Terms and conditions for Police Staff

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.22.025117

I note you seek access to the following information:

I hereby request any information which you hold relating to terms and conditions for Police Staff employed by the Metropolitan Police including leave, sick pay etc.
Such terms and conditions are held for Police Staff, employed by other Police forces, in the Police Staff Council handbook.
However, I understand Met Police staff are bound by different terms and conditions.

Clarification -
I refused your request for information on the basis that provision of the police staff terms and conditions, in their entirety, could not be completed in a time that was proportionate under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act). I further explained that the MPS was in the process of producing a concise document in which the terms and conditions for police staff would be set out. I estimated that this document would be completed within 3 months and could be considered for release to you once it had be finalised.

Clarification -
I note from your reply that a condensed version of Police Staff terms and conditions would become available. Is there any update on this and if so when will I provided with it

Decision

I have today decided to disclose some of the requested information. Some data has been withheld as it is exempt from disclosure and therefore this response serves as a Refusal Notice under Section 17 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (the Act) by virtue of the following exemptions:

Section 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement

Reason for decision

Section 31(1)(a) - Law Enforcement - of the Act provides that any information is exempt if its disclosure under the Act would, or would be likely to, prejudice the prevention or detection of crime.

I have claimed this exemption in that the release and publication of the contact details of a number of MPS departments would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour.

The provision to refuse access to information under Section 31(1)(a) is both qualified and prejudice based. I am accordingly required to conduct a public interest test to determine whether the 'public interest' lies in disclosing or withholding the requested information. In addition to conducting a public interest test, I must also establish the nature of the prejudice/harm that would result from disclosure and where prejudice/harm is established but not certain, determine the likelihood of it occurring.

Disruption to the Work of the MPS - The release and publication of the contact details of a number of MPS departments would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of the MPS, with information that would assist them to do so. In this regard, a person with this intent would be likely to use this information to make inappropriate contact with members of MPS staff. This would tie up the resources of the departments that employ these members of staff, causing disruption to the work of the MPS.

When considering whether the release of information is in the public interest, I have to consider whether the public interest is in favour of releasing information into the public domain or whether there is sufficient reason to support withholding the requested information. Having considered your request, I accept that there is a public interest in transparency when any request is made for police information. The public interest favouring release must be balanced against any associated risk and/or prejudice that would be caused by disclosure. Having carefully considered this, I have found that that the public release and publication of the contact details of a number of MPS departments would provide persons intent on disrupting the work of MPS, with information that would assist them in this endeavour. Given this and the fact that the removal of this information does not detract from the quality of the record being disclosed, I have found that the release of this information is not in the public interest. I have accordingly refused to release the information described above in response to your request for information.

Disclosure

I have disclosed the located information to you. Please find the requested ‘Police Staff Pay and Allowances Manual’ enclosed with this notice. In disclosing this record to you, I have removed the contact details (i.e. telephone numbers, email addresses and postal addresses) of a number of MPS departments. A series of emboldened asterisks (i.e. **********) denote where exempt material has been removed. All redactions have been made in accordance with the law enforcement exemption of the Act.