Benevolent fund for each tax year from 2016-17 to 2021-22
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.23.029348
I note you seek access to the following information:
Please can you tell me, for each tax year from 2016-17 to 2021-22:
- The total value of the force's benevolent fund for each year
- The total number of claims made for an award under the benevolent fund each year
- The total number of claims that were accepted and received payments under the fund for each year
- The total amount paid out in awards by the benevolent fund each year
- For each payment, broken down per year, please detail who received the award (i.e. current officer, former officer, dependent); the total amount (£) awarded; and a brief description or key reason for the award being paid (i.e financial hardship, loss of relative, mental health, physical health).
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 40(2)(3) - Personal data
Reason for decision
These searches successfully located the information relevant to your request. I will disclose the answers to the questions 1 – 4 under the section titled Disclosure.
In relation to question 5, I will only supply the total amount awarded and a brief description or key reason for the award being paid. I will not disclose the specific year the fund was awarded or who received the award, in order to minimise the risk of personal data being released by the MPS.
Section 40(2)(3) - Personal data - When this exemption is claimed, it is accepted that harm would result from disclosure. Section 40(3A)(a) states that public authorities will not disclose information which constitutes personal data and if the disclosure would contravene any of the Data Protection principles.
To disclose all the requested data would publicly reveal information about individuals which would contravene Data Protection principles. The Data Protection Act 2018 defines personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable living individual. There are six data protection principles set out in section 34 of the DPA 2018 and under Article 5(1)(a) of the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR). The first principle requires personal data to be processed in a ‘lawful and fair’ manner. The basis for determining what constitutes lawful and fair is outlined under section 35 of the DPA. Under section 35(2) it states:
• the data subject has given consent to the processing for that purpose, or
• the processing is necessary for the performance of a task carried out for that purpose by a competent authority.
It is important to note that we do not have the consent of any of the data subjects to release their personal data and the release of the data will not be used for a law enforcement process.
Under Article 6(1)(f) of the GDPR, the disclosure of personal data is considered to be lawful if:
• There is a legitimate interest in the disclosure of that personal data.
• The disclosure of the personal data is necessary to meet that legitimate interest.
• The disclosure would not cause unwarranted harm to the data subject.
You have requested in part, information on who received the award, broken down per year. By means of a legitimate interest test I have considered the release of the personal data, and I have found that:
• Disclosing the requested information would provide a factual answer to this request. The legitimate interest in transparency would be further satisfied through the release of this information.
• There are several entries that are very specific in there nature. Some individuals may have disclosed select data to colleagues or family members, in relation to what they have received be it a grant or a loan, but they may not have divulged the exact amount they have been awarded. At a very basic level the data that I am providing shows the number of individuals who have been the recipients of the benevolent fund and the key reason for the award being paid. On a secondary level, if I disclose all of the requested data, I would be detailing whether the amount was given to a current officer, former officer or dependent, as well as the exact amount, which is very specific and may not be publicly known. However, I believe that with the absence of the individual’s position and the year placed beside the amount and reason for the award, this massively reduces the risk of identifying the individual.
Disclosure
Q1 - The total value of the force's benevolent fund for each year
| Year | £ |
| 2016 | 4,407,119 |
| 2017 | 4,373,924 |
| 2018 | 4,003,725 |
| 2019 | 4,063,744 |
| 2020 | 3,873,605 |
| 2021 | 3,993,401 |
Q2 - The total number of claims made for an award under the benevolent fund each year
In 2016 a total of 73 applications were reviewed by the Relief Board.
In 2017 a total of 90 applications were reviewed by the Relief Board.
In 2018 a total of 87 applications were reviewed by the Relief Board.
In 2019 a total of 73 applications were reviewed by the Relief Board.
In 2020 a total of 64 applications were reviewed by the Relief Board.
In 2021 a total of 45 applications were reviewed by the Relief Board.
Q3 - The total number of claims that were accepted and received payments under the fund for each year
In 2016 - 37 were awarded a grant, 17 were awarded a loan and 19 were declined.
In 2017 - 47 were awarded a grant, 26 were awarded a loan and 17 were declined.
In 2018 - 50 were awarded a grant, 20 were awarded a loan and 17 were declined.
In 2019 - 45 were awarded a grant, 21 were awarded a loan and 7 were declined.
In 2020 - 35 were awarded a grant, 6 were awarded a loan, 22 were declined and 1 withdrawn.
In 2021 - 18 were awarded a grant, 6 were awarded a loan, 21 were declined.
Q4 - The total amount paid out in awards by the benevolent fund each year
| Year | Grants | Loans | Total |
| £ | £ | £ | |
| 2016 | 163,931 | 86,363 | 250,294 |
| 2017 | 254,884 | 188,382 | 443,266 |
| 2018 | 141,541 | 85,510 | 227,051 |
| 2019 | 204,400 | 99,196 | 303,596 |
| 2020 | 113,132 | 22,077 | 135,209 |
| 2021 | 63,722 | 31,403 | 95,125 |
Q5 - For each payment, broken down per year, please detail who received the award (i.e. current officer, former officer, dependent); the total amount (£) awarded; and a brief description or key reason for the award being paid (i.e financial hardship, loss of relative, mental health, physical health).
Please find attached an excel document which partially answers these questions.