors UK wide. Median gross weekly earnings for all employees in Northern Ireland at
April 2015 were £383, or 90% of the UK figure (£426). This gap partly reflects differences in
the composition and changing structures of the respective workforces, by full-/part-time
status, gender, industry and occupation structure.
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Table 3 –PSNI Average Earnings excluding and including overtime
Rank Average Earnings (Exc. OT)
Average Earnings (Inc. OT)
Chief Superintendent 90,241 90,241
Superintendent 79,619 79,619
Chief Inspector 61,623 61,623
Inspector 57,669 57,669
Sergeant 47,300 58,200
Constable 40,066 47,001
Student Officer 22,545 24,345
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CHAPTER 4 – GOVERNMENT PAY POLICY AND AFFORDABILITY
Pay Policy
The UK Government’s policy for public sector pay for 2016/17, as set out in the Chancellor’s
summer budget of 8th July 2015, is for an average pay award of 1%. The Chief Secretary to
the Treasury has emphasised that the Government’s approach to public sector pay expects
that pay awards should be applied in a targeted manner to support the delivery of public
services and to address recruitment and retention pressures. The Chief Secretary’s letter
has stated that this may mean that some staff could receive more that 1% while others could
receive less but there should not be an expectation that every employee will receive a 1%
pay award. The enforcement of pay growth limits is devolved to the Executive within the
overarching parameters set by HM Treasury.
The Northern Ireland Executive has endorsed the principle of adherence to the UK
Government’s public sector pay policies. The PSNI must comply with the Northern Ireland
Executive’s pay policy. Annual guidance on the application of public sector pay policy is
endorsed by the NI Executive and published each year by way of a Financial Director’s letter
(Appendix B). The Executive’s Pay Policy, and associated pay remit approval process,
applies to the staff costs of all NICS Departments, Agencies, Non-Departmental Public
Bodies (NDPB) and other public bodies.
The Minister for Finance and Personnel retains responsibility for monitoring; controlling and
approving pay remits for the above staff groupings. All public bodies, including NDPBs, are
required to submit a pay remit pro-forma and business case template (via their parent
department) to DFP Supply for Ministerial approval (Appendix C). This applies even if the
public body follows the NICS pay award or a nationally determined pay award.
Public bodies covered by the Executive’s Pay Policy are not permitted to enter into pay
commitments or implement pay awards, including contractual commitments, prior to the
appropriate approvals, including DFP Ministerial approval, having been secured.
The Executive’s control of public sector pay is based on the principle that a pay and reward
package should be offered to recruit, retain and motivate suitable staff. Public sector pay
should also reflect the circumstances specific to the local labour market.
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PSNI’s Pay Proposal
The PSNI submitted a request to the Northern Ireland Minister of Justice that the PRRB that
the PRRB considers the Service Executive Team’s recommendations for 2016/17 which are
as follows:
pay progression for Federated and Superintending ranks in line with public sector
pay policy (up to 1% increase for staff in post):
retention of Northern Ireland Transitional Allowance with an increase of 1%; and
retention of the Dog Handler’s Allowance with an increase of 1%.
The Northern Ireland Minister of Justice then wrote to the PRRB on 20th October 2015 to
provide the specific remit for PSNI for 2016/17 (Appendix D). This stated that the Northern
Ireland Executive had not yet agreed the public sector pay policy applicable to Northern
Ireland for 2016/17. It was proposed that in the absence of a clear policy for Northern
Ireland, the Review body should operate within the parameters set out below whilst noting
that these might be subject to further restraint:
the application of any pay award for PSNI officers, effective from 1st September
2016;
whether any increase should be applied to Northern Ireland Transitional Allowance
(NITA) and whether to change its current non pensionable status;
whether any increase should be applied to the Competency Related Threshold
Payment (CRTP) and/or Dog Handlers Allowance;
a review of the operation of current On-Call arrangements for Federated and
Superintending ranks - including compensation levels and accessibility by those
ranks.
The Minister also suggested that the Review Body may wish to consider the full package of
remuneration paid to police officers in Northern Ireland and consider any specific challenges
that they face. Commitment to a review of the CRTP Scheme was also referred to along with
consideration of the ongoing reforms being taken forward by the College of Policing (CoP).
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Affordability
The PSNI appreciates that whilst it is imperative that police officers have the necessary skills
and expertise and are properly motivated, it is also vital that increases in public sector pay
are affordable within the limits determined by the Executive and represent value for money.
Every effort has been made to drive costs out of non-pay budgets to protect the frontline and
ensure the police continue to deliver on our purpose of Keeping People Safe. To support this
activity going forward the service has introduced Priority Based Resourcing (PBR). This is a
process that involves staff in delivering more effective and efficient services, fostering a
culture of improvement, innovation and cost control amongst key managers and leaders. In
doing so this will provide the PSNI with even more detailed information about where we
invest our money and the risks generated by reduced budgets.
PBR involves reviewing all of the services that PSNI currently delivers and then considering
why the service exists, what value it offers the public and, what objectives and public
demands it is achieving. A list of 92 services has been identified which includes:
• safeguarding individuals;
• people management;
• legal representation;
• forensic and special property exhibit management;
• intelligence gathering;
• custody management;
• transport affairs;
• payroll/pension services;
• vetting and protective security; and
• maintenance and support of IT operations.
A pilot application of PBR is currently underway in 15 Business Areas to test the concept.
The pilot process is focussed upon delivery of financial efficiencies in the 2015/16 year.
Proposals will be presented at the end of November/start of December 2015 to a PBR Panel
comprising the Deputy Chief Constable and members of the Service Executive Team (SET).
The PBR Panel will act as a sounding board for innovative ideas for method, volume and
service delivery changes that are proposed. They will also sign off on options that can be
utilised to balance the resources of the PSNI to the strategic model.
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Police forces in England and Wales were protected as part of the chancellors’ autumn
statement. The Finance Minister recently announced a draft Executive budget for 2016-17
and this states that the reduction to the PSNI budget will be limited to 2%.
Parity with England and Wales
The Minister of Justice in his remit letter to the PRRB stated that it was important that “no
barriers to movement are created between forces and so parity in key areas remains
desirable.”
The PSNI does not wish to operate independently from the rest of the UK. Indeed, officers
in the PSNI hold the ‘office of Constable’ as do other officers in England and Wales. The
budgetary constraints, within which the PSNI operates, require a need for Mutual Aid,
collaboration and interoperability in pay systems in policing.
Chief Constables in England and Wales, in managing their budgets, have at their disposal
financial facilities such as precept powers to raise revenue through local Council Tax and the
ability to build and carry forward reserves. They are also able to consider collaboration and
share services with neighbouring Forces to protect Service Delivery and save money.
The Chief Constable of the PSNI does not have the same financial tools as Chief
Constables in England and Wales with which to manage his Policing budget. Other police
forces have the discretion to pay regional allowances however, the Chief Constable of the
PSNI must work within the parameters of the Executive’s public sector pay policy. Informal
and formal collaboration with other forces is important, for example, to provide Mutual Aid for
large scale operations in order to bolster PSNI’s capability. It is accepted that a degree of
parity is required to ensure the exchange of skills, expertise and experience. Any
differences to terms and conditions between PSNI and other forces could lead to barriers in
interoperability, as is the case in the permanent transfer of officers between PSNI and An
Garda Síochána.
Differing pay structures may result in the loss of officers to police services with higher
salaries. Pay drift and an uncoordinated approach with other forces may also ensue. This is
an important factor as officers may no longer be willing to take part in Mutual Aid for forces
where the rate of pay is lower than their own. Officers may be aggrieved at having to perform
the same task for differing rates of pay. The environment in which the police service
operates in Northern Ireland and the particular financial pressures faced by the PSNI, have
required a slightly different approach to that of England and Wales.
22
CHAPTER 5 – THE PSNI POLICE OFFICER WORKFORCE
Police Officer Numbers
The Workforce Model, also referred to as the HR Distribution Plan (HRDP) defines the
allocation of police and police staff across the PSNI. This is the means by which non pay
budgets are set and distributed in the devolved environment and identifies the focus for
necessary actions to manage the allocation of resources.
The background within which the PSNI has developed an effective and affordable staffing
model has been complex due to:
• the removal of all Temporary Workers as of 31st December 2014;
• reduction in the Managed Service Contract;
• continued uncertainty regarding the 2015/16 budget settlement;
• the reconfiguration of the organisation to reflect changes in the operating model, and
• the new council areas.
The PSNI is committed to maintaining an operational capability against an Establishment
Model of 6963 police officers. All Police officer posts are funded from main grant funding as
per the table below with the exception of 309 where additional security funding has been
made available and 10 which are externally funded.
The Establishment Model reflects an overall reduction in numbers as the anticipated leavers
are in excess of the numbers to be recruited. In the face of decreasing levels of police
officers the PSNI Establishment Model was suspended for an anticipated period of one year
in April 2014. However as a consequence of major reshaping of District Policing following
the implementation of the Review of Public Administration (RPA) reintroduction of the
Establishment Model was further suspended until 1st October 2015.
When considering the re-introduction of the police officer Establishment Model the PSNI
have taken into account that there is a differentiation in costs of almost 50 posts based on
actual headcount and full time equivalencies. This is due to a number of regular police
officers on career breaks and a number of officers working reduced hours. Using the
headcount figure to set the police establishment provides a financial saving of £2.75m
(average of £55k per police officer) when contrasted against maintaining a Full Time
Equivalent (FTE) establishment of 6963 police officers, which equates to a headcount of
7013. Therefore given that the current Medium Term Resource Plan (MTRP) dated February
23
2015 projects a shortfall of £57.3m, financial prudence has determined that the 6963
establishment for police officers is based on attaining this figure as a headcount rather than
FTE number of posts.
