Surrey PEEL 2015

Surrey Police has only assessed demand in a limited number of areas and it does not have a comprehensive understanding of all of the demands for service placed on it. Although it has started work to address this, it is not helped by its IT systems, which are currently only able to produce limited information.

Resources are not matched to demand and the force does not have a system to easily know which staff are on duty and where they are located. A force deployment procedure which provides for the nearest available resource to be dispatched to emergency and priority calls does not work effectively and resource location software which identifies officers’ geographical location is not fit for purpose.

The policing in your neighbourhood (PIYN) review, which is planned to report in September 2015, is intended to include a more in-depth and wide-ranging assessment of demand and resourcing, as well as making recommendations for a new operating model which should address these limitations.

Surrey Police has clear processes for managing performance but it does not fully understand how much different activities cost.

The force is working well with other emergency services to manage demand and looking at ways to ensure the most appropriate service deals with certain incidents. There is some good use of technology to help individual officers work more effectively.

Surrey Police’s current operating model is not sustainable or affordable in the future. It is currently being reviewed through the ‘policing in your neighbourhood’ programme (PIYN programme) which is focusing on neighbourhood policing and emergency response. Staff and officer numbers will need to be reduced to achieve future savings.

Vacancies have been held to make the current savings, but this has placed pressure on the existing staff in being able to meet service demand. Although the force has decided to recruit to a number of vacancies to alleviate this pressure, it faces particular recruitment and retention problems. These include the cost of living in the area and its closeness to London which offers jobs with an additional London living allowance.

The current review of the operating model focusing on neighbourhood policing and emergency response (the PIYN programme) is likely to result in a new approach where staff will need a range of different skills so they can undertake a number of roles. The scale of this change will present a significant challenge, in particular the level of training and up-skilling that will be required for officers to undertake a range of different activities effectively.

However, as the review has not yet been completed, there is no evaluation as to how the workforce model will support the delivery of the police and crime plan.

The force has achieved a balanced budget for 2015/16. It continues to benefit from its lower level of dependence on central government grants compared to other forces, which reduces the percentage of its savings requirement. It has maintained healthy levels of reserves and has been successful at achieving external funding, in particular from the Police Innovation Fund.

Surrey Police works well with the PCC’s office and shares planning assumptions with both the PCC and with Sussex Police. A new financial plan has been developed that allows for the use of reserves to enable the force time to fully implement a new operating model without holding excessive levels of vacancies.

Of the 2015/16 savings requirement target of £8.3m, business plans have been approved for savings the force assesses at £9.5m with a forecast underspend of £1.2m. It has also started to make plans for the savings that will be required in 2016/17.