CAS - Skills for Justice Aacs LMI Feb 2010

Skills for Justice - Labour Market Information Report for the Adult Advancement Career Service

Funded by Department of Business, Innovation and Skills

Prepared by Skills for Justice Research Team

Introduction to the Sector

1.0Skills for Justice - Justice Sector – United Kingdom

Sector Information[i]

The UK Justice sector has a wide range of different organisations, although operating to individual remits; they work towards the same broad purpose – the creation and maintenance of a safe, just and stable society.

The over-arching purpose of the Justice System is to:

Reduce crime and re-offending

Promote confidence in the Criminal Justice System

Protect people and contribute to the reduction and fear of crime

Support the administration of Justice

The Justice sector employs around 600,000employees across seven major strands of activity, each with their own unique functions.

Policing & Law Enforcement

Maintenance of law and order

Prevention and detection of crime

Reassurance and support for communities

Forensic Science

Detection of crime

Varied roles such as Scene of Crime Officers, Forensic Biologists, Forensic Chemists, Forensic Toxicologists and Fingerprint Officers.

Prosecution Services

Investigation of sudden or suspicious deaths

Production and issue of summonses

Preparation of cases for court

Public prosecutions

Court and Tribunal Services

Judiciary, magistracy and tribunals

Court management and administration

Custodial Care

Detention

Secure escort services

Prevention of re-offending

Electronic monitoring services

Community Justice

Community safety and crime prevention

Prevention of offending and re-offending

Supervision of offenders in the community

Community-based rehabilitation project

Services for victims, survivors and witnesses

Fire & Rescue Services

Fire and rescue emergency response

Emergency planning

Community fire safety

The majority of the workforce is located in Englandequivalent to approximately 419,290workers across all seven strands.

Table 1.0 Total Justice sector employment across the UK

Sub-sector / strand / Total employment in the UK 2007-08
Policing & Law Enforcement / 321,828
Forensic Science / 8,947
Prosecution Service / 11,258
Courts & Tribunals / 26,652
Custodial Care / 77,609
Community Justice / 76,963
Fire & Rescue Services / 74,228
Total / 597,485

Most organisations in the Justice sector are large – this is especially the case in terms of Policing & Law Enforcementand Custodial Care, where there are a relatively small number of forces or prisons employing a large number of people. A higher concentration of smaller employers can be found in Community Justice, where a large number of organisations are located in the third sector (non-profit / charitable organisations). The estimatednumber of third sector organisations in the Justice sector is likely to be in the order of 12,500 in the UK.

Those employed in the Skills for Justice sector are:

Located in primarily two main occupational groups:

Professional and technical (54% of all employment)

Sergeant, Constable and Police Community Support Officer (Policing & Law Enforcement)

Forensic analysts (Imaging, fingerprint, Biology, Chemistry) and Scenes of Crime Officers (SOCO)

Court Officer or Executive Officer

Legal Associates

Prison Officer, Prison Officer support grade, Prison Custody Officer

Community Safety Officer, Community warden, Project worker, Arrest referral worker

Administrative and secretarial (18%)

Administrative officers, caseworkers, administrative support staff across all the strands

More highly qualified than average, with 35 per cent qualified to A Level / Certificate of Higher Education level and above compared to 28 per cent across all in employment. Only 7 per cent have no or very low qualifications, compared to 23 per cent across all sectors. The main reason for the high qualification level is due to the high level of training entrants to the Justice sector receive. Most job roles include on-the-job training to A – level and higher as part of their induction.

More likely to be employees, with self-employment negligible (approx >1%)

More likely to work full-time, 87 per cent in the sector working full-time

Compared to the economy, those working in the UKJustice sector are more likely to

be:

Male: 56% male and 44% female in the sector. Women are underrepresented in the Justice sector, making up 44% of the Justice workforce compared to 46% of the whole economy. The nature of Justice sector occupations means that women tend to be clustered in support staff roles and in Community Justice rather than frontline roles such as Police Officers or Prison Officers. The proportion of women in the workforce tends to reduce as roles increase in seniority.

From white ethnic groups: 93 per cent are from white ethnic groups whereas 91% of UK workforce are from white ethnic groups.

The age distribution shows that there are fewer at either end of the age scale, with fewer young workers (8% aged 16 – 24) or fewer older workers (12%). Certain key roles in the Justice sector like police and prison officers have an age limit of 18 years and 30 year retirement schemes can create a lack of younger and older workers at either end of the spectrum.

Those in the Skills for Justice sector tend to be grouped in the ‘prime age’ ranges: 55 per cent are aged 25 – 44 compared to 47 per cent across the whole economy.

Useful Information:

The Criminal Justice System Website - Careers in the Criminal Justice System:

Criminal Justice System - Want to get involved inthe Criminal Justice System?

Your guide to careers and volunteering

The University of Edinburgh – Careers Service: Career Choices with Law – where else can I use my law degreewithout qualifying as a lawyer?

Sub-sectors – United Kingdom

2.0Policing & Law Enforcement

2.1Sector Information

The aim of Policing & Law Enforcement within the UK United Justice sector is to maintain law and order and to prevent and detect crime. The main functions are:

Promote safety and reduce disorder;
Reduce crime and fear of crime;
Investigating crime;
Contribute to delivering justice in a way that secures and maintains public confidence in the rule of law.

The Policing and Law Enforcement strand includes agencies responsible for:

Maintenance of law and order

Prevention and detection of crime and

Reassurance and support for communities.

Organisations

The Policing sector includes:

43 Police Forces in England and Wales

9 Police Forces in Scotland

Police service of Northern Ireland, and

Non-Home Office forces such as British Transport Police, Civil Nuclear Constabulary, and Ministry of Defence Police.

Special forces -Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA), Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency and Royal Military Police Special Investigations Branch

Law enforcement organisations primarily work to protect the United Kingdom’s borders and frontiers. This includes HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and UK Border Agency. (UKBA). Their work can expand past the areas of law enforcement therefore only staff who work in a law enforcement / detection capacity are included in this strand.

Geographical area of operation / Organisations
UK wide / Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)
UK Borders Agency
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)
Ministry of Defence Police,
Royal Military Police Special Investigations Branch (RMP SIB)
Great Britain / British Transport Police
Civil Nuclear Constabulary
EnglandWales / Police Service
England only / Police Service
Newham Parks Constabulary
Wandsworth Parks Police Service
Port of Dover Police
Port of Liverpool Police
Merseyside Tunnels Police
Wales only / Police service
Scotland only / Scottish Police Service
Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, Information Services -Criminal Justice
ScottishPoliceCollege
Northern Ireland only / Northern Ireland Police Service

The majority of employees in this strand work within the police service (291,049; 90%) and in England (242,135; 75%) although they are spread throughout the UK.

Figure 2.0 Types of employing organisations in the Policing & Law Enforcement strand

Sub-sector / Estimates(2006-07)
Policing / 291,049
Non-Home Office Forces / 28,903
Special Forces / 4,989
Total / 324,941

The Policing & Law Enforcement strand is similar across the UK, with a concentration of larger organisations. There are approximately 90 establishments across the UK with the majority employing over 200+ employees.

Characteristics of the workforce

Compared to the whole economy, those working in the Police & Law Enforcement are more likely to be:

Male: 63% are male and 37% female in the sector

From white ethnic groups: 95% are from white ethnic groups, compared to 92% across the whole economy.

2.2Information on careers available and new emerging jobs, transferability of skills, career paths and opportunity for progression

Key job roles in Policing & Law Enforcement fall into the category of either officers or non-uniformed support staff.

Officers

Police officers train for two years as probationers before moving onto the rank of Constable. From the rank of Constable, officers progress to Sergeant and up the following ranks;

Inspector

Chief Inspector

Superintendant,

Chief Superintendants and

Chief Constable

Immigration Officers are the key enforcement role in the UK Border Agency. There are approximately 9,000 who work across the UK in two main functions:

Border Control

Enforcement/Removals

Those who enter the UK Border Agency generally start as anassistant immigration officer and work towards achieving promotion to immigration officer through internal application.

Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customsemploys approximately 8,831 staff whose primary purpose is enforcement with the common job type being that of an Officer.

Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) are a new and emerging support staff role in English and Welsh police forces. The role, introduced in 2006, is uniformed and that supports the work of police officers working within a community. They carry out high visibility patrols to increase the police service presence. They have limited powers to tackle lower level crime, disorder, nuisance and anti-social behaviour.

Currently there are 15,805 PCSOs in EnglandWales, a 17.1% increase on last year. Additionally Scotland and Northern Ireland are looking to adopt the role of PCSOs in the forces to aid neighbourhood policing in the coming years.

Non-uniformed support staff

Police forces employ 76,948 full time equivalent non-uniformed staff to undertake posts in:

Accountancy

Call centre

Crime bureau

Finance

Fingerprints

Force intelligence

Legal services

Personnel

Communication and marketing

Scenes of crime and transport.

Among other roles, members of police staff assist visitors to police stations, deal with emergency 999 calls, prepare case papers for prosecution, recruit and train Police Officers, facilitate the technology and systems and maintain buildings.

Similar support roles exist in non-Home Office forces and special forces as in the Police Service.

2.3Information on pay scales in Policing & Law Enforcement

Police Constable (on commencing service) £22,104 - £24,67

Police Constable (upon completion of two years service) £26,109

Sergeant £34,707

All Police Officer roles have a £2,055 London salary weighting

Police Community Support Officer – starting salary at £16,000 rising to £18,700 after 5 years of service

Non-uniformed support grades range from £11,400 to over £40,000 depending on the role.

Immigration Officer: £20,968 - £26,214 (collected July 08). All new entrants start on the minimum salary scale. Salaries at senior level rise to £54,989 - £69,444. The role also includes London weighting ranging from £3,020 to £1,240.

2.4Information on entry requirement, application processes

Police Officer

There are no formal educational requirements for entry to the police service. Recruitment and selection procedures are managed by police services at a local level, although a nationally agreed competency-based framework is applied.

Entry is open to British and Commonwealth citizens, EC/EEA nationals, and foreign nationals who have no restrictions on their leave to remain in the UK and are over the age of 18.

Pre-entry experience is not essential, although it is advantageous to have some experience of working with individuals or groups in the community, such as sports coaching or working with local youth groups. Candidates will need to show evidence of the following:

Effective communication skills including tact and diplomacy

Community and customer focus

A sense of personal responsibility, integrity and resilience

Problem-solving skills

A confident and calm manner

Good literacy skills so that you can accurately record details

Respect for diversity

Teamworking skills and the ability to work independently.

Prospective entrants complete the initial application form and medical questionnaire, which are assessed and scored against entrance criteria. If this assessment is positive, the next stage is an assessment centre comprising a series of assessment tests and an interview. Successful applicants are then required to pass job-related fitness and medical tests (eyesight, hearing, blood pressure, body mass and a full medical). The purpose of these tests is to ensure that the entrant has a basic level of fitness and can meet the physical demands of policing. Appointments are then made, subject to references and security clearance.

Although you may still be eligible to join the police service if you have minor convictions/cautions, there are certain offences and conditions that will make you ineligible. If you are at all unsure, contact your chosen force for more information.

More information on recruitment is available from the Home Officeand the Police Recruitment Service - Could You?websites.

Police Community Support Officer (PCSO)

Unlike the requirements for regular police officers, there is no minimum age to apply as a PCSO. Basic eligibility requirements are:

No minimum or maximum height requirements

No formal educational requirement, but you will have to pass written tests

Only applications from British citizens, EC/EEA nationals, Commonwealth citizens, or foreign nationals with indefinite leave to remain in the UK will be accepted

A number of crimes will mean a definite or likely rejection of your application, including anyone who has received a formal caution in the last five years, committed a violent crime or public order offence

Physically and mentally able to undertake police duties by passing physical exam

Complete a medical history questionnaire and undergo an eyesight test satisfactorily before appointment

Some tattoos (whether visible or not) and facial piercing might be unacceptable.

Once an application is submitted it will be reviewed, and if it passes an initial assessment, you will be asked to come to an assessment centre to:

Take a written test

Be interviewed

Take part in interactive role-plays.

Successful applicants will undergo background and security checks, and a basic medical examination. More information on recruitment is available from the Home Officeand the Police Recruitment Service - Could You?websites.

Immigration Officers

There are not any formal academic qualifications required to become an Immigration Officer, however most candidates are educated to A level standard.To apply for an immigration officer post, applicants need to:

Be a UK national with no restrictions on your stay in the UK

Have lived in the UK continuously for the last five years

Pass security clearance (due to the sensitive nature of the work)

Be between age 18 and 63

Pass a medical examination.

You may have an advantage when applying if you also have some ability in a foreign language, but this is not essential. Applicants will usually be invited to an assessment centre where communication skills, judgment, conflict management skills and awareness of equal opportunities issues will be tested.

The immigration service recruits for some jobs through the Civil Service Fast Stream scheme. You can find more information about careers in immigration on the websites of the UK Border Agency, and Civil Service Recruitment Gateway.

All new recruits undergo an initial period of specialist training lasting 9 weeks in total. The initial classroom-based training programme is nearly five weeks, followed by an operational coaching period of four weeks. Candidates will need to be available for the duration of this training period. Courses are usually held in the Dover area, Manchester, Stansted, near to Heathrow airport or at Gatwick airport.

New officers need to acquire a good working knowledge of immigration legislation and associated rules and instructions. They also receive instruction in interviewing techniques. Further practical training is carried out on the job under the supervision of experienced officers who are always available to offer guidance and advice

Non-Uniformed Police Staff

The support roles employed by the police forces vary greatly throughout the forces; from analyst to call handler or HR and finance to librarian. Each force tends to operate slightly differently and may have very different job roles; the best route of entry is to contact your local force to discuss the opportunities available. Qualifications and application process differ from each force and each job role.

2.5Qualifications

The table below summarises the qualification gained upon entry into the Policing & Law Enforcement sector. It is important to note that all of these qualifications can only be undertaken once a person is recruited into the organisation. Non-uniformed police staff are not included in the table below as the variety of roles is too numerous containing a variety of necessary of qualifications.