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• All officers in our remit group should receive a consolidated increase of £1,900 to their full-time equivalent annual salary from 1 August 2022. The spot rates for Grades 1 to 5 and the...
- Executive Summary
- Chapter One: NCA Context, Pay Strategy & Economic Case for Change
- Chapter Two: People
- Chapter Three: Pay Proposals 2022/23
- Chapter Four: Conclusion and Total Costings
- Annexes
The National Crime Agency (NCA) leads the UK’s fight to cut Serious and Organised Crime (SOC). The NCA protects the public by targeting and pursuing criminal groups who pose the greatest risk to the UK. SOC affects more UK citizens, more often, than any other national security threat, and is estimated to cost the UK economy at least £37 billion a year, with this cost increasing annually.
SOC is a significant and established threat that endangers the integrity, legitimacy and sovereignty of the UK and its institutions, both at home and overseas. The 2021 National Strategic Assessment concluded that the threat to the UK has highly likely increased compared with 2020.
This is increasingly being driven by advances in technology, as criminal groups are operating in a global, inter-connected way, to continue to profit and avoid detection. The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted the nature of the threat, though the level has remained consistent.
This demonstrates the need for a pay and benefits framework that will enable us to attract and retain the capabilities that we require in the right place, at the right time. The ambition is that our pay framework rewards capability, supports agility of talent, and aligns with our people, inclusion and culture strategies.
Data suggests that the pay gap with our comparators, particularly policing, is growing. Our 2021 people survey results on pay decreased following the pay pause. We have higher attrition in areas that we have not been able to apply reform, which demonstrates the importance of continuing to implement our strategy.
The Agency has made some progress against our pay strategy, through introducing a capability-based framework, whereby officers are rewarded as their expertise develops. This has meant an increase of 9% conversion rate of applicant to offer for specialist roles, over 200 additional powered officers at operational grades, and an average rise in pay satisfaction through our people survey results since 2017.
How the NCA is leading the fight to cut SOC
1. In order to secure the skills that the NCA requires to lead the evolving threat, it is important that our pay proposal aligns with our strategic context. 2. SOC includes child abuse, human trafficking, slavery, money laundering, fraud, cybercrime, corruption, and the smuggling of drugs and firearms into the UK. Operating across geographical and virtual borders, SOC perpetuates serious violence, and harm to the UK from across the globe. It undermines sovereignty and corrodes economies worldwide. 3. The threat has proved resilient throughout Covid-19, with offenders increasingly operating online and using emerging technologies. This includes specialist encryption to hide their communications, and cryptocurrencies to launder their profits. 4. The NCA’s mission is critical to our national security. Government defines SOC as a tier two national security threat, with cyber sitting alongside terrorism as a tier one threat. To achieve its mission, the NCA is committed to: enhancing the intelligence picture of existing and emerging SOC threats to the UK, and using the intelligence to drive, lead and support the UK’s response to SOC; operating proactively at the high end of high risk, undertaking significant investigations to bring offenders to justice through prosecution or, if that is not possible, to disrupt them through other means; leading, tasking, coordinating and supporting operational activity to tackle SOC throughout law enforcement, proactively sharing intelligence, assets and capabilities with partners at local, regional, national and international levels; and Developing and delivering specialist capabilities and services to tackle SOC. 5. Tackling SOC requires a coordinated and national response. As detailed in our Annual Plan, we are developing the Agency so it can best lead the whole system. This will be achieved through harnessing the collective powers of law enforcement, government, the voluntary sector and industry. Our officers, and the partners we work with, deliver outstanding operational results to ensure the public are protected. 6. A new NCA Director General (DG) will be appointed in 2022, charged with leading the Agency through a period of significant transformation. The DG will maintain a pivotal role in UK and international law enforcement, and will continue to be directly accountable to the Home Secretary against a number of ambitions set out in the Government’s Beating Crime Plan and Integrated Review. 7. The following operational examples demonstrate the criticality, breadth and specialist nature of operations that the NCA are responsible for: Operational Example 1 8. We identified and arrested prolific online offender David Wilson, who was charged with 96 sexual offences committed against 51 boys aged 4 to 14. Evidence identified Wilson approaching more than 5,000 children globally. He blackmailed victims, using threats of sharing material already obtained to incite more extreme abuse, including the abuse of younger siblings and friends. In February, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison. This provides is an example of the work that the NCA leads on tackling Child Sexual Abuse on a global scale. Operational Example 2 9. Operation VENETIC led to the arrest of 1,550 people across the UK, and the seizure of 115 firearms and £54million in cash, following international partners’ successful extraction of data from an encrypted communications platform. The intention was to undermine the UK’s economy, integrity, infrastructure and institutions through criminality. The successful delivery of this work relied upon the expertise across our technical, investigate and intelligence functions, and is the broadest and deepest ever UK operation into SOC. 10. These examples demonstrate the complex nature of the work that we lead. In these areas we have specialist, operational roles that remain on the standard pay framework. Applying capability-based pay here will ensure we are rewarding officers for developing their skills where we need them, and encouraging officers to stay and grow careers within the Agency.[footnote 1] The NCA intend on bringing more roles into capability-based pay this year. 11. As the work that we do develops, and the skills that we require become more specialist, there is an increasing need to transform to secure the capabilities that we need. It is imperative that we align our pay strategy to support this, in order to stay ahead of the threat.
NCA Pay Strategy
12. Since the introduction of pay reform in 2017, we have successfully implemented elements of our strategy, delivered through our four pay principles of: attractiveness; fairness; sustainability; and a forward-looking approach to pay. Figure 1 shows the NCA pay strategy and the progress that we have made in implementing reform. Figure 1: NCA Pay Strategy Overview Attractiveness Progress made Expanded capability based pay to 54% of operational roles. Recruitment has seen 25% increase in applicant numbers*. Over past 4 years 1942 officers have been recruited into agency. Existing challenges Extending capability based pay to remainder of eligible roles in the agency. Building a professions strategy for enabling functions. Achieving alignment with comparators in our capability based pay framework. Expected achievements this year Invest in capability based pay to 250 more roles, focusing on hard to fill areas. Uplift spot rate values to bring us closer to our comparators. Fairness Progress made Gender pay gap within capability based pay is below agency total, with a mean of 4.66% compared to 11%. Targeted pay uplifts to reduce standard pay ranges by up to 19% since 2016. Existing challenges We need to reduce the number of officers in operational roles on different terms and conditions. The average pay range in the NCA is 23% compared to the Civil Service best practice of 15%. We still have gaps with comparators across all grades on the capability framework, and at grade 6 on our standard pay framework. Expected achievements this year Continue roll-out of capability based pay. Targeted uplifts for the lowest earners, for example grades 3-6. Forward looking Progress made We have started to move officers from Recruitment and Retention Allowances (RRA)** to capability based pay. Built a more sophisticated benchmarking approach to inform next year’s pay strategy. Existing challenges Tying capability based pay into areas that will require it most, investing in an affordable uplift in line with the evolving economic context. Agency needs to develop and modernise our total offer, taking into account other pay and non-pay benefits, as well as a wholescale review and how and where we work. Building a 3 year transformation proposal to accelerate progress. Expected achievements this year Anomaly correction in location allowances -97 additional officers receiving a South-East allowance. Sustainability Progress made Aligned RRAs to hard to fill roles. Targeted pay awards. Improved gender pay gap 2017 was mean of 11.6% and median of 16.2% which compared to 2020 was a mean of 11.74% and median of 11.18% Existing challenges Reduce overreliance on overtime. Contracts don’t reflect working arrangements of 24/7 agency. Expected achievements this year Targeted investment at grade 3 to reduce overtime reliance. Moving roles off RRA where we apply capability based pay. Targeting awards at lower earners will reduce gender pay gap. *Where we have applied capability based pay. **RRAs are an additional, non-consolidated payment, targeted to roles where there is clear evidence of issues with recruitment and retention as a result of pay. 13. The ambition is to achieve full coverage of capability-based pay, in line with our criteria at table 10, across operational roles. As outlined we have made some progress in achieving that, through extending capability-based pay from 48% in 2018, to 56% now. Whilst we will build on this in 22/23, there is more to do. It would cost £14.5 million to extend capability-based pay across all eligible roles, and a further £6.7 million to achieve pay parity with policing. We have limited investment to achieve this. Table 1 shows the progress that we have made against our capability-based pay ambition, the impact of the 22/23 proposal, and the residual gap across operational roles. Table 1: Progress against capability-based pay ambition Total operations roles: 5,003 [footnote 2] Figure 2: Current Powers VS. Non-Powers Split Powers: 36% No powers: 64% 14. The NCA has a blended workforce of powered and non-powered officers. The majority of officers with powers occupy roles within our operational commands, and would be eligible for capability-based pay, however this is not absolute. We also have officers with powers in other roles, who are able to support operational activity through surge capacity activity. Almost 36% of the workforce hold operational powers, with most concentrated within our Investigations command. 15. We also aim to reduce the length of our standard pay ranges so that they are aligned with the Civil Service best practice of 15%. This would build fairness, in line with the strategy. Although we have made progress, the average length of our standard pay range is 25%. In future years, we will review our approach to professions and functional pay, as other organisations have started to implement targeted, professions-based models. Whilst this does not cover roles within the NCARRB remit, it is important to present the organisational ambition. 16. Funding our pay reform programme is a challenge, and impacts the pace of change. There are many different areas that we need to apply our budgets organisationally, including infrastructure and people, and it is a fine balance to manage total investment. We are constrained by the public sector IRC position. 17. It is therefore recognised that building a resilient workforce for the future will not be achieved through pay alone. This year we have aligned our pay plan more closely into the People Plan, which is covered in chapter 2. Our three year transformation proposal will be developed in parallel with our new People Strategy, to deliver a coherent offer. 18. The proposals at chapter 3 will enable us to make some progress in the delivery of this strategy, through continuing to extend and invest in capability-based pay, shortening our pay ranges and addressing some anomalies in South-East allowances.
