Unlawful cessation of payment of CRTP to officers

William Old made this Freedom of Information request to Cumbria Constabulary

The request was successful.

From: William Old

13 November 2009

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

Link to this

From: FOI Email
Cumbria Constabulary

18 November 2009

Dear Mr Old

Thank you for your request for information received via email in this
office on 13^th November 2009. This request will be dealt with under the
terms of the Freedom Of Information Act 2000. Details of the request
received:-

(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 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 Cumbria Constabulary 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.

In the event that your requirements change or you no longer wish to
receive a response to your request, I would be grateful if you could
advise me of this as soon as possible.

There may be a fee payable for the retrieval, collation and provision of
the information you request. If this is the case you will be informed and
the 20 working day timescale will be suspended until we receive payment
from you. If you choose not to make a payment then your request will
remain unanswered.

Some requests may also require either full or partial transference to
another public authority in order to answer your query in the fullest
possible way. Again, you will be informed if this is the case.

I would like to thank you for your interest in Cumbria Constabulary.

show quoted sections

P Please, consider your environmental responsibility. Before printing
this e-mail ask yourself: "Do I need a hard copy?"

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.cumbria.police.uk/

Link to this

From: William Old

16 January 2010

Dear Cumbria Constabulary,

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

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

You have comprehensively failed to discharge your legal
responsibilities under the Act, which is wholly unacceptable for a
Home Office police force.

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

Link to this

From: FOI Email
Cumbria Constabulary

18 January 2010

Attachment Freedom of Information 542 09.htm.html
4K Download

Attachment 101209 FOI 542 Mr Old result letter.doc
271K Download View as HTML

My Ref: FOI 542/09 Internal Review

Dear Mr William Old,

Thank you for your e-mail of 16th January 2010, concerning the responses
provided to your request for information concerning failure to discharge
our legal responsibilities under the FOI Act.

In view of the comments you have made concerning 'the unlawful cessation
of payment of CRTP to officers' which you believe may be held by the
Constabulary, an internal review into the handling of this aspect of your
request will be undertaken.

The review will be conducted by a Decision Maker who was not involved in
the handling of your original request and every effort will be made to
provide you with a response by 12th February 2010.

Please find attached a copy of the response, as sent to you on 10th
December 2009.

If you have any further comments or queries regarding this matter please
do not hesitate to contact me again.

Yours sincerely,

show quoted sections

P Please, consider your environmental responsibility. Before printing
this e-mail ask yourself: "Do I need a hard copy?"

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.cumbria.police.uk/
http://www.cumbria.police.uk/

Link to this

From: FOI Email
Cumbria Constabulary

19 January 2010

Dear Mr Old,

I'm sorry to bother you, but could you please confirm that you have received the emails sent to you on 10th December 2009 and on 18th January 2010.

I am concerned that we may have made a slight error in your email address.

Kindest Regards.

_________________________________________________

Tracy Cavanagh

Data Protection & Freedom of Information Assistant

Professional Standards Department

T: 01768 217177

F: 01768 217789
E: [email address]
W: www.cumbria.police.uk

Police Headquarters, Carleton Hall, Penrith, Cumbria CA10 2AU.

_________________________________________________

Cumbria Constabulary - Safer Stronger Cumbria

show quoted sections

Link to this

From: William Old

23 January 2010

Dear FOI Email,

Thank you for your e-mail dated 19 January 2010, in which you
advise that errors might have been made in the e-mail address used.
I would refer you to the online record of this enquiry, at:
http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/un...

... from which you will see that your substantive response (dated
18 January 2010) to my request for a review was received, but that
was the first time that the information appended to that response
had been seen. In short, nothing was received from you dated 10
December 2009, which is what gave rise to the subsequent request.

Yours sincerely,

William Old

Link to this

From: FOI Email
Cumbria Constabulary

19 February 2010

Attachment 180209 FOI 542 Internal review.doc
272K Download View as HTML

Dear Mr Old

Please find attached our response to your recent Internal Review request.

Kindest regards.

show quoted sections

P Please, consider your environmental responsibility. Before printing
this e-mail ask yourself: "Do I need a hard copy?"

References

Visible links
1. mailto:[email address]
mailto:[email address]
2. http://www.cumbria.police.uk/
http://www.cumbria.police.uk/

Link to this

Things to do with this request

Anyone:
Cumbria Constabulary only: