Nottinghamshire PEEL 2016

Nottinghamshire Police’s understanding of current demand is good and this is helping to inform the way the force will organise itself and provide services in future. Its understanding of demand less likely to be reported is still developing. The force has a good understanding of the extent to which internal inefficiencies create demand and it continues to remove waste from its internal processes.

The force is developing its understanding of potential future demand for services and the effect of reduced resources in partner organisations. There are mechanisms which enable the force to discuss with partner agencies potential increases in demand as a consequence of reduced resources.

Nottinghamshire Police uses its resources to manage the current demand it experiences and makes clear decisions on the prioritisation of resources in line with public expectations.

The force recognises that the way it is currently organised and provides services – its operating model – is not sustainable. The force’s future operating model means that the geographic structure is to be replaced with a different way of working. The force reports it is fully committed to this new model but at the time of inspection there is no detailed business case to examine. Although the force told partners about intended changes to the policing model, some city council partners feel that they were not properly involved. This culminated in a public disagreement between the city council and the force that does little to bolster public confidence in policing.

The force does not fully understand the capabilities and gaps in its workforce and does not fully understand the mix of officers and staff, with the right skills, which will be needed in the new operating model. The force has a better understanding in some areas, for example in investigations and armed policing, but it is only beginning to assemble these options in other teams and departments.

The force is able to demonstrate that its collaboration with other forces reduces cost and improves resilience. It generally works well with others to manage demand for services and continues to consider other options for further collaboration. The force works well with blue light services in the area and continues to be involved with the East Midlands collaboration and is developing further opportunities in its tri-force collaboration with Northamptonshire and Leicestershire forces.

HMIC is concerned that Nottinghamshire Police has inadequate plans for the future. The force is facing serious financial risk. Inadequate financial management in 2015 meant that the force did not have appropriate financial controls in place and did not spot substantial cost omissions from budgets until September 2015. This situation is now improving but it is too early to ascertain if new financial leadership has stabilised the situation. The force also missed its efficiencies savings target by a sizeable amount and its very recent track record in achieving savings is disappointing. It was forced to draw on £9.4m from reserves to meet the budget shortfall and as a result has depleted its reserves.

The effect of the force having to make rapid further reductions in its workforce as a consequence of its financial position is particularly concerning, as these measures may affect the level of service the force is able to provide to local communities.

The force recognises that the way it is currently organised and provides services – its operating model – is not sustainable. It has a jointly owned medium-term financial strategy with the PCC, but needs to develop a medium-term plan linked to the PCC’s police and crime plan that brings together projections of demand, the workforce and assets (financial and otherwise) over a five year period.

The force’s £12.0m efficiency programme for 2016/17 places additional reliance on the assurances needed from budget monitoring but the force’s financial and workforce plans are not yet developed to understand the level of service it intends to provide in the future. The force do not have sufficiently accurate information to support good financial management, which means there are also challenges in ensuring accurate information for planning and reporting, for tracking any savings and managing effectively the strategic finances of the force. There is limited confidence that future savings can be achieved at the pace and scale required while maintaining a good service to the communities of Nottinghamshire.