Impact of Previous Reform
19. The reform that we have implemented has had a positive impact within the Agency. Operational disruptions have increased, and we have had our most successful year to date in 2020/21. Where we have applied reform, attrition has reduced, and we have seen increased numbers of applications for roles that are on capability-based pay. 20. The NCA has a differentiated strategy due to the varied markets that we operate in; some officers have received significant pay increases since reform began in 2017, particularly where we have focussed on targeting investment in spot rate values. For example, grade 4 on spot rate 2 has received an additional £4,387 (or 11.2%). 21. In 2020, when we applied our last full pay award, officers received the largest consolidated pay increases in the recent history of the Agency. It made progress against our strategy, and included: Targeted uplifts to pay range minimums, with 4.5% for grade 6, 4.25% for grade 5 and 2.5% for grades 1-4. This positively impacted over 3,000 officers and reduced the length of the pay ranges, in line with our strategy; Increases to the value of spot rates, grade 5 by 4.5% and grade 4 by 3%, aligned with our ambition to build attractiveness within the market; Introduction of capability-based pay for grades 1-3, in line with our plan to build a sustainable and coherent set of terms and conditions; and An uplift in our location allowance, and some targeted increases to shift allowances, to make some progress in building comparability and fairness. 22. In 21/22, progress was limited due to the pay pause. 256 officers benefited from a £250 uplift if they earned less than £24,000, and an additional 94 officers received a small payment to ensure they were not leapfrogged on the pay scale as a result.
Workforce Overview
48. The NCA has a workforce of 6,032 as at 31 August 2021, and in the last four years the Agency has grown by 1,942 officers. 49. Permanently employed staff make up 90% of our total headcount. Over the last four years we have increased representation of officers throughout all protected characteristics. We continue to review our people data quarterly with the NCA Board. 50. The workforce composition across the grades is proportionately weighted towards grades 4 and 5. This reflects the operational nature of the Agency, with these being the core grades where we bring in, develop and deploy operational capabilities. The current grading composition at grades 1-6 is below in graph 1. Graph 1: Current Workforce Composition 51. The operational success of the Agency depends on the expertise of the whole workforce. We must attract, develop and retain the skills that we require across our many different professions. As part of the 20-21 Annual Plan, the Home Secretary tasked the NCA to continue to target its efforts on reducing the number of victims of exploitation, reducing the impact of SOC on our communities and reducing harm from economic crime. These complex priorities set out the need for an integrated workforce strategy. Our major responsibilities and skills requirements are set out in table 7. Table 7: Command responsibilities
National Crime Agency – Core Responsibilities and Skills Requirements
Threat Leadership - Including National Economic Crime Centre (NECC) Responsible for planning and driving the most effective and impactful whole system response to the SOC threats. They drive and plan the effective delivery of our response with partners at senior level in law enforcement, Government, private and third sectors. Requires specialist knowledge to develop the strategic approach, and capabilities to drive a 4 ‘P’ response (Pursue, Prevent, Protect and Prevent). Develops technical and specialist skills to support critical work in fraud, asset denial, money laundering, bribery and corruption. 23% of roles within the command have powers. Intelligence Accountable for developing and delivering the intelligence in response to support the 4 ‘P’ planning developed by Threat Leadership. Requires technical skills to develop information to support high-end operations and disruptions. Working with partners both nationally and internationally. 27% of roles within the command have powers. Investigations Accountable for executing the intelligence and disrupting the highest harm crime including, but not limited to, organised immigration crime, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, economic crime, firearms, drugs, kidnap, extortion and money laundering. 65% of roles within the command have powers. Enabling Capabilities Accountable for the development and delivery of capabilities to support the operational services across the NCA. Also accountable for the effective running of the organisation to ensure it is effective, safe and legally compliant. Requires professional, strategic capabilities across strategy, finance, commercial, data & technology and HR. 8% of roles within the command have powers. 52. Inter-operability across all areas is important for driving a holistic approach. The NCA encourages developmental moves, and we are building pathways to support this through our talent framework. In 2021, the Agency ran a lateral movement campaign which resulted in 116 workforce moves, mainly moving officers from Intelligence roles into Investigations roles. 53. This helped us to deploy resource where it is needed. We have redesigned the way we run lateral campaigns, to move away from an annual event, and aligning it more to surging capacity to meet the operational needs. This has helped to build agility, and more officers have benefited from developmental career opportunities. However, we need to ensure we embed a coherent employment offer, and approach to pay, to support this.
