Unlawful cessation of payment of CRTP to officers

Dear Sir or Madam,

Background

Part 9 of Annex "F" (a Determination for Regulation 24 of the
Police Regulations 2003) sets out the procedure for the payment of
Competence-Related Threshold Payment ("CRTP") to police officers up
to the rank of chief inspector. Paragraphs 1 to 6 set out the
entitlement for this payment, and paragraphs 7, 8 and 9 set out the
circumstances in which payment may be ceased, i.e. re-assessment
due to concerns with respect to the maintenance of high
professional standards by a member in receipt of the payment,
promotion to a higher rank, and temporary promotion to a higher
rank, respectively.

There are *no* provisions in the Determination, or under any other
statute, that make it lawful for payment of CRTP to be ceased
whilst a member of a police force is in receipt of temporary salary
under Regulation 27(a) and Annex "I", i.e. the member has been
required to perform the duties normally performed by a member of
the force of a higher rank than his own ("acting-up").

As a consequence of some forces failing to comply with Regulations
as described, agreement of both sides in PNB of the correct
interpretation (as set out in PNB Circular 4/2008) led to the issue
of Home Office Circular 18/2008 in which forces were advised that
paragraph 14 of the PNB Circular ("Officers who are on acting up
should receive their CRTP") "*will* take effect from the 1st July
2008" (my emphasis).

Request

I seek to establish:

(1) whether or not your force complies with Home Office Circular
18/2008 and Police Regulations and Determinations as described
above, by continuing to pay CRTP to a member who, having been
awarded CRTP, is in receipt of temporary salary (NB - "acting up",
NOT temporarily promoted to a higher rank under Regulation 27(b)
and Annex "J").

If you do not so comply:

(2) please advise by what legal authority your force ceases making
such payments; and

(3) please advise what action you take when an inspector, on pay
point 3 (top rate) and in receipt of CRTP, is required to perform
the duties of a chief inspector, whose pay is less than that of
such an officer. NB - the exception set out in paragraph 9 of Part
9 of Annex "F" *DOES NOT APPLY* to temporary salary - it applies
only to temporary promotion under Regulation 27(b).

Yours faithfully,

William Old

Dear Dyfed Powys Police,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of
Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of Dyfed Powys Police's
handling of my FOI request 'Unlawful cessation of payment of CRTP
to officers'.

The force has responded to the first part of my enquiry by stating
that it does *not* comply with HO Circular 18/2008, in that it
ceases making payment of CRTP to officers in receipt of temporary
salary under Annex I (a Determination of the Secretary of State) to
Regulation 27 of the Police Regulations 2003.

As the payment of CRTP to successful qualifying officers is lawful,
once granted under Part 9 of Annex F to Regulation 24, the second
part of my request seeks disclosure of the lawful basis for Dyfed
Powys' action in ceasing those payments. There are three such
lawful reasons, as set out in paragraphs 7, 8, and 9 of Part 9 of
Annex F, but none of these apply in these circumstances,.

The response provided implies that the "lawful reason" is simply
the tradition, custom, and/or practice of the Dyfed Powys Police
Authority, which is not a lawful reason for ceasing payments that
have previously been lawfully granted to the recipient, and
therefore it is not the information requested. The reference to
complying with future Regulations is specious and irrelevant to the
request for information that has been made.

I will be satisfied if you acknowledge that Dyfed Powys Police is
and has been acting unlawfully in ceasing these payments, else I
shall have to make an appeal to the ICO in respect of your refusal
to provide the requested information.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is
available on the Internet at this address:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/un...

Yours faithfully,

William Old

Dear FOI,

Broadly speaking, your understanding is correct, however you state:
"My understanding is that the issues you have raised are as
outlined within your e-mail of the 7 December, in that the Force
has not advised by what legal authority such payments are ceased."

The word "lawful" has a specific legal meaning, so it is the
"lawful" basis for this action that I seek, not the "legal" basis.
In order for something to be "lawful", it must be explicitly
sanctioned by law. "Unlawful" means "not sanctioned by law", and
"illegal" means "contrary to law", i.e. something that the law
specifically prohibits. Thus, if the force's actions in ceasing
these payments are not founded on an explicit provision of the law,
it must by definition thereby be "unlawful".

Yours sincerely,

William Old

Dear FOI,

Thank you for the result of the Panel's consideration.

I do not intend to appeal to the Information Commissioner, as it is
clear that you have no lawful entitlement to refuse these payments
that can be disclosed.

Accordingly, I have annotated the original request for the
information of any affected Dyfed Powys police officer who might
wish to recover CRTP payments to which they are entitled, but that
have been unlawfully withheld by your force, through the Courts.

Yours sincerely,

William Old