Unlawful cessation of payment of CRTP to officers

Dear William

Reference No: 1776/09

Thank you for your request which will be dealt with under the terms of the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Your request will now be considered and you will receive a response within
the statutory timescale of 20 working days as defined by the Act, subject
to the information not being exempt or containing a reference to a third
party. In some circumstances Staffordshire Police may be unable to achieve
this deadline. If this is likely you will be informed and given a revised
time-scale at the earliest opportunity.

Regards
===============================================
Steven W. Clark
Freedom of Information Officer
Staffordshire Police
Ext. 2411 Direct Dial: 01785 232411

William Old To FOI requests at Staffordshire
<[FOI #23167 email]> Police
<[Staffordshire Police request email]>
13/11/2009 12:35 cc
Please think of the environment. Do you Subject Freedom of Information request -
really need to print this email? 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

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Dear Mr Old

Thank you for your recent request for information in accordance with the
Freedom of Information Act 2000. I apologise for the delay in responding.
You asked for the following information:

(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).

I am able to confirm that this Force does comply with HO Circular 18/2008
and continues to pay CRTP to an officer acting up in the next rank.

APPEALS PROCEDURE

I trust this information is helpful to you but should you be dissatisfied
with the outcome of your information request, you do have the right of
complaint under section 17(7) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. If
you wish to appeal this decision, please inform me in writing. Your
application and the decision will be reviewed by a Senior Decision Maker
who was not involved in the original decision.

This decision maker will review your case and they will either, uphold,
amend or overrule my decision. Should this not resolve the matter to your
satisfaction, you will then have the right to appeal to the Information
Commissioner, who regulates compliance with the Freedom of Information Act
2000.

Yvonne Duffy
Head of Human Resources
01785 232236

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