NCA People Plan 2021/22
54. In 2021, the Agency introduced a People Plan, to consolidate our position, set efficiencies and to bring people on to fill critical capability gaps. An overview of our annual People Plan and progress against it can be found at table 8. Table 8: NCA People Plan and progress made in 2021 55. Whilst we have made positive progress, there is more to do realise our strategic ambition. This includes remaining competitive, attracting new entrants and reducing the time it takes to onboard new starters at the beginning of the employment journey. We also need to ensure officers can access the training they need, and to drive inclusion and an open, transparent culture.
Addressing the NCARRB Feedback – 2021 7th Report
75. Whilst the government did not ask for recommendations in 2021/22 due to the pay pause, their 7th NCARRB report included feedback that we have been asked to consider. Table 10 addresses the key feedback. It is important to note that there are some issues that will be addressed more fully through the three year pay deal that we are planning to submit next year: Table 10: NCARRB feedback and NCA Response
NCA pay proposition for 2022/23
76. The NCA board have approved a 3% pay award for 2022/23, applied as follows: A) Extending capability-based pay, delivered through spot sates B) Investing in capability-Based pay, through spot rate uplifts C) Applying increases to the standard pay ranges D) Applying anomaly correction to South-East Weighting arrangements 77. The Agency will apply these uplifts through our differentiated approach, rather than applying a blanket award. This is a key enabler of our strategy. The NCA provide many specialist capabilities on behalf of law enforcement, intelligence and Civil Service partners. We require a unique, blended skills mix from different professions which we source from varied markets. A)Expanding the coverage of Capability-based pay 78. Extending capability-based pay is a key component of our pay strategy. Since the introduction of capability-based pay, it has been a priority to bring more operational roles into scope of the framework. The NCA has focused on areas with the most pressing recruitment and retention issues first, utilising a data-led approach. 79. We have set out below the direction that we are heading in extending capability-based pay further this year. However, the NCA expects to continue to own our skills framework, whereby we determine the coverage of capability-based pay in line with operational need. This is overseen through the internal NCA governance framework. 80. In order to identify the priority roles in scope we propose a series of criteria to be utilised, in order to complete our prioritisation exercise. The Agency will apply the criteria set out to determine the roles that will be prioritised for investment. This aligns with the work that we have completed on identifying hard to fill roles, through the vacancy gap and attrition data that is outlined in chapter 2. The operational examples outlined in chapter 1 present the unique and complex skills mix that we require, and these types of direct operational requirements will be considered as we implement uplifts. A high-level overview of the criteria and its application is set out in table 11. Table 11: Criteria for extending capability-based pay. 81. To support our assessment, the Agency conducts an equality impact assessment on the proposed entry list, along with forecasting the impact of implementation of the changes on the agency ambition. 82. This framework helps the NCA to prioritise roles for inclusion, allowing us to direct capability-based pay coverage where it will have the most impact. We have allocated £1.33m to increase the number of roles in scope of capability-based pay this year. B)Investing in capability-based pay (through spot rates) 83. In line with our strategy to build an attractive offer, the Agency is proposing to apply a differentiated investment into to our capability-based pay framework in 22/23. We are targeting increases at grades 3 and 5, with a focus on grade 3 to increase the attractiveness of the offer as well as align with policing comparators, and grade 5 as data suggests this is the area of highest attrition. The proposal will apply an average investment of 3.18% in the capability-based pay framework. 84. This will move us forwards in our strategy of building attractiveness and sustainability through reducing the gap with comparators. Based on the policing submission for this year, it is predicted that the gap at grade 4 and 5 will reduce by some margin, however there is more to do to close the gap in future years. Our proposal, along with how this compares to the estimated police award for this year, is outlined at table 12. Table 12: Proposed values for 22-23 (Capability-based pay framework) *3.5% estimated pay award with pay point 3 of Chief Superintendent raised by £5,674, in line with NPCC endorsed working party recommendations from 2021. This represents year one of a three year plan, the overall investment is predicted to be 2.7% over three years. C)Standard Pay Range Uplifts 85. The Agency is proposing to apply a differentiated award to the standard pay range, to target investment in line with our strategy. We will offer higher increases to the lower grades, for example at grade 6, as we have fallen behind the Civil Service median pay. This is aligned with our strategy to build the fairness of our offer, through targeting the lower earners in the organisation. This is forecasted to have a positive impact on reducing the gender pay gap. This proposal will move our grade 6 pay £1,439 ahead of the Civil Service median. We will further review the plan for grade 6 as part of our future strategy. 