Further Detail

QUARTERLY REPORT
Officer and staff strength

On the 31 December 2023 there were 16,362.8 FTE police officers which is a drop of 260.3 FTE since the end of Q2. This is the lowest end of quarter officer position since the formation of Police Scotland. Based on historic attrition it is anticipated that there will be around 190 officers leaving the service through Q4 however, this will be offset by an intake of 200 officers in March 2024. As a result, it is anticipated that the quarter end position of the financial year 2023/24 will be similar to this quarter. A plan for officer recruitment based on capacity of training is currently going through governance.

Police staff have also seen a drop in resources with 5,834.4 FTE recorded for end of December 2024. Overall, this is a reduction of 35.1 FTE staff since the end of Q2. The ongoing voluntary redundancy scheme will see a further reduction in the number of staff by around 190 FTE posts by the end of the next quarter.

Recruitment

Of all the applications to join Police Scotland as an officer since the introduction of the recruitment system ‘Oleeo’, 11.5% have been successful. On average it takes around 241 days from receipt of an individual’s application to appointment. This is in part due to intake dates being at least quarterly and the length of time taken to successfully vet all applicants.

Of staff applications for new posts, including internal adverts since the introduction of ‘Oleeo’, only 5.7% of all applications have proved successful. On average it takes around 146 days from receipt of an individual’s application to appointment with the median being 51 – 100 days. The low success rate is partly due to the high-volume speculative applications that do not meet the minimum requirements of the post.

As part our commitment within the Strategic Workforce Plan (SWP) to regularly assess the effectiveness of our recruitment and selection policy and practices, a recent external ‘MOT’ review of recruitment was completed. Learnings will be considered and shared with SPA People Committee members in due course. Furthermore, a review of Home Office Guidelines in relation to medical standards commenced in December 2023 and is expected to last 6 months. This review will consider all medical guidelines (including psychological) to help us better understand if Home Office Guidelines and the 2013 Police Regulations regarding medical standards, are still fit for purpose.

As part of future activity under the People Strategy, we are working to develop our person-centred recruitment process and will undertake a continuous review of our services to ensure best practice. In addition, we will develop a brand for Police Scotland which supports recruitment activities and maximises our position in the employment market.

We aim to enhance our support for our colleagues, when they decide to leave our organisation, through a review of our current approach to exit interviews and by developing improved data and analysis. We will also encourage participation with a view to increasing our insight on the drivers for people leaving our organisation while ensuring any resultant lessons are acted upon.

Leavers

There was an increase in officer leavers during Q3 primarily due to the changes in the pension regulations coming into effect. As a result, 244 officers left the service. Of these, 155 (63.5%) retired on pension and 66 (27%) resigned. The remaining 23 (9.4%) officers left for other reasons such as medical, death in service or dismissal. There has been considerable variation month on month with officers leaving on pension because of the pension arrangements however, resignations have remained quite static at an average of 22 per month. Whilst this is slightly higher than the previous year’s average (19 per month) it is not so significant that it gives cause for concern currently.

Staff turnover has remained consistent for the first two quarters at around 1.9% per quarter although November and December were slightly lower than other months which pushes Q3 to around 1.5% turnover. This is not considered significant at this stage.

The number of officers and staff completing the exit survey remains at 30% and has shown very little variation on the previous quarter. The main reasons for leaving for officers (excluding retiring) are career change, lack of resources, and family circumstances. For staff, career advancement and career change were the main reasons for leaving.

In terms of improvements to the benefits package offered, police officer leavers considered that the most improvements could be found within salary and hours worked. Staff respondents, whilst generally more positive than officers, considered salary as the largest area where there could be improvement.

One of our commitments in the People Strategy is to ensure our Total Reward approach is fair, transparent and recognises achievement. As such, work will be undertaken to progress a collaborative and strategic approach to pay and reward by seeking to minimise annual pay negotiation challenges whilst developing and articulating a Total Reward package for colleagues.

As part of the SWP, we have also committed to ensuring the exit process is reviewed and improvements are made where issues are identified. We will also ensure that insight and data from exit interviews are reviewed, followed up and captured as part of organisational learning.

TOIL and RRRD

TOIL at the end of December 2023 totalled 1,157 hours for officers and 28,939 hours for staff - a reduction overall of 3,376 hours from the previous quarter. There is a system in place for officers which means that any TOIL not used within 99 days is automatically bought back. This is not in place for staff who can hold up to 35 hours of TOIL indefinitely. The main reason for officers accumulating TOIL relates to being detained on duty (55% of all TOIL) and for staff the main reason is public holidays and providing essential cover (33% and 31% respectively).

Officer TOIL buyback averages around 5,250 hours per month at an average cost of £125k. There is a slight downward trend in officer TOIL generally over the last 12 months.

There has been a reduction in RRRDs of 6,478 days in the last quarter and the overall balance now totals 52,116 days. Staff terms and conditions do not allow for RRRDs although there remain a few in the system that require resolving, therefore RRRDs relate to officers only. There is little variation in the total RRRDs month on month although slight changes can be seen due to significant events or holidays such as Christmas. Overall, there are on average 9,000 RRRD accrued each month.

The majority of RRRDs in the bank were generated through amended duty, court and public holidays. Amended duty will include rest days being cancelled for major operations and other essential operational events. For example, court on a rest day requires for a RRRD as do public holidays that fall on weekly rest days.

Sickness Absence

Officer sickness absence is up 0.6% on Q2 and is now at 6.53%, staff absence is up 0.8% and is now 7.8%. This follows a general rise in absence over the last three years for both officers and staff as shown below.

There tends to be a seasonal peak November / December so some of this quarter’s increase may be attributed to that.

It is anticipated that officer absence this year will cost around £55 million per year in productivity loss and staff around £22 million.

Sickness absence for officers and staff follows a very similar pattern with psychological absence being the primary cause of long-term absence on both groups contributing 1.9% and 1.7% for officers and staff respectively.

In terms of other Police Forces, 28 out of 43 in England and Wales reported an increase in mental health absence from the previous year. This is a pattern seen across all sectors (not only Police) with it being widely reported that mental health absence is on the increase. Over the last 5 years there has been average 5% increase year on year in mental health related absence across the UK based on ONS data. It terms of Police Scotland, this financial year has seen an increase of 0.4% in relation to psychological absence as compared to financial year 2021/22 (2% compared to 1.6%).

Respiratory illness remains the main reason for short term absence alongside musculoskeletal, digestive disorders and miscellaneous reasons. Work has been completed with the miscellaneous category to reduce its use to allow better understanding of reasons for illness. This will allow for better data moving forward.

Stress causes more working days lost than any other single condition for both officers and staff. It is responsible for 18.6% of all working days lost since April 2023 which more than 3 times higher than any other single condition and it has increased proportionally over the last three years. There has been a significant reduction in miscellaneous absence largely due to a re-categorisation of that option which now facilitates more accurate absence recording.

According to The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) annual statistics on work-related ill health and workplace injuries 2021/22, the estimated number of workers in Great Britain suffering a work-related illness is 1.8 million with stress, depression, and anxiety making up around half of cases. The figures show there were an estimated 914,000 cases of work-related stress, depression, or anxiety in 2021/22 and an estimated 17 million working days were lost due to work-related stress, depression, or anxiety in 2021/22 with public admin / defence being the highest category. They also note that “in the recent years, prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the rate of self-reported work-related stress, depression or anxiety had shown signs of increasing. The current rate is higher than the 2018/19 pre-coronavirus levels”.In Police Scotland, there are currently 190 officers and staff (134 officers and 56 staff) absent with stress at an average of 139.7 days absence per person. Analysis shows there is no obvious pattern to this condition in terms of sex, age, location or service.

Acknowledging that psychological reasons are the biggest driver of long-term absence, several measures are outlined in the Q3 Wellbeing report that are being used to provide a proactive, preventative, and person-centred approach to understand and support our people with the physical and psychological issues they are experiencing both inside and outside work.

In addition, both the new Occupational Health and Employee Assistance Programme contact awards have been confirmed and are scheduled to go live from 1st April 2024. A comprehensive overview of the contacts for both services will be provided at the May SPA People Committee however, a summary of the non-financial benefits of each contact are captured in the Q3 Wellbeing Report.

Modified Duties

There has been a slight overall reduction in the number of officers and staff requiring duty modifications this quarter although there remains an upward trend over the course of the whole year with a 6.2% increase being witnessed when compared against the first quarter.

Work is ongoing to develop a new process for management of such cases, to ensure suitable deployment options are maximised, and a consistent, streamlined approach is taken to redeploying officers requiring modifications where necessary. Preparations for the inaugural duty modifications panel are currently at an advanced stage, with the intention of circulating communications to officially launch the new process following Executive approval.

Wellbeing Support

The Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) offers a 24/7 professional support and guidance via a team of trained wellbeing and counselling practitioners who offer confidential, independent and unbiased information and guidance. Calls to EAP have average at 479 per quarter over the past 2 years with little variation quarter on quarter.

Similarly Occupational Health (OH) referrals have averaged at 850 per quarter with again only slight variations across quarters. OH helps minimise any health risks associated with work and provides expert advice and guidance on an individual’s fitness for a role and how and when a return to work can be facilitated.

Additionally, there has been an average of 510 TRiM (Trauma Risk Management) referrals each quarter since April 2021. The TRiM process is in place to support officers and staff affected by potentially traumatic incidents at work. This is designed to reduce the impact of these events on the individual and provide early support to officers and staff who experience traumatic incidents. Most TRiM referrals consist of a wellbeing check with between 150 and 200 per quarter requiring further intervention.

This year 31% of the 280 leavers who completed the exit survey considered wellbeing support mechanisms useful which is an increase from 27.1% of the 586 leavers who completed the surveys in the previous year. Both years saw colleagues and line managers as the most useful type of support.