Archived decisions

NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICING FUND - ACCELERATED POLICE AND COMMUNITY SAFETY OFFICERS (PCSO) RECRUITMENT

1. Under the current neighbourhood policing fund arrangements the Constabulary is committed to appointing 219 PCSOs by 31 March 2007 and a further 320 by 31 March 2008, a total of 539. In this year's budget, however, the Chancellor announced an additional £91m nationally to accelerate PCSO recruitment. The aim is not to increase the total to be recruited by March 2008 but to have more appointed earlier than would otherwise have been the case.

2. The offer to Hampshire requires the Constabulary to have appointed 219 PCSOs by 31 December 2006, a further 114 by 30 April 2007 and a further 206, still making a total of 539, by 31 March 2008. This means that the Constabulary has been offered £2.46m more in 2006/07 by the Home Office to make more appointments sooner than was anticipated. Because of the impact on salary costs of having more PCSOs for the full year 2007/08, there would a net additional cost of £0.5m over that which has been provided for in the budgets for 2006/07 and 2007/08. The Home Office has acknowledged that in some Forces the costs of the "early" recruitment may not be fully met by their offer and have indicated that consideration may be given to increasing the 2007/08 grant. This remains an unknown. There may also be other Home Office resources which could be used for this purpose.

3. Whilst the various timing milestones for recruitment have been set by the Home Office so as to qualify for the additional grant, the Home Office will not be drawn on whether there would be any penalty if these milestones were not met. In the longer term, Home Office funding plans for the PCSOs remain the same: 75% funding with the balance met locally for at least 2008/09 and 2009/10 with the prospect of the grant being absorbed into the general Police grant thereafter.

4. In welcoming these additional resources and the anticipated presence of more uniformed officers in the community, the Authority has placed on record its reassurance to the regular officers of Hampshire Constabulary that it would still prefer to have more fully attested officers. In accepting the Home Office offer the Authority also sought further clarification of any sanctions should the milestones for recruitment not be achieved.