86. Although the other grades remain slightly ahead of Civil Service comparators, NCA officers did not have any pay uplift in 2022/21, and cost of living has risen. In our enabling functions, we have also seen attrition increase, particularly where we have not been able to implement pay reform. Further attrition data is contained in Annex A, point 6. We are therefore applying awards across all grades in our standard ranges. By applying a 1% increase at the grade maximum, and the remainder as a non-consolidated award, we will continue our strategic priority to reduce the length of the pay ranges. 87. The proposal and impact is outlined at table 13. This will provide an average uplift across the standard pay ranges of 2.43%, and will reduce the average pay length gap to 23%. Table 13: Proposed standard pay range uplifts for 2022-23 D)South-East Weighting Allowance 88. The NCA supports the Governments levelling up agenda, and we already have sites across the country. However, we continue to have increased operational demand in the South-East. Many of our ‘hard to fill’ roles are situated in this geographical area, and we continue to face acute recruitment pressures here. 89. The ambition for all allowances will be reviewed as part of our future strategy, as we also consider the impact of our estates programme, and the hybrid working pilot. 90. Proposed changes for 22/23 are aimed at addressing anomalies within our current allocation, through opting officers in our Chelmsford and Stevenage branches into the South-East allowance at £2,739, which is 80% of the current rate. This would go some way to addressing anomalies, whilst giving us the scope to develop our future strategy. This would also keep NCA pay from lagging further behind comparators in this area. This would cost £210k and would bring 97 officers in to scope. The detail of the proposal was submitted in our last evidence submission.
91. The 22/23 submission continues to execute the current pay strategy through applying the 3% IRC in line with our strategy principles of attractiveness, fairness, sustainability and looking forwards. This is the uplift that is affordable alongside the choices that the NCA need to make across the spending period.
92. To fund additional investment in subsequent years, we will need to make additional cost savings through seeking contractual reform that we will direct back into pay. This will include reviewing our approach to overtime, shift arrangements and wider contractual terms.
Annex A: Supporting Data
Chapter Contents 1) The NCA Workforce Current Spot Rates and Standard Pay Ranges NCA Workforce – Powers 2) Workforce Diversity a. Commands b. NCA Grades c. Spot Rate Eligibility d. Terms & Conditions 3) Initial Operational Training Programme (IOTP) 4) NCA Recruitment Activity a. Pipeline Data b. Operational Pipeline c. Internal Transfers 5) Productivity Statistics a. Increase in hours b. Wellbeing and sickness 6) Leavers - Attrition Rates 7) Leavers - Exit Questionnaire 8) Other Pay Elements a. Overtime b. Time off in lieu (TOIL) c. Contingent Labour 9) Salary Analysis a. Spot Rate Framework b. Standard Pay Range 1) The NCA Workforce At 31 August 2021, the Agency had a workforce of 6,032, comprising a mix of directly employed officers, seconded officers, fixed term employees and contingent labour. Their collective skills and diversity of experience are crucial to our operational success. Table 1: Workforce Employment Table 2: Workforce by Grade Table 3: Workforce by Command The majority of the workforce sits within the operational functions of Intelligence and Investigations, with Grades 4 & 5 having the highest number of officers. Table 4: Current spot rate values Table 5: Current standard pay range values NCA Workforce – Powers Table 6 provides an overview of Powered VS. Non-powered officers. Most powered officers are in operational commands, though there are some powered officers in enabling capabilities that are able to support operations where surge capacity is required. Table 6: Workforce by command – powers split *Officers funded by NCA Margin are either in process of being redeployed or whose costs cannot be attributed to a command budgetary line. The most common scenario is when Officers are transitioning into or out of an International Liaison Officer (ILO) role i.e. the Officer is an ILO in training or has returned to the UK following an overseas deployment and needs a temporary post while their full time post is determined. The below data shows that the majority of our powered roles are officers graded 4 and 5, which are more frontline facing roles. Table 7: Workforce by Grade – powers split ~ denotes 10 or