Table 4 – Police Funded Posts
Department Area / District CC DCC ACC Ch Supt Supt Ch Insp Insp Sergt ConStudent
OfficerTotal
COMMAND 1 1 0 1 1 0 4 6 3 0 17
CORP COMMS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1
CRIME OPS 0 0 1 6 27 48 116.75 318.5 1448.25 0 1965.5
FIN & SUPPT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4
HR DEPT 0 0 1 2 0 3 9 34 115 0 164
OP SUPPORT 0 0 1 1 3 6 36 109.75 670.25 0 827
SERV IMPROVE 0 0 1 1 3 7 26.75 30 51.75 0 120.5
DIST POL COM 0 0 1 2 0 2 10 43 140.25 0 198.25
BELFAST AREA 0 0 0 1 2 2 9 53 132.5 0 199.5
A District Belfast City 0 0 0 0 1 4 18 55 590 0 668
0 0 0 1 3 6 27 108 722.5 0 867.5
NORTH AREA 0 0 0 1 1 1 8 25 85.5 0 121.5
H District Derry City & Strabane 0 0 0 0 1 3 9 33 263 0 309
J District Causeway Coast & Glens 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 30 156 0 196
K District Mid & East Antrim 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 24 148 0 182
L District Antrim & Newtownabbey 0 0 0 0 1 2 10 32 146 0 191
0 0 0 1 5 10 41 144 798.5 0 999.5
SOUTH AREA 0 0 0 1 1 1 8 34 112.75 0 157.75
B District Lisburn & Castlereagh City 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 23 155 0 188
C District Ards & North Down 0 0 0 0 1 2 7 22 112 0 144
D District Newry, Mourne & Down 0 0 0 0 1 2 9 31 252 0 295
E District Armagh City, Banbridge & Craigavon 0 0 0 0 1 2 8 40 263 0 314
F District Mid Ulster 0 0 0 0 1 2 8 29 161 0 201
G District Fermanagh & Omagh 0 0 0 0 1 2 8 33 176 0 220
0 0 0 1 7 13 55 212 1231.75 0 1519.75
SERVICE O/HD Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 44.25 183 229.25
1 1 5 16 49 95 325.5 1007.25 5230.5 183 6913.25
Police Funded Posts
BELFAST AREA
SOUTH AREA Total
Grand Total
NORTH AREA
SOUTH AREA
BELFAST AREA Total
NORTH AREA Total
24
Recruitment – Background
The PSNI is legislatively required to outsource the function for recruitment of regular police
officers. The specified aim of the outsourced arrangement is “to design and administer an
effective, efficient and fair recruitment and selection process for the PSNI”. This process
must produce a precise number of police trainees to an agreed standard at a predetermined
time. These trainees in turn will be responsible for delivering a high quality police service to
all the people of Northern Ireland.”
The PSNI outsourced the recruitment function for the provision of police trainees in 2001,
implementing the recommendations (117-121,124 and 128) relating to recruitment contained
in the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing in Northern Ireland, published in
1999.
These recommendations were primarily to address the historic compositional imbalance
within the Royal Ulster Constabulary, and therefore to create a Police Service which would
be more representative of, and more acceptable to, the community as a whole in Northern
Ireland.
As a result of the Patten recommendations, the PSNI recruitment processes from 2001 -
2010 did not include formal qualifications as an eligibility criteria. This was to create the
widest pool of eligible applicants, thereby maximizing the opportunity for applications from
the Catholic community, which was needed to make the 50/50 appointment process possible
in large numbers. Whilst there is no doubt that without this rule, the PSNI could not have
attracted the volume of applications necessary to address the historic compositional
imbalance and turn Patten’s vision into reality; it presented a variety of issues for the
Training College.
The external recruitment provider contract allowed for a number of recruitment deliverables
which took account of the following challenges:
positioning the PSNI as a credible employer of choice;
engaging the right candidate with the required level of qualifications;
overcoming potential issues regarding a career with the PSNI among particular
underrepresented audiences.
The PSNI reached the 30% target for appointments from the Catholic community in 2011,
corresponding with the withdrawal of the Government ‘50/50’ legislation, and the beginning
25
of the economic downturn. At this stage the PSNI had appointed over 4,200 student
officers.
As a result, no police recruitment processes ran between 2010 and 2013. Prior to
recruitment resuming in 2013, the PSNI reviewed the criteria and the Recruitment Project
Board agreed to implement a minimal educational standard of 5 GCSEs and a level 1
computer literacy qualification for the new campaign. The educational standards do not
appear to have had any significant impact on applicant numbers to date as shown in the
table below:
Table 5 - Competitions 1 – 18 under the 50/50 legislation
Applicants Date Advertised
Comp 1 7518 March 2001
Comp 2 4915 September 2001
Comp 3 4674 March 2002
Comp 4 4410 September 2002
Comp 5 6044 March 2003
Comp 6 5419 September 2003
Comp 7 4977 March 2004
Comp 8 5695 September 2004
Comp 9 6106 March 2005
Comp 10 7690 September 2005
Comp 11 7859 March 2006
Comp 12 7734 September 2006
Comp 13 7418 June 2007
Comp 14 8363 March 2008
Comp 15 9825 March 2009
Comp 16 8987 January 2010
Comp 17 7493 September 2013
Comp 18 5856 May 2014
Comp 19 September 2015
Total 120983
The applicant figures can be influenced by a number of external and/ or prevailing
circumstances, which include, but are not limited to:
26
uncertainty over sustainability of future job opportunities subsequent to budget cuts;
perception of impact of recruitment in the post Patten era;
prevailing security situation and threat levels;
absence of open support for the police recruitment process;
reduction in starting salary from Campaign 18 on;
some campaigns administered within a short timescale.
As at 3rd November 2015, the number of student officers appointed since the inception of the
PSNI in 2001 is 4,813, from a total applicant pool of 134,332.
The recruitment campaign has clearly targeted audiences and the set percentages for each
performance criteria (Table 6 below) have to be achieved over the period of the contract.
Table 6 – Recruitment Contract Performance Criteria
Contract
Requirement
Performance
Measure Metric
Performance in
Campaign 1
Performance in
Campaign 2
Outreach/ Advertising
Proportion of Roman Catholics applying
35% (average to be achieved over term of recruitment contract)
30.6% 29.3%
Proportion of women applying
30% (average to be achieved over term of recruitment contract)
35.2% 35.5%
Proportion of young people (aged 18-24) applying
40% (average to be achieved over term of recruitment contract)
47.1% 43.8%
Proportion of
applications from
F District area
>10% (average to be
achieved over term of
recruitment contract)
7.6% 6.6%
Proportion of
applications from
G District area
>10% (average to be
achieved over term of
recruitment contract)
8.9% 7.9%
* Recruitment from Competition 2 is ongoing. These are the latest figures up to 27th November 2015.
To date the young people and female targets have been achieved. The age bands of
successful applicants for competitions one and two (to date) are detailed in the tables below.
The largest percentage of applicants in both competitions is in the 25-29 age bands with
27
39.5% and 44.62% respectively. The proportion of young people applying (aged
between18-24) is 39.40% in Campaign 1 and 31.72% in Campaign 2 to date. This shows
progress towards achieving the 40% average in the 18-24 age categories over the term of
the recruitment contract.
Table 7 - Age Bands of Successful Applicants
Total
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % No. %
Comp 1 1 0.25 25 6.23 133 33.17 157 39.15 53 13.22 24 5.99 5 1.25 3 0.75 0 0.00 401
Comp 2* 0 0.00 5 2.69 54 29.03 83 44.62 28 15.05 11 5.91 2 1.08 2 1.08 1 0.54 186
40-44 45-49 50-540-17 18-20 21-24 25-29 30-34 35-39
* Recruitment from Competition 2 is ongoing. These are the latest figures up to 27
th November 2015.
Table 8 – Comparison of Competitions one and two – Age of successful applicants
* Recruitment from Competition 2 is ongoing. These are the latest figures up to 27
th November 2015.
For the Catholic community and rural Districts, between 66 and 80% of the targets set have
been achieved.
The tables below show the educational standard of the applicants for Campaigns 1 and 2.
Over half of the applicants in both competitions have a degree level or higher qualification.
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Table 9 – Educational Qualifications of Successful Applicants
No. % No. %
1 "A" Level 5 1.25 5 2.69
2 or more "A" Levels - including GNVQ Advanced 84 20.95 33 17.74
5 or more GCSEs, including Maths and English (A*-C grades), including GNVQ Intermediate, NVQ
Level 2, "O" Level grades A-C CSE Grade 1 30 7.48 14 7.53
AS Level 9 2.24 5 2.69
BTEC (Higher), BEC (Higher), TEC (Higher), HNC, HND, and NVQ Level 4 36 8.98 11 5.91
BTEC (National), BEC (National), TEC (National), ONC, OND, and NVQ Level 3 27 6.73 9 4.84
Degree Level or Higher 202 50.37 104 55.91
Other 8 2.00 2 1.08
ROI Leaving Certificate - Pass 0 0.00 1 0.54
Scotland - Advanced Highers 0 0.00 1 0.54
Scotland - Highers 0 0.00 1 0.54
Total 401 186
Comp 1 Comp 2*Highest Educational Qualification of Successful Applicants
* Recruitment from Competition 2 is ongoing. These are the latest figures up to 27th November 2015.
Table 10 – Number of applicants with educational qualifications
* Recruitment from Competition 2 is ongoing. These are the latest figures up to 27th November 2015.
The following table shows analysis of the number of applicants for competitions one and two
by employment sector. For both competitions the highest percentage of applicants is from
the retail and retail management sector followed by the hospitality and leisure sector.
29
Table 11 – Number of applicants by employment sector
* Recruitment from Competition 2 is ongoing. These are the latest figures up to 27th November 2015
Recruitment – Assessment of Need
The recommendation of the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing that the
Police should contract out the recruitment of police officers into the Police Service was
subsequently enshrined in legislation. The specified aim of the outsourced arrangement is
“to design and administer an effective, efficient and fair recruitment and selection process for
the Police Service of Northern Ireland”. This process must produce a precise number of
police trainees to an agreed standard at a predetermined time. These trainees in turn will be
responsible for delivering a high quality police service to all the people of Northern Ireland.”
The PSNI has tendered and awarded 3 separate contract terms for the provision of police
officer recruitment to date.
The external recruitment agent administers the recruitment process in two stages: an Initial
Selection Test (IST), which is a shortlisting mechanism using critical reasoning, and an
Assessment Centre, which is a range of interactive exercises (such as role plays).
Candidates who attain the required standard in the Assessment Centre are placed on a
merit list, which is then transferred to the PSNI. The PSNI are responsible for managing 5
further pre-appointment stages – these are medical, vetting, substance misuse, physical
competence and on-line learning. Candidates who pass all stages, and who are within the
30
appointable band corresponding to the number of places required, are offered an
appointment.
Based on experience gained from previous recruitment campaigns, the PSNI anticipate an
attrition rate of approximately 50% of successful candidates from the merit list supplied by
the external recruitment agent. This fall-out rate includes those who fail, or do not attend,
one or more of the 5 PSNI stages. The PSNI manages the risks in regard to the attrition rate
by securing a merit list of broadly double the number of appointments anticipated from a
competition, this figure being subject to affordability and sustainability in the face of
budgetary cuts.
Intakes of Student Officers currently take place every 5 weeks, and the training programme
is 22 weeks duration in total.
Recruitment – 2015 Campaign
In the summer of 2015 the PSNI suspended recruitment and police trainers from the PSNI
College were attached to operational units to ensure that the organisation had sufficient
surge capacity in what is typically a busy period for policing. This suspension of police
officer recruitment between June and August 2015, combined with slightly increased levels
of wastage has meant that the projected timescale for achieving a police officer headcount
of 6963 has now been revised from December 2015 to May 2016.
On 30th September 2015 the police recruitment campaign was advertised with a closing date
of 23rd October 2015. In this most recent competition Recruitment advertising was amplified
in rural Districts. Free radio interviews were conducted across the Q network stations
featuring recent recruits from the immediate area. In addition there were increased outdoor
advertisements in these areas and social media advertising was increased to target people
living in Mid Ulster, Fermanagh and Omagh.
Familiarisation Sessions took place in a number of geographical areas of under-
representation in advance of the campaign launch, with the aim of encouraging those who
would not normally consider a career in policing to find out more about the role and the
opportunity.
Running parallel to this was a layer of stakeholder engagement, including:
Northern Ireland Policing Board – through the Recruitment Working Group
31
Church Leaders
local politicians and community leaders – through local District Commanders.
PSNI continues to work with the external recruitment agent to evolve the media strategy to
amplify messaging to underrepresented groups. Testing will commence in November 2015,
and first appointments are expected around September 2016. Subject to affordability, this
competition should allow for up to 500 appointments during the next two financial years
(2016/17 – 2017/18). The final number of applications in Campaign 3 is 5,498. Of these,
65% were from the protestant community, 32% from the catholic community, and 3%
other. Just over a third (35%) were female.
Successful applicants will now be invited to complete the 22 weeks of intensive training
at the Police Training College, beginning summer 2016. This training will include
practical and operational policing skills, to ensure they are mentally and physically
equipped to perform the crucial role of a Police officer in Northern Ireland.
Mapping Demand to Resources
As discussed in Chapter 2, the PSNI have implemented significant structural changes to
match the implementation of the new district council boundaries in April 2015, to ensure that
co-terminus boundaries are retained. In progressing this restructuring the PSNI has rolled
out a new operational policing model to ensure that we continue to Keep People Safe and
provide the appropriate infra-structure to embed our Policing with the Community ethos.
The current HR Distribution Model was developed based on resources available for
distribution in January 2015. The PSNI is currently developing a process to allocate officers
as we move closer to the established headcount of 6963.
Police Promotion Process
A promotion process for all officer ranks within PSNI was implemented to substantively fill
resourcing gaps which had been filled by temporary promotion arrangements. A Strategic
Promotion and Examinations Board was established from key business areas, co-chaired by
2 ACCs, as oversight body to ensure that all promotion processes supported the following
approach:
defining and delivering standards;
32
promoting representativeness;
involving local management in decision making;
minimising operational impact, and
ensuring value for money.
The promotion competitions were established, invoking high levels of eligibility criteria which
included discipline, attendance and performance standards. The intention of the board, with
the endorsement of Service Executive Team, was to have an iterative promotion programme
for all ranks.
The Strategic Promotions and Examinations Board considered the projected wastage rates
for each year and the number of vacancies which would ensue. The current position on
anticipated vacancies to 31st March 2017 at each rank is as follows:
Table 12 – Anticipated Vacancies up to 31st March 2017
Rank Anticipated Vacancies
Chief Superintendent 4
Superintendent 10
Chief Inspector 13
Inspector 3
Sergeant 51
Defining the position on future officer numbers, against a reducing headcount, is
complicated by the current financial uncertainty.
PSNI has previously faced challenges, including Judicial Reviews, within the implementation
of promotion processes. It has therefore been essential to design and deliver robust
assessment processes which not only identified the best candidates but which could
withstand intense scrutiny and legal challenge.
Extensive research and analysis is performed to devise the assessment material and best
practice is adapted to brief and advise potential candidates of the assessment procedures
and corporate standards for the management roles going forward.
33
A Superintendent promotion process was launched on 30th September 2015 and invited
applications from cross channel forces and An Garda Síochána. The process is now
completed. It is anticipated that there will be postings for 13 Superintendents however this is
subject to the standard having been met and numbers confirmed against affordable and
sustainable posts.
It is intended that the iterative promotion programme for Chief Superintendent, Chief
Inspector, Inspector and Sergeant will commence in early 2016.
Wastage
The following table illustrates projected police officer recruitment and wastage to March
2017.
Table 13 – Wastage and Recruitment of police officers 2015 – 2017
Police Officers
Month Recruitment Wastage Headcount FTE
Apr-15 0 33 6823 6776
May-15 30 24 6829 6780
Jun-15 0 29 6800 6749
Jul-15 0 21 6779 6729
Aug-15 37 33 6783 6734
Sep-15 51 38 6796 6746
Oct-15 50 27 6819 6771
Nov-15 51 22 6848 6799
Dec-15 0 22 6826 6776
Jan-16 51 22 6855 6805
Feb-16 51 21 6885 6835
Mar-16 51 21 6915 6865
Apr-16 51 28 6938 6888
May-16 51 28 6961 6911
Jun-16 0 28 6933 6883
Jul-16 0 28 6905 6855
Aug-16 0 27 6878 6828
Sep-16 51 28 6901 6851
Oct-16 45 27 6919 6869
Nov-16 45 28 6936 6886
Dec-16 45 26 6955 6905
Jan-17 44 27 6972 6922
Feb-17 0 25 6947 6897
Mar-17 43 27 6963 6913
*The above table refers to all police officer ranks.
34
Table 14 – Comparison of recruitment against wastage – April 2015 March 2017
Exit Interviews
During the period 1st April 2012 to 31st March 2015 there were a total of 678 Police Officer
(Regular) leavers. 386 (57%) of whom retired, 139 (20.50%) who voluntarily resigned and
139 (22.5%) who left the PSNI for other reasons e.g. dismissal, medical retirement. Of those
who retired or voluntarily resigned, 51 (10%) completed an exit interview. Analysis of this
data is as below:
27 (53%) of those who completed an exit interview had less than 5 years’ service and
their primary reason for leaving was ‘self-improvement’ (11) followed by ‘domestic
reasons’ (9). The main factors in their decision to leave were ‘gaining new
employment’ (9) followed by ‘emotional wellbeing/stress’ (5).
9 (18%) of those who completed an exit interview had 5 – 10 years’ service and their
primary reason for leaving was ‘domestic reasons’ (5) followed by ‘self-improvement’
(4). The main factor in their decision to leave was ‘gaining new employment’ (5).
44 (86%) of those who completed an exit interview had less than 30 years’ service
and their primary reason for leaving was ‘self-improvement’ (17) followed by
‘domestic reasons’ (14). The main factors in their decision to leave were ‘gaining
new employment’ (16) followed by ‘emotional wellbeing/stress’ (7).
35
Table 15 - Reasons Cited* by Officers Leaving the PSNI with Length of Service
*More than one reason provided by some officers
Talent Management - Background
The Winsor Review of Policing in England and Wales recommended replacing the national
High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) with an accelerated promotion scheme. The
new scheme was to be used to directly attract high calibre recruits, provide a means for
eligible staff to become police officers and to harness the high potential of serving
constables. The acceptance of this recommendation by government has resulted in the
winding up of the High Potential Development Scheme.
As the PSNI has successfully used the HPDS as a means of supporting talented and highly
motivated officers to achieve their potential within the PSNI, the removal of this scheme
nationally has consequently left a gap in this regard.
The National Position – Fast Track Inspectors Scheme
The HPDS scheme has now closed to new members. A range of new fast track
programmes that supports a National Policing Vision have been developed and are in the
process of being implemented. The new programmes support individual police services in
the development of talent management strategies.
The College of Policing (CoP) has implemented the new fast track schemes through a
phased approach and the roll out of the Direct Entry (DE) programmes is included in the first
36
phase. The Direct Entry Fast Track Inspector Scheme has a 3 year development time line.
Serving constables can enter the Direct Entry Fast Track Inspector Scheme cohort in year
two to form a joint cohort for the remaining two years of the Scheme.
To date two cohorts of the Direct Entry Fast Track Inspector Scheme have been launched.
A number of England and Wales services have participated in this programme. The benefits
of this approach are that the two different groups within the cohort can learn from each
other. The serving officers support technical skill development for new entrants and the new
entrants are helping the serving officers in terms of business skill development and
application of differing perspectives. A number of other services have opted not to make
any external appointments but to use the scheme to support serving officers.
The CoP are proactive in monitoring the progress of those on the scheme and the evidence
to date has highlighted that the timescale for the direct entry applicants from appointment to
Inspector may be too short. Plans for the next phase of the Direct Entry Fast Track
Inspector Scheme have therefore been placed in a short abeyance to allow for a more
detailed evaluation and review of the programme to be undertaken following the second
cohort.
