Correspondence

Annex U (accessible version)

Published 25 February 2019

1. Determinations of the Secretary of State under the Police Regulations 2003

The Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred by regulation 34 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Police Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/527) (“the Police Regulations”), as amended, makes the following determination.

In accordance with regulation 46(1B), the duty in regulation 46(1A) does not apply to this determination because the Secretary of State considers that it is unnecessary to comply with the requirements in regulation 46(1A) by reason of the proposed determination.

In accordance with the requirements of regulation 46(1C), the Secretary of State has supplied a draft of this determination to, and considered any representations from, the persons whom the Secretary of State considers represent the interests of those persons referred to in regulation 46(1C)(a) to (d).

The Secretary of State has determined that, with effect from 1st September 2018, the determination under regulation 24 (Annex U – Allowances) is amended by inserting the following provisions after paragraph 14 of that determination:

“15) HARD TO FILL ROLES AND DEMANDING SUPERINTENDENT ROLES

2. Hard-to-fill roles in the federated ranks

1. A chief officer, or a seconding body, may award a payment to an individual officer in a federated rank of up to £4,000^{[footnote 1]} per annum to help attract and/or retain an officer to or in a specific policing role that qualifies as ‘hard-to-fill’. This could be by virtue of its nature and/or location.

2. For the purposes of paragraph (1), a “hard-to-fill role” means:

• a) A role in a particular discipline, which it has not been possible to fill from the internal officer workforce despite advertising and/or posting attempts and has resulted in an ongoing and unacceptably high vacancy rate;^{[footnote 2]}

• b) A vacancy will be deemed to have been filled once a successful applicant is identified or a posting agreed. Delays in the actual posting taking place do not qualify a role as hard-to-fill;

• c) An existing role in relation to which, for retention purposes, officers are prevented from voluntarily applying for alternative internal roles.

3. For the purposes of paragraph (1), a payment can be made as follows:

• a) as a one-off payment upon recruitment;
• b) as a one-off payment on achieving a specific qualification that is required to carry out the role;
• c) every 3 months as a lump sum in monthly salary payment;
• d) on a monthly basis as part of monthly salary;
• e) as a lump sum in salary 12 months after appointment.

4. Payments may only be made under paragraph (1) in relation to time served in eligible roles between 1 September 2017 and 30 September 2020.

3. Superintending roles

5. A chief officer, or seconding body, may award a payment to an officer of superintending rank of up to £4,000^{[footnote 3]} per annum in circumstances where the role is deemed to be demanding.

6. A “demanding” superintendent’s role is a superintendent’s role in relation to which a chief officer is satisfied that the scale and complexity of the role exceeds that which would normally apply to the majority of those of the rank. In reaching this decision some or all of the following factors should be present:

• a) sole command of an entire geographic, functional or departmental area;
• b) many of the elements apply that would make the role undesirable and hard to fill within the federated ranks^{[footnote 4]};
• c) command responsibilities with multiple public/not-for-profit/private sector stakeholders, crossing force internal geographic boundaries;
• d) command responsibilities outside force boundaries, in the form of collaboration and/or national responsibilities;
• e) lengthy and regular periods of travel are required to fulfil command responsibilities;
• f) geographic size and/or officer and staff headcount that is deemed high by national comparison^{[footnote 5]};
• g) accountability for areas of policing that attract considerable personal and/or career risk by virtue of their nature, level of public scrutiny and/or public profile;
• h) the command involves officers and staff from more than one force and there are differing organisational cultures, policies, procedures and operating practices within the command.

7. For the purposes of paragraph (5), a payment can be made as follows:

• a) Every 3 months in as a lump sum in monthly salary payment;
• b) As part of monthly salary;
• c) As a lump sum in salary 12 months after appointment.

8. Payments may only be made under paragraph (5) in relation to time served in eligible roles between 1 September 2017 and 30 September 2020.”

4. Dog handler’s allowance

In the determination made under regulation 34 of, and Schedule 2 to, the Police Regulations 2003 (Annex U – Allowances), in Part 2 below ‘Dog handler’s allowance’, for paragraph c) there shall be substituted, with effect from 1 September 2018:-

“The annual rate of this allowance is as follows: with effect from 1 September 2018, is £2,283.”

1. Pro-rata in the final year. ↩

2. To be established by determining a minimum staffing level against the agreed establishment (FTE). This should be commensurate with operational risk and is likely to vary between functions. If this minimum staffing level is subsequently breached the vacancy rate could then be considered unacceptably high. ↩

3. Pro-rata in the final year ↩

4. As outlined at 11 in the supporting guidance notes ↩

5. national median to be identified – so ‘high’ can be identified ↩