less, including values redacted to safeguard the identity of our Officers. Table 8: Workforce by working pattern Table 9: Workforce by gender 2) Workforce Diversity A diverse workforce enables a culture where different perspectives and knowledge are embraced to innovatively combat newly emerging criminal threats. Diversity is improving, and the Agency continue to embrace initiatives such as the IOTP programme to create opportunities for increased representation. This is being furthered through our Inclusion and Culture strategy. Table 10: Workforce by age Table 11: Workforce by gender Table 12: workforce by ethnicity Table 13: workforce by religion Table 14: workforce by disability Table 15: workforce by sexual orientation Workforce Diversity – Commands Table 16 shows that proportionately, less officers work part time hours in operational commands than they do in enabling functions. This data also shows that female representation is higher within our enabling functions teams. Table 16: Workforce by command – work pattern split Table 17: Workforce by command – Gender split Workforce Diversity - NCA Grades The data shows that our lower grades tend to have a higher ratio of part time workers. Table 18: workforce by command – work pattern split Table 19: workforce by grade – gender split Table 19 shows that there is a higher proportion of females than males at Grade 6 and 5. From Grade 4 the difference shows a higher ratio of males to females, with males more than twice as likely to be in a senior role at grade 1. Workforce Diversity – Spot Rate Eligibility Upon the introduction of spot rates, officers were able to voluntarily opt into the framework. This means a proportion of our work force (8.56%) are in Spot Rate posts, whilst remaining on the standard pay framework. These officers are eligible to opt into Spot Rate pay at any time. The following data tables detail officers eligible to opt in to Spot Rate as of August 2021. Table 20: Spot rate eligibility by gender The highest percentage of officers eligible to opt into spot rates are in the higher age brackets, 4.3% of 50-59 year olds and 2.26% of 40-49 year olds. Table 21: Spot rate eligibility by age Table 22: spot rate eligibility by religion When looking at the ethnicity of the population, we can see that officers who identify as White are the highest percentage of officers eligible to opt into Spot Rate (6.05%). Table 23: Spot rate eligibility by ethnicity Table 24: Spot rate eligibility by disability Table 25: Spot rate eligibility by sexual orientation Workforce Diversity - Terms & Conditions The majority of the workforce remains on the Standard Pay Range. 39% of our workforce are on spot rates, with other T&C’s covering 0.22% of our organisation. This is an improvement on last year where spot rates covered 28% of our workforce. The data suggests that those on the standard pay range, who tend to have been with the Agency for a while, may be on a higher salary range, therefore the spot rate structure would not be beneficial to them overall. Table 26: T&C’s by gender Table 27: T&C’s by working pattern Table 28: T&C’s by working hours Officers on the spot rate pay structure tend to be evenly split between powers and non-powers. Table 29: T&C’s by powers Table 30: T&C’s by age Table 31: T&C’s by ethnicity Table 32: T&C’s by disability Table 33: T&C’s by sexuality *Data is based on NCA employees on NCA Terms & Conditions. 3)Initial Operational Training Programme (IOTP) The NCA IOTP is a 24 month blended training programme which accredits officers as either an Intelligence Officer or Investigations Officer. The cohort data below shows the number of officers undertaking the programme since last year’s report. The turnover for this group is low. The diversity of these groups is represented in the IOTP diversity statistics shown on the following pages. Table 34: IOTP Cohorts 4) NCA Recruitment Activity Pipeline Data During 2021 the NCA has continued to build on the accelerated pace of 2020, though there has been an impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on recruitment. Table 35 shows the changes in recruitment activity from 2019-2021. Table 35: Number of candidates added to NCA pipeline NCA Recruitment Activity – Operational Pipeline When looking at the recruitment of operational roles we can see the challenges the Agency faces. These roles are categorised by the following headings: Firearms – These are Specialist roles within our Armed Operations Unit (AOU), these roles can receive the ‘Expert’ Spot Rate salary. Intelligence Officer/Analyst – These are campaigns which fill vacancies across the NCA’s Intelligence command, as either an Intelligence Officer or within an Analyst team. Specialist Intelligence – Our specialist Intelligence teams include Forensic roles (physical or digital), Technical Operations and Human Intelligence (HUMINT). Investigations Officer – These are frontline roles investigating Serious and Organised Crime, which includes the arresting and interviewing of suspects. Specialist Investigations – Our Specialist Investigation teams include Social Workers, Financial Investigators and surveillance. Our Intelligent Officer/Analyst and Investigations Officer