Policing UK 2013 - Police Federation

Innovative austerity?
We are used to hearing that the police service is
undergoing unprecedented change. Elected Police
and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will fundamentally
change governance and bring a very different dynamic
to local accountability. These changes arrive at a time of
substantial budget cuts, both announced and anticipated.
Significant turnover in policing leadership is also likely,
with a third of the posts filled by temporary officers and
many Chief Officers reaching retirement. Against this
backdrop, many PCCs were elected on a mandate of
protecting the frontline, yet the HIMC estimate 1 that only
a third of the planned workforce reduction from Spending
Review 2010 has been delivered to date. Tension and the
need to make difficult decisions will be inevitable in the
sector for the foreseeable future.
The issue that all are united on is the need to protect the
gains made by most forces in reducing crime, improving
emergency response and increasing customer satisfaction.
So what have we really seen that brings a thoughtful,
skilled and innovative response to the challenge of
protecting and enhancing the best in British policing?
Our analysis and the insight gained through eight years
of intensive, operational work in the sector, makes it clear
that the current austerity cuts can be achieved without
detriment to service. Strong, passionate leadership,
focused on the drivers of demand and the core mission
of a force goes a long way. The real challenge emerges if
as expected, force budgets are reduced by a further 15%.
Such reductions would necessitate the emergence of a
very different service – but a different service doesn’t have
to mean a worse service.
“Burning platforms” often drive reform to working
practices, relationships between local agencies and
indeed organisational culture. Many forces have started to
fundamentally question what should be delivered by the
police and which other organisations are better placed to
undertake that work. Collaboration helps but experience to
date has shown that effective collaboration requires a lot of
senior attention, substantial elapsed time and rarely delivers
benefit over a large proportion of the spend.
Outsourcing in the sector has been restricted historically
to traditional back office functions plus custody.
There has been little public debate regarding other
innovative service delivery options, such as investor led
joint ventures or mutuals.
1. HMIC, Adapting to Austerity, July 2011
2. Staffordshire County Council, December 2012
3. KPMG, Operation QUEST (5), July 2009 – March 2010
These more innovative options are being pursued in other
sectors like education, most recently in Staffordshire,
where a joint venture proposes to create an additional
1,600 jobs 2 in the local economy. The binary debate
around the recent Business Partnering in Policing
programme (i.e. in sourcing is good and outsourcing is
bad) is a missed opportunity to develop a genuinely better
and more efficient police service.
Perhaps it is time to acknowledge that the most logical
response to the budget squeeze is a fundamental
reconfiguration of the broader criminal justice system
(CJS). The clue is in the word “system” but it requires
people at all levels to put protectionism and egos
aside. Senior leaders of all the separate parts must
demonstrate quite actively the collaborative, productive
behaviour that must become the recognisable quality of
all those who work for the British public in the criminal
justice system. Our work in West Yorkshire with the
police, CPS and courts demonstrates the potential –
4,000 fewer failed trials 3 each year. This is just a glimpse
of the improved service and efficiencies that could be
grasped. Deeper and broader integration is required. We
are starting to see examples of this internationally. The
new Christchurch Justice Precinct will not just co-locate
the New Zealand Ministry of Justice, Department of
Corrections and police, but aims to design integrated
processes flowing across organisational boundaries.
Local communities are more concerned about service
than organisational boundaries. They care that offenders
are brought to justice; and that they can live in strong,
safe communities. To stand any chance of realising
further budget reductions whilst protecting services,
PCCs and the wider CJS leadership should start to think
in the same way.
For further information on KPMG’s pioneering work in
the criminal justice sector search for justice and security
at www.kpmg.com or contact:
Rosemary Scully
Global Head of Justice & Security
E: rosemary.scully@kpmg.co.uk
T: +44 (0)20 7311 1516
Nicholas Fox
UK Lead Partner for Justice & Security
E: nicholas.fox@kpmg.co.uk
T: +44 (0)20 7311 5046