Whilst this is taking place the CoP are continuing to progress the next tranche of the Direct
Entry Fast Track Inspector Scheme in respect of Constables who are to join the second
cohort in year 2. The CoP have acknowledged issues with the level of knowledge that direct
entrants need to amass during the programme. There has been no indication that the
serving officer cadre has been similarly problematic.
It should be noted that the PSNI did not implement this scheme.
The PSNI Position – Fast Track Inspectors Scheme
In recent times the PSNI has on an annual basis supported a pre-specified number of
applicants on the HPDS scheme. This approach had been introduced for a number of
reasons but primarily because:
historically there were 25 officers on various versions and cohorts of the scheme at
one time due to the lack of a corporate approach;
many of those on the schemes were not evidencing the high quality that would be
expected while being afforded such a significant development advantage; and
37
there was recognition that the scheme could be flooded by PSNI applicants as we
were heading into a period where there would be very limited promotion
opportunities.
In 2013, in recognition of the imminent closure of the Scheme the PSNI opted to support 3
Constables and 3 Sergeants if they were successful in securing a place on the scheme.
Only 1 individual at each rank managed to gain a place on the national scheme.
2014 saw the last intake onto the scheme within its current construct and the PSNI may not
have immediate access to the replacement scheme if Winsor is not implemented here at the
same pace as England & Wales. PSNI currently has 6 officers on the HPDS at the ranks of
Sergeant (1), Inspector (4) and Chief Inspector (1).
The PSNI did not participate in the first cohort of the Direct Entry Fast Track Inspector
Scheme tranche but has opened applications to serving constables for the national
assessment centre in April 2016. Initial discussions with the DOJ indicate that the enabling
legislation to promote any officer who is successful in securing a place on the scheme after
September 2016 should be deliverable.
Similarly the PSNI have not to date participated in the Direct Entry Superintendent
programme which seeks to draw from highly talented and proven leaders from other sectors.
The Current England & Wales Position – Fast Track Superintendents Scheme
Cohort One - 7 forces expressed their interest in participating in cohort one of the Direct
Entry programme. There were 867 applications, of which 46 (5.3%) were supported to
attend the National Assessment Centre.
The final 2014 cohort consisted of 9 superintendents (subsequently 1 superintendent
resigned from Avon & Somerset in April 2015). The cohort began their 18-month training
programme in November 2014.
Cohort Two - Again 7 forces expressed their interest in participating in the second Direct
Entry programme. There were 542 applications, of which 39 (13.8%) were supported to
attend the National Assessment Centre. The final 2015 cohort consisted of 6
superintendents. The cohort began their programme of training in October 2015.
38
The Current PSNI Position – Fast Track Superintendents Scheme
In evaluating the implementation of the recommendations in the Winsor Review the PSNI
decided that the Direct Entry Superintendent Scheme should not be implemented at that
time.
The DOJ have been consulted and have advised that to enable “direct entry” into the PSNI
at Superintendent level to take place, it will be necessary to amend regulations to allow
direct entry to the police service above trainee. PSNI have agreed to implementing this
scheme and thus achieve the required actions by 2017 subject to the necessary changes in
regulations being approved.
Following the implementation of the Policing Professional Framework on the 1st October
2015 the PSNI is currently developing wider talent management arrangements. This work is
at an early stage.
Crime and Leadership Training
The CoP is an excellent source for establishing what the current thinking on police training is
in England and Wales. Police Scotland provides another view. At the service level there are
benefits of having access to the wider national picture via the CoP.
The CoP provides training materials that are in line with Authorised Professional Practice
(APP) and Professionalising Investigation Programme (PIP). Additionally the CoP has laid
down procedures that must be followed to gain accreditation for courses delivered and to
enable the delivering service to obtain a licence to deliver their product.
Unfortunately for the PSNI some of the processes and procedures that the College require
do not conform to the current position within PSNI. For example, all detectives must
complete the National Investigators Exam and progress through the full range of courses
from Detective Constable to Detective Superintendent. This does not make best use of our
resources or meet our immediate needs. The Senior Executive Team has written to the
College proposing a pragmatic approach to overcoming this problem that will enable the
PSNI to remain within the spirit of PIP and APP but ensure that we deliver value for money
training. PSNI are seeking to concentrate on the outcome rather than the process when it
comes to training.
39
The training materials supplied by the CoP are generic in nature and the PSNI are required
to adapt them to NI legislation and local procedures. They are valuable in that they identify
issues and standards at a national level but again these must be adapted for the local
context.
Ideally the CoP would provide the research and development facility for training courses
that PSNI could then use as a base line for delivering potentially a mix of CoP and PSNI
material. Whilst there would be benefits in developing materials and topics specifically for the
PSNI it is appreciated that there would be cost implications involved.
The relationship needs to be a collaborative approach with PSNI adjusting materials
produced by the CoP. Development of the relationship further is dependent on the CoP
recognising the specific needs of the PSNI, who in turn can use their experience to
contribute to the wider debate about police training.
Going forward the PSNI must decide whether to follow APP as detailed by the CoP or use
APP as the starting point. If the latter option is adopted then agreement on a case by case
basis would need to be approved by the CoP. This approach may better fit the needs of
organisation.
Leadership Training has similar issues with generic courses being delivered by the CoP.
Recent experience has indicated that whilst there are elements that are relevant to the PSNI
we are required to adapt materials and provide other materials that relate to the context in
which we operate.
Whilst the Foundation Programmes and SOB training have a limited relationship with the
CoP, Combined Operational Training continues to develop their relationship with the CoP
which includes the Firearms licensing and governance process. The PSNI are currently
procuring a new Firearms Management System to improve our training information to better
meet the CoP licensing standards. The relationship with Cop is being further developed with
regard to our Search practices and Public Order as PSNI move towards standardising
equipment and tactics through several of the College working groups. Driver and Traffic
Training has increased its work with CoP due to the development of the Fatal SIO course.
There is scope to further develop the CoP relationship to include the PSNI current training
portfolio of foreign work to ensure best practice and costing information is shared across all
services.
40
The Learning Technologies Unit (LTU) currently manages the PSNI’s online and simulated
learning which includes the use of CoP’s NCALT e-learning service and Hydra Minerva
simulated learning system.
At a College level PSNI is represented at the Large Forces (Metropolitan Police Service,
Greater Manchester Police, West Midlands, Police Scotland, Northumbria, West Yorkshire,
PSNI) meetings which are facilitated by the CoP and these valuable benchmarking and best
practice sharing events are planned to increase in frequency and depth.
Absence Management - Background
The Policing Plan has set a target of reducing officer sickness by 25%. This is a challenging
target and a Sickness Gold Group was established chaired by an HR Strategic Lead.
Absence Management - Current Position
The Gold Group have identified that a key enabler in reducing absence is to ensure line
managers actively manage the absence and have the necessary tools to make an impact.
Four key strands of work have been undertaken and these are:
1. Policy Review
A review of the existing absence management process has recently been conducted
which has resulted in changes to our process. Under the existing process, line
management have discretion on whether the formal process for attendance
management is initiated. Under the new process this discretion is removed and all
cases, with the exception of statutory protected cases e.g. Pregnancy related, will be
progressed to an Attendance Management Panel.
2. Education and Empowerment
It is recognised that line management should be more actively involved in managing
and supporting those absent from work. The Gold Group issued a direction that all
officers off on long term absence (90+ days) should be visited by a member of their
Senior Management Team. The purpose of these meetings was to review any
actions taken to date and to review and implement any additional supportive
measures that could assist in a return to work. If there were no measures that could
be put in place to facilitate an early return to work, then an outline of how the matter
41
would be progressed should be provided. A toolkit and action plan was developed to
assist managers with the three stages of the meeting – pre, during and post meeting.
3. Welfare
The Absence Management Team have been actively engaging with Staff
Associations in order to obtain a better understanding of the reasons why people
report sick and to discuss and explore what support can be provided to assist
individuals in an early return to the workplace.
4. Maximise the use of IT
The Absence Management Team are in the process of implementing a paperless
process for the Attendance Management Panels and are also in consultation with
stakeholders with a view to improving and updating the Management Information
provided to Commanders and Branch Heads.
The indications are that the overall absence situation is improving with a 13%
reduction in the figure for September 2015 as illustrated in the table below.
Table 16 – Average Working Days Lost 2014/15 to 2015/16 Comparison
The October 2015 figure (not included in the table) shows a 17% reduction. To achieve the
overall target of 10.64 Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) will require a further sustained
and significant reduction in the remaining 5 months of the 2015/16 financial year.
42
CHAPTER 6 – PAY PROPOSALS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR 2016/17
Impact of Implementation of Winsor Recommendations
This submission provides an update on the implementation of Winsor recommendations in
respect of those relevant to the PRRB. PSNI has undergone some minor pay reforms during
the last 18 month period reflecting some of the issues as highlighted by the Winsor review.
The first of these reforms took effect from the 1 April 2014. Table 17 below shows the
financial impact of the reforms.
Table 17 – Financial impact of Winsor reforms
*Costs shown in red font
Estimate Actual Estimate Actual YTD
Winsor Reference Description
Apr 14-
Mar 15
£m
Apr 14-
Mar 15
£m
Apr 15- Mar
16 £m
Apr 15- Mar
16 £m
All Ranks Maternity Entitlement (0.5) (0.3) (0.5) (0.2)
Federated
New recruit trainees start
at £19k salary. Move to
point 1 on payscale when
attested 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.1
Federated
Abolition of Special
Priority Payments 4.8 4.8 4.8 4.8
Federated
Introduction of revised
payscales 0.0 0.0 (0.7) (0.5)
Federated
Retain CTRP as is - link
to IPR process. (0.4) (0.2) (0.8) (0.2)
Federated
Overtime- reduce the
notice period to 3 days
for double time 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.1
Federated
On call allowances- move
to £15 flat rate, with £23
for public holidays
effective 01/09/2014 (0.4) (0.5) (1.1) (0.6)
Superintending
Removal of Post related
Allowance 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
Superintending
Migrate onto new
payscales (0.05) (0.05) (0.01) (0.01)
Superintending
Abolish double
increments 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
Superintending
Abolition of bonus
scheme 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.1
All Ranks
Motor Vehicle Rates-
align to NICS 0.4 0.6 0.6 0.5
Total Saving/(Costs) 4.2 4.5 3.3 4.2
43
Some of the recommendations have been implemented unchanged whilst others were
adapted or rejected as part of the consultation and negotiation process. It is recognised that
some recommendations may take some time to embed however, the PSNI has taken
cognizance of the pressures it now faces and this has influenced the need for a review of all
pay and allowances over the next 5 years.
It is important that the overall reward package for police officers attracts the best candidates
for the roles and ensures that sufficient numbers are retained to maintain resilience. In doing
so, budgetary pressures being placed on policing and the public sector finances must be
taken into consideration.
In terms of police pay the Winsor recommendations included shortening of the police pay
scales for all ranks with a reduced starting salary for constables. Transitional arrangements
were put into place to ensure that new entrants to the service did not leap frog existing
officers. This has resulted in some officers moving between pay points either with less than
or more than one year’s reckonable service. Unlike England and Wales, the PSNI did not
introduce the two year pay freeze which had the effect of slowing down many officers
progress up the pay scales.
A recent PFNI survey of officers has indicated that amendments to the remuneration
following the Winsor Review along with the change from a final salary to a career average
pension and pay uplifts that are below inflation have resulted in a significant reduction in
officer remuneration packages.
Pension Reforms
Wide ranging pension’s reforms were introduced in April 2015 across the whole of the public
sector. Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) schemes were introduced with officers
transferring from old final salary schemes, with the exception of those within 10 years of
retirement who will remain on their schemes or those close to Full Protection who will
receive Tapered Protection. For PSNI the officer workforce was split with around a third of
officers falling into each of these categories.
The reforms have to date not impacted on the scheme membership with no opt outs
received to date. These reforms have also led to an increase in pension contributions being
paid by officers in their respective schemes. As part of the Government’s reform of Public
Service Pensions, the contribution rates for existing Police Pension Scheme Members
44
increased annually from April 2013-April 2014 with the introduction of tiered contribution
rates, based on a member’s salary.
The current level of PSNI employee contributions, as set out below, is higher than most
other public sector schemes.
Table 18 – Officer Pension contributions by scheme
1987 Scheme 2006 Scheme
2015 Scheme
(CARE)
Tier 1
Salary under £27,000 n/a 11.00%
12.44%
Tier 2
Salary £27,001 - £60,000 14.25% 12.05% 13.44%
Tier 3
Salary over £60,001 15.05% 12.75% 13.78%
The change from a final salary pension scheme to a career average scheme (Career
Average Revalued Earnings - CARE) means that officer’s pensions will be worth
considerably less in the future and so their lifetime remuneration package is significantly
reduced. Whilst the impact of this will not be felt on their take home salary in the immediate
future, officers are concerned about the overall loss over the longer term.
Basic Pay - Uplift Scenarios
Table 19 below shows the costs of various uplift scenarios for federated and superintending
ranks. The provision of a 1% uplift to all pay points and incremental progression as per the
PSNI’s pay submission creates an increase of just over 1% to the overall pay bill. This is
based on the current wastage and recruitment patterns assuming that the PSNI reaches and
maintains 6,963 officers.
45
Table 19 – Cost of uplift scenarios
Proposal % Increase/ for
staff in post
% Increase/ for staff in post (inc Recyc)
Pay freeze 0.00% 0.00%
Incremental progression with no change to scales or NCB 0.71% 0.11%
Incremental progression & 1% NITA uplift only 0.77% 0.17%
1% increase in pay scales with no progression 0.90% 0.30%
1% increase in pay scales & NITA- no progression 0.96% 0.36%
Incremental progression with 1% NCB 1.27% 0.67%
Incremental progression with 1% NCB & 1% on NITA 1.34% 0.74%
1% increase in pay scales with incremental progression 1.58% 0.98%
1% increase in pay scales & NITA & progression 1.64% 1.04%
Officers who are in receipt of an incremental uplift will receive more than the overall uplift
cap. The table below shows that the average uplift for incremental progression is 4.72% for
constables; this is higher than the other ranks due to the collapsing of pay-points during the
pay period. The percentage uplift for Superintendent is also high at 5.1% due to the
reduction in salary point from five to four.
Table 20 – Average percentage uplift by rank
Rank Average % uplift
Chief Superintendent 2.71
Superintendent 5.71
Chief Inspector 2.04
Inspector 2.75
Sergeant 2.81
Constable 4.72
The PSNI owing to recruitment patterns in recent years has a significant number of officers
currently at the maximum of the pay scales with over half of all officers at the max point for
their rank.
The table below shows the percentage of police officers on the maximum of their pay scale
at the start of the 2016/17 pay remit period:
46
Table 21 – Officers at the scale maximum by rank
Rank % at scale max
Chief Superintendent 56.25%
Superintendent 68.75%
Chief Inspector 78.13%
Inspector 66.57%
Sergeant 73.30%
Constable 55.92%
Allowances
With the exception of the Special Priority Payment none of the main allowances for PSNI
were impacted by the reforms. The main allowances paid by PSNI are as follows:
Table 22 – Main PSNI Allowances
Allowance Number in Receipt of Allowance
Total Cost ( Inc.
pensions and ERNI
costs)
£k
NI Transitional Allowance1 6,741 24,2571
CRTP 3,249 £5,523
Rent/Housing Allowance 2,066 £7,799
Compensatory Grant 415 £875
Inspectors Allowance 153 £764 1 All officers in post receive the NI Transitional Allowance, currently £3,162
Northern Ireland Transitional Allowance (NITA)
A claim for NITA was lodged by the Police Staff Associations in 1972 at the height of the
troubles in Northern Ireland for the payment of an allowance to police officers for the
dangers to which they were exposed. This claim was not successful but the matter was
reconsidered in 1974 when it was agreed that a Special Duty Allowance be paid for all ranks
up to and including Chief Superintendent.
In December 2005 a review of the allowance (now named the Northern Ireland Transitional
Allowance – NITA) was initiated. The review was undertaken by Mark Baker and his report
concluded:
47
“The successful completion of the current programme of security normalisation and
participation by all major political parties in the NIPB are necessary pre–conditions
of any further reduction in the NITA. However, such a reduction would need to be
justified by significant reductions in attacks and threats against the police.”
Whilst the overall threat from Northern Ireland Related Terrorism remains SEVERE and an
attack is likely at any time, the pre-conditions set out in the Baker Report for a reduction in
NITA do not currently exist.
The SEVERE level of threat that police officers face from violent dissident republicans is
likely to continue. It is likely that a number of the many attacks planned will continue to
materialise but the police, working closely with the Garda, will exert every effort to disrupt
this violent criminal activity to keep people safe and prosecute those responsible.
The additional security funding for 2016 – 2021 is to be used specifically to support and
enhance a number of operational areas to tackle the ongoing terrorist threat.
With effect from 1 September 2015 NITA has been paid as a special allowance at the rate of
£3162 per annum to officers in recognition of the extraordinary circumstances under which
they serve in Northern Ireland.
The table below shows that there are 6,741 officers currently in receipt of NITA at an annual
cost of £24,257k. This allowance is non pensionable. The PSNI has requested that the
PRRB consider the retention of NITA with an increase of 1%. This is affordable within the
public pay limits determined by the Executive.
Table 23 – Officers in receipt of NITA by rank
Rank NI Transitional Allowance
Chief Superintendent 15
Superintendent 48
Chief Inspector 96
Inspector 335
Sergeant 1,015
Constable 5,149
Student officers 83
Grand Total 6,741
48
Dog Handlers Allowance
Dog Handlers allowance is payable to officers who keep and care for a dog owned by the
Policing Board at their home. The allowance is provided for the care provided to the dog
during the officer’s rest days, non-working days and public holidays. The rate of payment is
£2196 with effect from 1st September 2015. This rate is increased by 25% for each
additional dog being cared for by an individual officer.
There are currently 28 officers in receipt of Dog Handlers allowance at a total annual cost of
£81,844 including ERNI.
Competency Related Threshold Payment
The Police Arbitration Tribunal recommended that Competency Related Threshold
Payments (CRTP) be phased out over 3 years from April 2013 to April 2016. Police services
in England and Wales have implemented a phased withdrawal of the allowance over three
years to be abolished in 2016 as follows:
From 1 April 2013 £900 per annum
From 1 April 2014 £600 per annum
From 1 April 2015 £300 per annum
From 1 April 2016 £0.00.
As part of the Winsor reforms the PSNI froze the value of CRTP but agreed that officers
could still apply when they reached the maximum of their scale point and met the criteria.
The PSNI has committed to conduct a review of the payment of the allowance with a view to
commencement in January 2016. The amount of CRTP paid to an officer who meets the
eligibility criteria is £1,224 per annum (with effect from 1st September 2013). The cost of
CRTP to the PSNI in the last year was £5,523k (including pensions and ERNI costs). The
total cost of CRTP has increased by £200k since last year and is due to increase further as
large numbers of constables will reach the maximum of their pay scale in the coming 24
months.
This expenditure is broken down by rank in the table below:
49
Table 24 – Number of Officers in receipt of CRTP by rank
Rank Annual CRTP
Chief Inspector 39
Inspector 199
Sergeant 683
Constable 2,328
Grand Total 3,249
In order to assist officers with a change to their pay it is proposed that CRTP in PSNI will be
phased out as in England and Wales rather than implement an immediate withdrawal which
would place considerable hardship on individual officers.