campaigns have improved considerably, however specialist recruitment has become more challenging. Table 36: Job offers by campaign. Following the successes in 2020 we are now expanding growth in specialist areas which matches with our goals of expanding the spot rate framework into these role types. Table 37: Conditional offers by applicant and offers NCA Recruitment Activity – Internal Transfers Over the past year, 29 staff moved from Investigations to Intelligence, and 23 moved from Intelligence to Investigations. These are movements taking place outside of the lateral campaign, so will include promotions and other recruitment activities. Table 38: Internal transfers for Intelligence Leavers Command: Intelligence Receiving Command: Investigations Table 39: Internal transfers for Intelligence Leavers Command: Investigations Receiving Command: Intelligence 5) Productivity Statistics Increase in hours As the spot rate framework has developed, the number of officers working 40 hours per week has increased annually. As of August 2021 we have 2198 officers on the spot rate framework, the increase in hours presents a productivity gain for the Agency. The increase in officers on spot rate represents an increase in 219.80 FTE for a 37 hour week, or 164.85 for a 40 hour week. Table 40: productivity statistics by grade Wellbeing and Sickness The spot rate framework was first introduced in 2018. With the increase in hours from 37 to 40 hours, compared to those on standard terms and conditions, the tables below outlines percentage of sickness days lost. It is evident that although spot rate officers are working three hours extra a week, the data suggests that sickness levels are lower than those officers on the standard pay range. Absence has been lower during the COVID 19 Pandemic; with spot rate sickness levels are even lower than 2018 and 2019. Table 41: Wellbeing and sickness by year 6) Leavers - Attrition Rates Attrition has been steadily increasing up to April 2020. The impact of COVID-19 has seen on average a 50% significant reduction in leavers from the Agency. Prior to this 2016-17 attrition was at 6.23%, which has risen year on year. The current expected attrition for 2020-2021 is 7.5%. Table 42: Attrition by grade An area where attrition has been quite high has been in our Armed Operations Unit (Firearms), where a combination of an ageing workforce and high numbers of officers moving to the police has meant the team have struggled to maintain operational capacity. In order to alleviate the issue of police transfers we have begun using the expert spot rate within Firearms, since implementation in 2019 leavers within Firearms has reduced down to 5 in 2020 and 6 in 2021 from a high of 12 in 2018. Table 43: Firearms leavers Graph 1: Annual turnover by command 7) Leavers - Exit Questionnaire In order to understand the reasons for our officers leaving, we have examined data from our exit questionnaire. This data has been collected from October 2020 to November 2021. The table below shows that pay and benefits is a concern for officers. Whilst pay and benefits alone with not secure talent in the NCA, it is a key part of our wider reform programme to ensure we keep pace. Table 44: Exit Questionnaire – reasons for leaving Another primary reason for leaving the Agency was work life balance/workload, to seek different working conditions and personal circumstances (ill health/family reasons/caring responsibilities). We have seen, due to Covid-19, our officers adapting to homeworking well (as a short term measure), and data has outlined that our sickness levels have decreased from previous years. Flexible working may have been a cause of this and partially contributed to a better work life balance, resulting in better productivity for the Agency. The Agency is evaluating the success of this through our hybrid working pilot. When consider what officers liked the most about working for the NCA, their team and relationships came out top, with their role and the opportunity to work on SOC also featuring highly. Table 45: Exit Questionnaire – Reasons for working at NCA Table 46: Exit Questionnaire – consideration period for leaving Table 47: Exit Questionnaire – command leavers Table 48: Exit Questionnaire – reasons for choosing new employer 8) Other Pay Elements As a law enforcement Agency we need to prepared to react to the changing nature of crime, this includes deploying officers outside of working hours and going beyond our normal working week. Officers at Grades 6-3 inclusive are entitled to request payment or time off in lieu (TOIL) for overtime worked, with the exception of Grade 3 officers on spot rates. Authorised overtime is payable at the following rates: i) Overtime worked on a rostered working or non-working day is paid at plain time up to 37 hours (or 40 hours if on spot rate framework) per week; ii) Overtime worked on a rostered working or non-working day is paid at time and a half rate where over 37 hours (or 40 hours) are worked; iii)iii) Overtime worked on a rostered rest day or Bank Holiday with less than 14 calendar days’ notice is paid at double time (with no requirement to have worked 37 (or 40) hours); iv) Overtime worked on a