The Met Police will shed 300 HR jobs as part of a major shake-up of the function aimed at freeing up extra cash for policing.
HR director Martin Tiplady told Personnel Today that nearly a third of the force’s 950 HR roles would be phased out. This would occur through natural wastage and “a few” voluntary redundancies. The revamp, expected to be completed by April 2009, aims to save the Met £15m a year which would then be pumped back into front-line policing.
Tiplady has led the change programme, dubbed ‘Transforming HR’, since 2006. It will eventually see a service centre set up at a single location and a business partner model in operation. The Met has now started advertising for HR business partners to work across the capital.
“Processing will be done cheaper, but at the same time we’re upgrading the way in which HR does things,” he said. “So we’re providing a 24/7 service that is able to deal with issues overnight and at weekends.”
However, he recognised staff may be worried during the project. “There will be concerns from staff because any change programme carries with it anxiety, but we have a communication plan in place that will be ratcheted up as next April approaches.”
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Tiplady also said he was confident that a leadership academy introduced at the Met two years ago was tackling its high-profile leadership failings.
Set up in late 2006, the academy aimed to boost leadership among senior managers in the wake of the damning Morris Inquiry into police standards, which highlighted widespread people management problems. Tiplady said that results from a Met staff survey showed that progress was now being made and that staff felt leadership across the service had improved.
