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 Mr Old,
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Information Governance Unit
Information Management Branch
William Old To FOI requests at Greater Manchester
<[FOI #23149 email]> Police
<[Greater Manchester Police request email]>
13/11/2009 12:25 cc
Subject Freedom of Information request -
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
Please find attached the response to your recent request made under the
Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Many thanks
Amanda Ratcliffe
Information Access Officer
Information Governance Unit
Greater Manchester Police
Internal - 62531
External - 0161-856-2531
email - [email address]
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Dear Greater Manchester Police,
Thank you for your response. You state "This principle will be retrospectively applied (to 1st July 2008) by March 2010... At present, not all of the items of the circular have been ratified; therefore Senior Management made the decision." I would remind you that Home Office Circulars have no effect in law, and that neither HOC 18/2008 nor any other Circular empowers payment to be made, nor empowers it to be ceased - they are advisory, hence the detailed nature of my request. Whether or not any or all of the provisions are ratified is therefore irrelevant to the request.
Reading your response carefully, I note that you have not provided any lawful reason for the cessation of payment of CRTP prior to 1 July 2008, and therefore it would appear that you were doing so unlawfully prior to that date. Any GMP officer who had CRTP granted to them under Part 9 of Annex F prior to that date therefore has a claim against the force for any subsequent periods during which they were in receipt of temporary salary but had their CRTP ceased.
Hence, you have not responded to the first part of my request in respect of those periods, as you have not provided the requested lawful reason for so doing. I will be satisfied if you acknowledge that Greater Manchester Police is and has been acting unlawfully in ceasing those payments, else I shall have to make an appeal to the ICO in respect of your refusal to provide the requested information.
Please therefore undertake an internal review of your decision not to provide that information as requested.
Yours faithfully,
William Old
Dear Mr Old
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 5532/2009
I acknowledge receipt of your email dated 14 December 2009, requesting
that Greater Manchester Police review the response to your request for
information.
The review will be conducted in accordance to Greater Manchester Police
review procedure and every effort will be made to have a response to you
by 15 January 2010, however if it becomes clear that the review will not
be completed by this date you will be contacted.
If you wish to discuss this matter prior to our response please contact
Adrienne Walker on 0161-856-2510.
Yours sincerely
Rebecca Rice
Information Access Team Leader
Greater Manchester Police
Information Governance Unit
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Dear Mr. Old,
Please see attached the result of your request for a review of Freedom of
Information Request Ref 5532 / 09 - Competency Related Threshold Payment
Regards
Chris Woolley
Audit & Compliance Officer
Information Governance Unit
Information Management Branch
Greater Manchester Police
Tel: 0161 856 1156
Extension: 61156
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