APPENDIX A
Placement of Restricted duties officers (Draft)
1. About This Procedure
1.1.This procedure explains how officers who are restricted from some of “the ordinary duties of a police officer”(see 5.1 for a definition) are found a substantive post.
1.2.It applies to all medium, long term and permanently restricted officers. (see5.2 for definition)
1.3.This procedure also allows for monitoring and consideration of distribution of restricted officers across OCUs / Departments when making posting decisions.
2.Risk Assessments/Health & Safety Considerations
2.1.When an officer becomes restricted Occupational Health (OHWST) will carry out a medical assessment to identify what Integrated Competency Framework (ICF)role risk category is appropriate. (see 5.3 for definition)
2.2.When a substantive role is identified for the restricted officer by personnel managers,if necessary a case conference will repeat the assessment to ensure the role is appropriate. In these cases, the line manager of the new role will be involved.
2.3.All officers in ICF risk category 2 and 3 will be reviewed annually by OHWST to see if the ICF risk profile has changed.
3.Procedure
3.1.Once an officer is placed on medium, long term or permanent restrictions, if their current role is no longer suitable, the Personnel Manager will try and match the officer with existing vacancies of the appropriate ICF risk level within the parent OCU / Portfolio.
3.2.If the Personnel Manager feels the OCU/Portfolio already has too many restricted officers to be operationally effective, or existing local vacancies do not match the risk profile of the restricted officer, then the Personnel Manager will contact the Senior Resourcing officer at Netley to see if any roles are available across other OCUs/Portfolios.
3.3.It is recognised that extra training may be required to enable a restricted officer to fulfil a new post. The need for training should not be a bar to posting into a role as long as the person is thought to have the capability to successfully complete the training.
3.4.In order to facilitate this process, the Personnel Manager will complete a skills profile with the officer to identify restrictions, preferences, skills and experience, and this will be passed to the Senior Resourcing Officer for reference.
3.5.In order to monitor the Force wide vacancy situation, when any level 2 or 3 post becomes vacant, the following processes must happen:
- On an OCU, the Personnel Manager should first contact the Resourcing Team at Netley, to ascertain whether any restricted duties officersseeking an established role may be suitable. Only if the answer is no should the role be filled.
- The Resourcing team will also screen all requests for advertising against current skills profiles, and will not advertise or post to roles unless it is clear that no restricted officers may be suitable for the role.
3.6Where restricted officers are being considered for a specialist post vacancy, they must complete a G31 outlining their suitability for the role, and will be given a priority interview. A member of Personnel will sit on the interview panel. If the officer demonstrates the competencies required for the role (or could do so with reasonable training) they must be appointed to the post.
3.7If no Force vacancy can be found the Personnel Manager must first look at all level 2 or 3 (as appropriate) posts occupied by fully operational officers within the OCU/portfolio. The restricted officer will be considered for the post and if appropriate posted. If it is a specialist post the officer will need to complete a G31 and be interviewed as detailed in section 3.6. If this process is successful the fully operational officer will be posted back to level 1 duties creating a vacancy for the restricted officer. If this is unsuccessful at the parent OCU/Portfolio the Personnel Manager must look at all level 2 or 3 posts (as appropriate) occupied by fully operational officers across the Force and the same process should be followed until the restricted officer is successfully posted to a substantive role. Where posts are being sought outside of the OCU/Portfolio or the move is potentially more complex, the Personnel Manager must write a report for the Head of Personnel setting out options and considerations for determining which fully operational officer should be moved to create a vacancy for the restricted officer. Part of this consideration must include a review of the current distribution of restricted officers around the force.
3.8To aid this process, Occupational Health will send out a monthly report of all restricted officers and their current postings to all Personnel Managers.
3.9The Personnel Manager will also need to consider the officer being moved, and work with the Resourcing officer to identify an available vacancy meeting the officer’s skills / role risk profile, along with any retraining that may be required.
3.10Personnel Managers will ensure that both the restricted officer, the officer being moved, Occupational Health and the appropriate managers are consulted throughout the process, including case conferences if appropriate.
3.11If the restricted officer has concerns about the proposed role change the relevant concerns will be discussed at a case conference.
3.12Where a restricted officer has a disability, as well as identification of a post, reasonable adjustments may also need to be considered, in order to ensure the officer performs in their role effectively. Please refer to the Reasonable Adjustments Procedure.
3.13It is the Personnel Manager’s decision in consultation with OCU Commanders, Heads of Department, other Personnel Managers (where appropriate) and the Head of Personnel,where the restricted officer is placed as long as the ICF risk profile is assessed as appropriate by OHWST.
3.14 Appeals against the application of this process are to the Head of Personnel, and should be made within 28 days of the relevant decision. Appeals will be heard within 21 days, and the outcome notified within 7 days of the hearing.
3.15This whole process should take no longer than 3 months. If no decision is reached in that time, the Head of Personnel (HOP)needs to be informed by the Personnel Manager of the reason for the delay and HOP may chose to make an executive decision about which options should be considered, or give a time limit by which the process must be completed.
3.16Any appeals to the processwill “freeze” the time limits for the procedure to be completed, until the appeal is concluded.
4.Roles and Responsibilities
4.1The responsibilities of the Personnel Manager explained in this procedure, may be delegated to any member of the Personnel team within that OCU / portfolio.
5. Administration
5.1 The ordinary duties of a police officer are defined as:
a)the ability to sitfor reasonable periods, to write, read, use the telephone and to use (or learn to use) IT;
b)the ability to run, walk reasonable distances, and stand for reasonable periods;
c)the ability to make decisions and report situations to others;
d)the ability to evaluate information and record details;
e)the ability to exercise reasonable physical force in restraint and retention in custody;
f)the ability to understand, retain and explain facts and procedures.
5.2Restricted duties
Medium 6 months – 2 Years
Long term 2 Years - 5 Years
Permanent restrictions - until retirement. (This can only be decided by application to the independent Selected Medical Practitioner (SMP) ).
5.3ICF ROLE RISK CATEGORY
1. This role calls for the officer to be medically fit for all the ordinary duties of a police officer
1A. In addition to medically fit this role calls for the officer to pass a regular physical fitness assessment
2This role is not a high risk of confrontation
3This role is sedentary in nature with a large part being office based
6.Monitoring and Evaluation
The Head of Personnel, in consultation with the Head of OHWST is responsible for monitoring this procedure.
7.Review
This procedure will be reviewed annually in ?????
Associated Procedures
Reasonable Adjustments Procedure