Transitional Rent/Housing Allowance
New recruits who joined the PSNI after 1st September 1994 are not entitled to receive a
Replacement Allowance referred to as a rent/housing allowance. Housing is capped at
£3,500 for federated ranks and the transitional rent allowance maximum is £3,621.60. The
transitional rent allowance attracts a compensatory grant payment every year to account for
the tax paid. The allowances for rent/housing will naturally phase out as officers retire but it
is likely to take another 10 years before this is achieved. The tables below show the number
of officers by rank in receipt of rent/housing allowance/compensatory grant along with the
service profile. It is currently anticipated that a saving of £500k will be generated in 2016/17
though natural wastage.
Table 25 – Number of officers by rank in receipt of Rent/Housing
Allowance/Compensatory/Grant
Rank Annual Rent/Housing Allowance Compensatory Grant
Chief Superintendent 15 7
Superintendent 38 8
Chief Inspector 71 11
Inspector 230 51
Sergeant 506 101
Constable 1,206 237
Grand Total 2,066 415
50
Table 26 – Service profile
Service Profile
Number in Receipt
of Allowance
<20 363
20-25 774
25 118
26 147
27 136
28 146
29 111
30 86
On-Call Allowance
PSNI require a number of functions and authorisations are available to be carried out on a
24/7/365 basis. To achieve this availability of resource ‘on call’ rotas exist for a number of
functions. Most of these functions are not rank specific and are covered by appropriately
trained and qualified officers. Some of these officers will include but are not exclusively
Superintendent ranks and would cover the following roles:
Strategic and Tactical Firearms Commander (Strategic Firearms Command (SFC) in
PSNI is only performed at Superintendent/Chief Superintendent rank);
Specialist Operations Strategic and Tactical Firearms Commander;
Post Incident Manager (firearms);
Public Order Gold and Silver Commander;
Crime Senior Investigating Officer (SIO), branches within Crime Operations will
each have separate Duty officers which will include Superintendents on a rota);
RIPA Cadre Authorisations officer (in PSNI only performed by Detective
Superintendent and above).
The Senior Executive Team requires Departments, Districts and Area Command Units to
make Senior Managers available for duty officer’s on-call rotas. These rotas will therefore
include Superintendents and Chief Superintendents.
The resources committed to provide these roles on a rotational basis can result in 10 or
more duty officers across different Departments and functions.
51
The only legally mandated areas where Superintendent ranks can only perform the required
duties relate to two custody functions:
PACE – custody extension of detention and authorisations for sample reviews; and
Serious Crime Suite (SCS) duties – where similar functions are performed under
terrorist powers legislation.
Both of these functions must be provided 365 days per year at Superintendent rank.
Currently 3 separate rotas exist in PACE, and one for SCS, which cover the geographical
spread of custody suites. It is proposed to review and reduce the total numbers of ‘on call’
requirements across the PSNI estate.
With regard to the provision of on-call for custody duties it is proposed that the number of
Superintendents required is reduced to one for both the PACE and SCS functions. This is
based on analysis of available data as detailed below:
NICHE data for the financial year 2014/15 re PACE and SCS Superintendent
Authorities show that there were a total of indicate of 257 Custody Record entries
relating to Superintendents;
authorisations for the whole year indicate that 212 of these were Extensions of
Detention, however only 63 occurred between Friday PM and Monday AM;
furthermore 5 of the 63 occurred at 2 locations, Musgrave and Antrim Serious Crime
Suite. From September these 2 functions will be at one site – Musgrave.
An anecdotal survey was conducted of PACE Superintendents whose PACE weekend fell
within the last three months. Of the 11 respondents only 2 indicated that they had been
required to attend a Custody Suite to conduct a review over their on call weekend.
The requirement to provide 24/7/365 Superintendent availability for the on-call functions will
incur the following commitments:
Custody and SCS – 730 days;
Strategic Firearms Command – 365 days;
RIPA Cadre – 365 days.
52
These figures will be substantively enhanced to take into account Superintendents on-call
requirements which are dependent on their qualifications rather than their rank.
Temporary Supplement for Inspectors and Chief Inspectors
In 1994 the Police Negotiating Board agreed the payment of a temporary supplement for
Inspectors and Chief Inspectors given that the “unique policing circumstances of Northern
Ireland warranted separate consideration in view of the average additional hours worked
which were far in excess of those in Great Britain.” A non-pensionable supplement is paid to
certain Inspectors and Chief Inspectors who held such ranks substantively on or prior to 15th
May 2006. Chief Inspectors or Inspectors transferring into the PSNI from other Police
Services after 15th May 2006 are not eligible for payment. The current rate of Temporary
Supplement is £4,389 per annum.
Table 27 – PSNI officers in receipt of Inspectors/Chief Inspectors Temporary
Supplement
Rank Inspectors Allowance
Chief Inspector 54
Inspector 99
Grand Total 153
It is estimated that in 6 years’ time there will be 40 officers in receipt of this allowance taking
into account natural wastage, attrition and promotions resulting in a loss of the allowance, it
is expected that it will take 8 years to phase out payment. It is anticipated that costs should
reduce by approximately £80k per annum until the allowance is phased out at the end of
year 8.
Recommendations for 2016/17
The PSNI would wish to make the following recommendations to the PRRB:
pay progression for Federated and Superintending ranks in line with public sector
pay policy up to an increase of 1% for staff in post;
53
retention of NITA with an increase of 1% and non-pensionable status of the
allowance to remain unchanged;
retention of Dog Handlers allowance with an increase of 1%;
the value of CRTP to remain at its current rate of £1,224 per annum and PSNI to
commence a review of the payment of the allowance in January 2016; and
a programme of allowances to be developed by PSNI for review in subsequent years.
Way Forward
The PSNI’s Service Executive Board have approved the creation of a programme of
allowances, including those listed below, to be reviewed in subsequent years by the PRRB.
In the majority of cases, an Equality Impact Assessment will have to be conducted along
with a review of numbers and age profile of officers in receipt of payment. Where an
allowance will be phased out through natural wastage, this has also been shown below (list
not exhaustive).
Table 28 – Allowances for Review by PSNI
Allowance
Pensionable
Yes/No
EQIA Required
Yes/No
Will allowance be
phased out over time?
Compensatory Related Threshold Payment* Yes Yes
Northern Ireland Transitional Allowance No No
Dog Handler’s Allowance No Yes
Temporary Supplement for Inspectors and Chief Inspectors No Yes Yes
Telephone Rental Allowance No Yes
Instructor’s Allowance No Yes
Housing Allowance No Yes Yes
Motor Vehicle Allowance No Yes
On-Call, Standby and Hardship Allowance No Yes
Detached Duty Allowance No Yes
*already scheduled for review to commence in January 2016
54
Chapter 7 – Appendices
Appendix A – Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Police Service of
Northern Ireland - Policing Plan 2015-2016
Appendix B – Pay Remit Approval Process/Contractual Legal Entitlement to
Pay Awards
Appendix C – Pay Remit Approval Process and Guidance
Appendix D – Minister of Justice’s letter to PRRB
Appendix E – Chief Secretary to the Treasury’s letter to PRRB
55
Appendix A
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
Public Spending Directorate
Head of Supply Division
Rathgael House,
Balloo Road BANGOR, BT19 7NA
Tel No: 028 91 858166 (or Ext 68166)
email: [email protected]
FROM: EMER MORELLI
DATE: 9 SEPTEMBER 2015
TO: FINANCE DIRECTORS
PAY REMIT APPROVAL PROCESS: CONTRACTUAL / LEGAL ENTITLEMENT TO PAY
AWARDS
1. Following Ministerial correspondence between the Department of Education and the Department of Finance and Personnel, new arrangements have now been agreed by the Finance Minister in respect of contractual / legal entitlements to pay awards.
2. As you will be aware, arrangements for temporary approval in relation to incremental progression payments were put into place in 20141. The arrangements set out below extend this to all elements of the pay award.
3. This new approach only applies to staff groups where there is a clear contractual / legal entitlement to implementation of a pay award at a certain point in the year and where the completion of pay remit documentation significantly delays payment beyond this particular date. Crucially, all requests for early implementation of a pay award must be supported by clear and categorical DSO advice that a contractual / legal obligation to implement the award at a certain date exists2. The relevant department must also provide evidence that completion of the required pay remit will substantially delay implementation of the pay award beyond the contractual / legal implementation date. This evidence should include time taken for the department to complete the pay remit documentation in the past, the reasons for any delay in compiling the required
1 Paragraph 17 of FD (DFP) 08/14 Pay Remit Approval Process and Guidance (2014-15) refers.
2 If clear DSO advice cannot be provided the pay award will simply be back-dated in line with the
current approach.
Appendix B
80
data and any steps the department has taken, or is considering taking, to speed up this process.
4. The new approach involves the provision of temporary cover to allow payments to be made pending the subsequent submission and formal Finance Minister approval of pay remits. Further detail on this new approach is set out below:
Where the situation described in paragraph 2 arises, a department may submit a request for temporary cover to DFP Supply in advance of the pay award payments falling due. It is the department’s responsibility to submit this request in a timely manner to ensure that temporary cover can be granted to allow payments on the implementation date deemed a contractual obligation. In submitting the request for temporary cover, departments will therefore need to factor in sufficient time for DFP Supply scrutiny3 and resolution of any queries.
The submission must include clear DSO advice and evidence that the pay remit cannot be completed in time, as per paragraph 2.
Also included should be a table showing the estimated number of staff involved, the estimated cost of the contractual pay award, an estimate of the Increase For Staff in Post (ISP) arising from the implementation of this pay award and an ISP estimate arising from any other contractual elements (e.g. incremental pay).
An indication of when the formal pay remit submission will be submitted to DFP Supply should also be included with the temporary cover request.
5. DFP Supply, liaising with SPD as appropriate, will then consider whether the submission is sufficient for DFP Supply to approve the request for temporary cover. Any temporary cover granted may include a tolerance percentage to reflect the indicative nature of the figure work submitted.
