Unlawful cessation of payment of CRTP to officers

Dear Mr Old

Reference No: RFI2009000784

Thank you for your request for information dated 13/11/2009 which, for
clarity, I repeat below:

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).

Your request for information has now been considered. With regards to your
first question, I am not obliged to provide you with this information by
virtue of Section 21 of the Freedom of Information Act- Information
Accessible by Other Means. However, in order to assist you further with
this request, I have provided below a link to the Competence Related
Threshold Payments policy:

[1]http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/pub-po...

I would especially refer you to section 5.1 (c) which confirms that where
an officer is appointed to an "acting" rank then the competence payment
continues but when an officer is "temporarily promoted" then the payment
will cease. Questions 2 and 3 of your request are not applicable to Thames
Valley Police as we comply with the Home Office Circular.

Please contact me quoting the above reference number if you would like to
discuss this matter further and may I take this opportunity to thank you
for your interest in Thames Valley Police.

Yours sincerely,

Jane Shields

Freedom of Information Administrator

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References

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1. http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/pub-po...