Sustaining value for money in the police service
Management and leadership of efficiency
In Surrey, the Chief Constable has instilled a culture around savings and challenges the force on long-term efficiency planning.
‘The Chief Constable has nurtured a culture in the organisation that values innovation and finding ways of doing things better.’
Deputy Chief Constable
In 2007, Surrey established a programme management and governance structure to deliver major change. Surrey police undertakes organisational support reviews (OSRs) examining force spending and service delivery. Dedicated business change managers lead transformational change across the business.
A ‘people involvement panel’ encourages staff to suggest savings. These ideas feed into planning.
Surrey Police Authority scrutiny drives transformational change through reviews of performance against budgets. Surrey’s Performance Evaluation and Computerised Statistics Group presents force performance and budget information and data using a traffic light system. The force uses this information to improve and manage its budgets.
Threat, harm and risk integrated to priorities and savings
Surrey uses a long-term plan to identify financial risks linked to threat, harm and risk (THR) assessment. It develops business cases for change and identifies risks for the force.
Surrey’s performance management approach aligns financial and human resources to the policing plan priorities. The force uses the risk assessment to identify where to invest and move resources to manage performance.
The force is reviewing leadership posts as part of the structural change to release £8.4 million (over the next five years) and to help to close the risk gap. The restructure has so far reduced the number of inspector, chief inspector, superintendent and chief superintendent posts by 50.
Whole system service transformation
The force uses its OSR programme, established in 2007, to identify how it can achieve benefits through structural changes, the efficient use of resources and automated technologies. The force expects to save £92 million over five years to 2013/14.
Surrey identifies a whole systems approach to savings in the front-line and back office. It centralised its HR services reducing 78 posts including 50 police staff and 28 police officers saving £1.5 million in 2009/10. It expects to make annual savings of £2.2 million from 2010/11 or 1 per cent of spending with total savings of £5.7 million over five years. The centralised service provides professional guidance and support complemented by local business partners in basic command units (BCUs) and a transactional service centre. Centralising meant the ratio of HR staff to force establishment changed from 1:36 to 1:77. It achieves 64 per cent public confidence compared with a 61 per cent average for similar forces.
‘We’ve done reviews of all our functions… we’ve taken 20 per cent on average out of the organisation. So, we have fairly ambitious targets, the numbers you’d see traditionally in a commercial sector.’
Deputy Chief Constable
Fundamental structural change
In 2008, Surrey reviewed its structures to find savings. It reduced BCUs from four to three, reducing the management and support structure and saving £1.3 million a year.
In April 2010, Surrey moved to a single functional command structure, aiming to reduce duplication, make savings and deliver a better service.
Most collaborative savings identified and delivered
Surrey police leads on regional collaboration in the South East in covert operations implementation and delivery. Merging functions regionally with Thames Valley, Sussex and Hampshire has saved £500,000 over three years.
Surrey uses cost-benefit analysis to decide whether to collaborate.
‘We have to consider carefully collaborative working around support services...in some cases to collaborate would cost us considerable amounts of money because we’ve got ours so lean.’
Deputy Chief Constable
Workforce modernisation
Surrey police uses mixed staff teams. In 2004, Surrey moved from a traditional CID to mixed teams led by a detective constable. Each team has two uniformed police staff as investigating officers, a police constable and a police staff coordinator. The force expects to save £10.6 million over five years by using mixed teams. It has also improved customer satisfaction from 78 per cent in September 2008 to 81 per cent in September 2009.
The force is linking shifts to demand moving from a five-week OTTAWA shift pattern with eight to ten hour shifts to a 30 week split-shift pattern, four on two off.
The change plans to reduce overtime payments by 10 per cent and reduce sickness rates. Linking shifts to demand will reduce 21 police officers posts saving £1 million over three years.
Sustainability of efficiency savings
Surrey’s long-term improvement and efficiency plan over the next three years has helped the force to put programmes in place to reduce a budget gap of £7 million.
Timescales
Surrey has a long-term plan for savings supported by a three-year medium-term financial plan. It makes five-year forecasts for council tax and government grants.
Learning points
- A threat, harm and risk approach can identify force priorities and identify areas for savings.
- A whole systems change programme can help the force to achieve long-term savings while maintaining or improving effectiveness in priority areas.
- Workforce modernisation can achieve savings and improve performance.
Five questions for police forces and authorities to consider
- How well does your force integrate threat, harm and risk with priorities and savings?
- How well does the police authority challenge the force to use a whole systems approach?
- How well are business managers challenged by the ACPO to find and make savings?
- How far do savings align with the force long-term planning?
- How far do organisational structures support transformational change?