6. The final approval decision in respect of the pay remit will still rest with the Finance Minister and the indicative figure work submitted at temporary cover stage will be tested on receipt of a pay remit. Should the pay remit data differ significantly from that submitted with the temporary cover request, the temporary cover could be withdrawn (resulting in irregular expenditure). It therefore remains in the department’s interest to submit a formal pay remit as soon as possible to minimise the risk (and potential amount) of irregular spend in a situation where Finance Minister approval is not secured.
7. These arrangements only apply to staff groups where completion of a pay remit is not possible in a timely manner to ensure payment of the contractual / legal
3 DFP Supply continues to operate a 15 working day turn around target.
81
entitlement to a pay award on the required date. It will be important, where possible, to coordinate any request for temporary cover in respect of all elements of the pay award to simplify the process.
8. These arrangements will be reflected in the 2015-16 Pay Remit Approval Process and Guidance once the approach to public sector pay in 2015-16 has been agreed by the Executive.
EMER MORELLI
Copy Distribution List
David Sterling
Mike Brennan
Colin Sullivan
Tony Simpson
William Dickson
Chris Gardner
Supply G7s and DPs
82
Dr Colin Sullivan
Strategic Policy and Reform Director
2nd Floor West
Clare House, Airport Road West
BELFAST, BT3 9ED
Tel No: 028 91 858240 email: [email protected]
FROM: COLIN SULLIVAN Copy Distribution List Below: DATE: 27 AUGUST 2014
TO: FINANCE DIRECTORS FD (DFP)
08/14
PAY REMIT APPROVAL PROCESS AND GUIDANCE (2014-15)
Purpose
1. The purpose of this Finance Director (FD) letter is to provide departments with revised guidance on the application of public sector pay policy in Northern Ireland. This letter explains the implications of the 2014-15 HM Treasury Pay Guidance on the pay remits approval process in Northern Ireland.
Appendix C
83
2. This FD letter replaces the previous guidance on the pay remit approval process (FD letter issued on 10 September 2013). An updated Single Year Remit pro forma template is attached separately.
Scope
3. The pay remit approval process must be applied to the staff costs of public bodies whose expenditure scores against the Northern Ireland DEL, including all Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) departments, agencies, Non-Departmental Public Bodies (NDPBs) and other public bodies.
4. The pay remit process applies to all staff in such organisations irrespective of seniority. When staff working within the same organisation are subject to different pay agreements or pay determination processes, a separate pay remit pro forma and business case template must be submitted for each group. For example, within the NICS the pay award for staff below SCS is determined separately from that for the SCS.
5. Staff groups currently not covered by the pay remit process include:
o Staff employed by Public Corporations; o Staff employed in Higher Education4; o Staff employed by District Councils; and o Ministerial appointments5. o North South Bodies6
Roles and Responsibilities
6. Enforcement of pay growth limits is devolved to the Northern Ireland Executive. With the Executive’s endorsement, the Minister for Finance and Personnel is responsible for the approval of pay remits for most of the staff groups in bodies within the wider public sector in Northern Ireland within the broad parameters of public sector pay policy 7.
7. As with all aspects of public expenditure, responsibility for value for money and all regularity issues associated with pay remits sits with the relevant departmental Accounting Officer. In practical terms, this must be evidenced by all proposed remits (and supporting evidence) being approved by the Departmental Finance Directorate before being formally submitted to DFP Supply. This includes ensuring that the calculations and information supporting the pay remits are accurate and complete. DFP expects that pay remits that breach pay parameters as outlined in paragraphs
4 This includes staff employed in Stranmillis University College and St. Mary’s University College.
5 Ministerial appointments are excluded from the process on the grounds that the Minister agreed their
specific remuneration package upon appointment. However, contractual conditions of all new appointments should still include adherence to the principles of public sector pay policy.
6 Most North South Bodies adopt the Civil Service pay agreements of the jurisdiction in which staff
work. Increases (or otherwise) for Northern Ireland staff are approved by the Department of Finance and Personnel.
7 Although some select cases may be referred to HM Treasury where they raise significant
‘repercussion’ issues.
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27 and 28 of this FD letter would be approved by the departmental Minister prior to submission to DFP Supply8.
8. It is DFP’s responsibility to provide advice on pay policy and information requirements as well as to challenge departments when we believe the policy has not been implemented properly. Technical quality assurance of the pay remit business case and pro forma will be provided by DFP Strategic Policy Division (SPD), which is responsible for monitoring the application of public sector pay policy. SPD also provides advice and liaises (where required and with the agreement of the Finance Minister) with HM Treasury/Cabinet Office. DFP Supply will have responsibility for liaising with Departments on pay approvals, acting upon the advice of and in co-operation with DFP SPD. Supply will also consider whether pay remits raise associated issues in relation to the control of public expenditure, affordability, departmental delegations and the need for wider Supply approvals.
Background
9. The effective management of public sector pay and workforce issues is crucial to the delivery of high quality public services, the achievement of departmental objectives and targets, and the management of the overall public expenditure position. While it is imperative that public sector workers have the necessary skills and expertise and are properly motivated, it is also vital that increases in public sector pay are affordable within the limits determined by the Executive and represent value for money.
10. HM Treasury publishes pay guidance to aid the implementation of the pay remit process9. The Executive has previously agreed that the HMT guidance be adopted by the Executive as the framework for the management of the public sector pay position in Northern Ireland.
11. In the 2011 Autumn Statement, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced that public sector pay awards will average at one per cent for the two years following the pay freeze. By 2014-15 all public bodies should have exited the pay freeze and are expected to follow the guidance and pay parameters included in this FD letter.
NI Executive Pay Policy
12. The Executive’s control of public sector pay will be based on the principle that the public sector should offer a pay and reward package that allows it to recruit, retain and motivate suitable staff. Public sector pay should also reflect the circumstances specific to the local labour market.
13. Since the 2004 pay round, HM Treasury has imposed an Increase for Staff in Post (formerly known as ‘earnings growth’) limit that public bodies must not breach, unless there are very sound reasons to do so. The Executive has agreed to adhere to these
8 For instance, if the Increase for Staff in Post exceeds the 1% limit and where there is no clear
legal/contractual entitlement to this.
9 The latest HM Treasury pay guidance can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pay-guidance-2014-15/civil-service-pay-guidance-2014-15
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limits and all pay remits must be submitted to DFP for approval at DFP Ministerial level to ensure compliance.
Approval Process
14. All public bodies are required to submit a business case to their parent departments showing clearly the pay proposals for each pay round. This applies even if the public body follows the NICS pay award or a nationally determined pay settlement10. In the vast majority of cases completion of the pay remit pro forma and the business case template is sufficient. However, where the proposed pay remit exceeds the current pay limit and the proposals are potentially repercussive or otherwise controversial, a full business case may be required. Detailed guidance on how to complete the pay remit pro forma and the business case template is set out in Annex A and Annex B respectively.
15. Departments must ensure that pay commitments are not entered into prior to the appropriate approvals having been secured. Once Departments have assessed the business case, and ensured that the pay increase is justified and affordable, it must be submitted to DFP Supply for approval. DFP Supply will, if content to proceed, seek the approval of the DFP Minister. If the case raises significant or contentious issues the DFP Minister may decide to refer the matter to the Executive for discussion. As is the case for all expenditure, the commitment to, or execution of, a pay award without the appropriate approvals will be deemed to be irregular expenditure and will be treated as such.
16. Public bodies should normally only submit one pay remit per year. For example a public body must not split its submission of pay remits with one pay remit for incremental progression and another for revalorisation11.
17. In instances where a public body has a contractual and/or statutory right to incremental progression on a specific date, and where this date falls prior to the settlement of any relevant pay negotiations, a submission should be made to DFP Supply requesting temporary approval for incremental progression only. This submission should be made in time to allow for DFP Supply approval before the progression falls due and must include: clear legal advice categorically stating a contractual and/or statutory obligation to pay progression on a specific date; the quantum of the progression increments and how many staff this will apply to; a brief update on the current position of pay settlement negotiations; and an indication of when a full pay remit is likely to be submitted for DFP Ministerial approval. DFP Supply will then consider providing temporary approval (note that there is no requirement for DFP Ministerial approval at this stage). This approach enables departments to meet contractual and/or statutory obligations whilst regularising
10
E.g. National Joint Council or a Pay Review Body as currently applied to health sector staff.
11 This means that if public bodies follow a nationally determined pay settlement, they must wait until
that determination is made before submitting complete pay remit documentation.
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expenditure. A full remit, including progression and revalorisation12, should be submitted as soon as possible, at which point normal approval processes apply. Note that any temporary cover provided could be withdrawn at this point if there are found to be significant differences between the information provided for temporary cover and the full remit documentation.
18. It should be noted that, in all cases, if there are any significant deviations from the approved proposals, the pay remit documentation (including a robust justification for the revisions) must be resubmitted through the normal channels before any commitments on the revised proposals are given. If there is any uncertainty as to what constitutes a significant difference, advice should be sought from SPD (points of contact are provided at the end of this letter).
Breach Of Approved Pay Remit
19. A pay remit is sanctioned in the expectation that the organisation will not exceed the approved Increase for Staff in Post. However, since the calculations are based on estimates, there may be occasions where the actual Increase for Staff in Post exceeds (or falls below) that approved.
20. The pro forma is designed to allow the organisation to explain why the previous year’s pay remit has been exceeded. Explanations could be due to significant changes in the number of staff employed by the organisation or changes to the grade structure. In cases where the remit has been exceeded significantly and there is no adequate explanation, DFP may require additional detailed evidence to assess whether the current year’s pay remit is accurate and also request more information regarding the previous year’s remit to investigate the circumstances.
Job Evaluations
21. When public bodies intend to carry out job-evaluation exercises, it is crucial that they consider the full pay policy implications at an early stage. It is not acceptable to initiate job evaluations unless they are properly justified and have the appropriate approvals. It should also be noted that it is not acceptable to justify a breach of the approved pay remit in terms of the outcome of a job evaluation exercise. This is because the full pay policy implications of any job evaluation exercise must be considered prior to the remit being submitted.
12
As noted in Annex A, when applying the increase for staff in post, revalorisation should be applied first followed by progression. This will marginally increase the progression rise between the temporary cover and full remit. Note the quantum of progression should not be significantly different.
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Implications For Wider DFP Approvals
22. It is important that all Departments take proper account of the Executive’s approach to public sector pay when considering the establishment of new public bodies, or when negotiating salaries or contracts of employment for new staff in existing public bodies. Departments should only put forward terms and conditions of employment that are appropriate in light of the labour market circumstances and the nature of post and organisation in question. For example, in a case where a public body intends to mirror SCS pay agreements, it should take into account that this may not be appropriate if numbers in the staff group within the organisation are not adequate to carry out a meaningful annual performance assessment against peers.
23. In particular, public bodies must not enter into agreements that may result in future pay pressures that could lead to a breach of the current Increase for Staff in Post pay limit unless there is a legal requirement to do so. Departments must ensure that the terms and conditions offered to new staff in public bodies are not so rigid that they are incapable of adapting to existing and future pay controls set by the Executive.
24. When reviewing and agreeing Management Statements and Financial Memoranda with sponsored public bodies, departments should draw particular attention in the documents to the Body’s responsibilities in regard to Public Sector Pay and especially to the content of this note.
25. In advance of approving posts DFP Supply will expect to be provided with benchmarking evidence that the level of remuneration being proposed is reasonable within the context of public and private sector comparators in Northern Ireland and, where necessary and appropriate, in comparison with similar posts in GB/RoI. A critical factor here is that evidence is provided that benchmarks are truly comparable in terms of roles and responsibilities as well as scale of the organisation. In addition, when comparing with posts outside Northern Ireland, the appropriate adjustments need to be made when benchmarking in terms of local labour market conditions or differences in the cost of living in the cases where it can be proven that a UK wide labour market applies.
26. Departments are reminded that any cases that potentially set a precedent, are repercussive or contentious must always come to DFP Supply for approval under Managing Public Money Northern Ireland (MPMNI) 2.1.7.
Pay Parameters
27. By 2014-15 all public bodies in Northern Ireland should have exited the pay freeze. Therefore, in 2014-15, a one per cent Increase for Staff in Post limit will apply to staff groups within public bodies.
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Progression Pay
28. Increases arising from contractual progression pay increments will continue to be paid where such increments are a legal entitlement. Public bodies are encouraged to include contractual progression increments to which there is a legal entitlement as part of the one per cent award. DSO advice should be provided to confirm that the increases are a legal entitlement.
29. Public bodies will have noted the 2013 Spending Round announcement of further action by 2015-16 to ensure that public sector workers do not receive an automatic pay increase purely as a result of time in post. In advance of this, the 2014-15 guidance requires public bodies to confirm in their business case that progression pay increments are not awarded for time served in the organisation (e.g. through confirmation that progression is performance based (as is the case in the NICS)).
30. If public bodies are only entitled to automatic time-served progression pay, then progression payments must be included as part of the one per cent award. In addition, before submitting its 2015-16 pay remit documentation, the public body must put forward proposals to end automatic time-served progression pay, supported by a robust and fully costed business case that offers clear value for money for the taxpayer and includes the removal of legally binding progression arrangements.
Flexibility for removal of automatic time-served progression pay arrangements
31. DFP welcomes proposals that include plans to remove automatic time-served progression pay arrangements in particular cases where this may be appropriate and there will be some flexibility in relation to the one per cent limit in 2014-15 for these cases. Public bodies will need to submit a robust and fully costed business case for their proposals that offers clear value for money and includes the removal of legally binding progression arrangements. More detail on factors that should be taken into account when preparing such a business case are included in Annex E of the 2014-15 HM Treasury pay guidance.
Non-consolidated bonuses
32. No staff in public bodies should be awarded performance bonuses (unless they have a clear contractual entitlement). Any proposal to award a performance related bonus must be supported by DSO advice. In particular, clear advice must be provided to support the quantum of bonus being proposed.
Workforce Groups (including Specialists)
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33. The Northern Ireland public sector is made up of many different workforce groups and these may be contained within a particular grade or responsibility level. It is recognised that each public body has a mixture of relatively higher-paid and lower-paid workforce groups, with possible variation by specialism or function and responsibility level.
34. The pay remit process provides scope for public bodies to reward workforce groups differently. This may include specific specialist roles, for example, where there is a shortage of specialist skilled staff. If such a case is made, it must be supported by a robust evidence-based business case.
Equal Pay/Age Discrimination
35. The NI Executive is committed to ensuring that pay systems in the public sector are fair and non-discriminatory, reflecting the contribution of the individual.
36. It is important that organisations review their pay systems on an annual basis following implementation of pay awards as this helps inform departmental / public body reward proposals and ensures appropriate targeting of resources. Departments / public bodies are reminded that conducting equal pay reviews of their reward policies and practices regularly is a requirement. The frequency and thoroughness of such reviews should be commensurate with the size and complexity of the staff group. When equality proofing reward policies, departments / public bodies should be wary of arguments that five years must be the appropriate length for any pay range - for some jobs this may be too short, for others it may be too long. There is no substitute for a proper assessment of the pay arrangements for different groups/roles within each responsibility level.
37. Where departments / public bodies have identified a potential pay inequality to address they will need to provide evidence of the extent of this inequality and propose ways of tackling this in a cost-effective manner, subject to affordability constraints. Departments / public bodies may need to prioritise within the constraints of the remit and strike an appropriate balance between general pay increases for staff and addressing issues arising from equal pay/age discrimination legislation.
38. A full risk assessment, including an assessment of the likelihood of claims and the extent of potential liability as well as the costs of dealing with the issue, should accompany any business case based at least partly on addressing equal pay risks. Departments / public bodies should also specify what proportion of their pay remit, if any, they plan to devote to addressing issues associated with equality issues.
New Appointments / Legal Commitments
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39. All new legally binding commitments (for example, honoraria payments) should take into consideration affordability and financial constraints in current and future years. Departments and public bodies are advised to take legal advice on the drafting of any pay commitments to ensure that these are affordable and consistent with the pay remit process.
40. Approval of pay remits is on the basis that an organisation does not enter into any legally binding contractual agreements that effectively commits it to automatic costs in the future.
Pension Reform
41. From 1 April 2012 the contributions paid by most members of the PCSPS(NI) now varies depending on the amount of the employee’s annual pensionable earnings. This means that the employee contributions of members of the PCSPS(NI) and the NILGOSC pension schemes will now vary depending on their salary band.
42. DFP is aware that a number of public bodies have arrangements in place to ensure that their staff are not disadvantaged as a result of paying what were historically higher employee contributions to the NILGOSC pension scheme than other public sector employees who are members of the PCSPS(NI).
43. This adjustment can no longer be assumed to be a fixed amount. Departments must ensure that any of their public bodies that are in this situation review the position for each individual member of staff on an annual basis to ensure that any adjustment to their salary maintains the principle that staff who are on terms analogous to those of the NICS are no better off, and no worse off, as a result of the pension scheme to which they contribute.
44. Any resulting adjustment to salaries must be included as appropriate when submitting pay remits to DFP for approval.
45. This principle of “no better off, and no worse off”, overrides the detail which may historically have been contained in a Management Statement/Financial Memorandum (MS/FM) which predates the changes to public sector pension schemes. Departments should therefore also review the MS/FMs in place with their public bodies to bring them up to date in this regard.
Summary Of Key Points
46. The key points for departments are summarised below:
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The Executive meeting of 24 May 2007 endorsed the principle of adherence to public sector pay policy. These will apply to virtually all public bodies and staff groups whose expenditure scores against the Northern Ireland DEL.
The DFP Minister is responsible for monitoring, controlling and approving pay remits for staff groupings subject to the Executive’s Pay Policy. He may refer any potentially difficult or controversial remits to the Executive for discussion.
All public bodies are required to submit a pay remit pro forma and business case template (via their parent department) to DFP Supply for Ministerial approval.
The Departmental Finance Directorates must approve all pay remits. It is expected that pay remits that breach pay parameters as outlined in paragraphs 27 and 28 of this FD letter have been approved by the departmental Minister before it is formally submitted to DFP.
In 2014-15, a one per cent Increase for Staff in Post limit will apply to staff groups within public bodies. Contractual pay increases, such as progression pay increments, should continue to be proposed where such payments are a legal entitlement and DSO advice should be provided to confirm that the increases are a legal entitlement. Public bodies are encouraged to include contractual progression increments to which there is a legal entitlement as part of the one per cent award.
No public bodies covered by the Executive’s authority must enter into pay commitments prior to the appropriate approvals having been secured. The commitment to, or execution of, a pay award without the appropriate approvals will be deemed to be irregular expenditure.
Public bodies with a contractual and/or statutory right to incremental progression on a specific date should seek temporary DFP approval before the progression falls due.
Pay remits which are approved and subsequently revised should be resubmitted (with robust justification) to the Departmental Finance Directorate and DFP for approval before any commitments are entered into on the revised basis.
It is imperative that all departments take proper account of the Executive’s pay policy when considering the establishment of new public bodies, when negotiating salaries or contracts of employment for new staff in existing public bodies or when initiating job evaluation exercises.
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Action
47. To note the contents of this letter, the requirements to obtain prior Ministerial approval and to take whatever action is necessary to ensure compliance with the Executive’s agreed position on public sector pay control. Furthermore, to circulate to all finance officers and other relevant staff, including those in NDPBs and other relevant public bodies.
Points Of Contact
48. Enquiries about this FD letter should be addressed to William Dickson, telephone 91858088 (x68088) or email [email protected], or Chris Gardner, telephone 91858142 (x68142) or email [email protected].
Date From Which The Letter Is Effective
49. This letter is effective from the 1 April 2014.
Colin Sullivan Copy Distribution List:
David Sterling
Colin Lewis
Michael Brennan
Mark Bailey
Joanne McBurney
John McKibbin
Tony Simpson
William Dickson
Chris Gardner
Michelle Adams
Patrick McKeown
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Appendix D
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Appendix E
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