rostered rest day or Bank Holiday where 14 or more days’ notice is paid at plain time in line with i) and ii) above); a) Overtime During 2020-21 the NCA spent £13.31m on overtime with the majority of overtime claimed in operational roles, with Intelligence and Investigations the biggest claimants. Table 49: Total overtime claimed by command At the NCA officers at Grades 3-6 are eligible to claim overtime, the below table shows that Grades 4 and 5 are the highest claimants, which matches with those two grades being the biggest grades in the Agency. Table 50: Total overtime claimed by Grade Looking at overtime claims by officers with and without powers, the split is even with powers officers claiming 51% of overtime. Table 51: Total overtime claimed by powers The tables below show the diversity & inclusion characteristics of overtime, showing the gender split, ethnicity, age groups and working patterns of claimants. The percentage breakdowns broadly reflect the NCA workforce, with there being minor differences in some areas. Table 52: Total overtime claimed by gender Table 53: Total overtime claimed by ethnicity Table 54: Total overtime claimed by age group Table 55: Total overtime claimed by working pattern Officers have the ability to claim TOIL rather than overtime. During the financial year 20/21 there was agreement that officers could be paid TOIL at a standard rate. This was primarily caused by effects of the pandemic. The total cost of this was £211,392. The below table shows the grade breakdown of the payments made, Grade 4 was the highest claim with Grades 5 and 3 following closely behind. Table 56: Total overtime claimed by grade Overtime claims by Command follows a similar distribution as overtime, with operational areas having the largest total. Table 57: Total overtime claimed by command 61% of overtime claims are from officers with powers, which broadly reflects the breakdown of powers vs. non-powers in the Agency. Table 58: Total overtime claimed by Powers The equality and diversity tables show a similar pattern to overtime, with a difference in gender and, to an extent, age. 63% of the TOIL claims were from male officers in the 50-59 age group. Table 59: Total overtime by Gender Table 60: Total overtime claimed by working pattern Table 61: Total overtime claimed by age group Table 62: Total overtime claimed by ethnicity Contingent Labour During 2021-22 we are expecting a full year forecast of £7.26m in contingent labour costs, with the majority spend being in DDaT and Corporate Business Services which are relatively small commands. Some of this spend will expected but the effects of this need to be investigated in preparation for the potential three year pay deal. Table 63: Contingent Labour costs by command 9) Salary Analysis Spot Rates The spot rate framework allows our officers to progress along a number of spot rate values as their skills and experience builds. The below table shows which spot rate value our officers currently are on as of 1st January 2022. Table 64: Spot Rate Values by grade Due to the job market which we recruit from, the majority of officers on the spot rate framework are male. One of the priorities for the Agency is making our workforce more diverse. As officers progress through the IOTP, we expect to see more females on spot rates. It is important we provide female officers with opportunities to progress up the grade structure. At grade 1 we only have 5 female officers on the spot rate framework. Table 65: Spot Rate Values by grade and ethnicity If we look at the ethnicity, we see a similar breakdown with the number of BAME officers at Grade 1 being zero, with the majority of officers at Grades 4 and 5. As we move towards producing the ethnicity pay gap, we need to improve opportunities for BAME officers at the highest grades. Table 66: Spot Rate Values by grade and ethnicity Standard Pay Range As shown above, the majority of our officers are on the standard pay range. The below breakdown shows the position in the pay range at each grade for officers on the standard pay range. Table 67: Standard Pay Range by grade When looking at the grade breakdown, we can start to see some of the challenges we face with the gender pay gap, with the majority of female officers sitting in the lower end of each grade. Table 68: Standard Pay Range by grade and gender As with the spot rate framework, the number of BAME officers at Grade 1 is low, with BAME officers on the whole being at the lower end of the grade pay range. Table 69: Standard Pay Range by grade and ethnicity
Annex B: How pay works in the NCA
1. A request from the NCARRB as part of their seventh report in 2021, and from officers’ feedback, is to set out how pay works in the NCA as part of our annual submission. The NCA workforce is comprised of a blend of specialist skills and capabilities, and therefore the pay framework is complex. The Agency has set its intent to move away from pay being focused on time-served in post, to a framework which is aligned with developing skills and capabilities. We have been able to achieve this in part, through the implementation of a new pay framework in operational commands, but there is more to do to develop the strategy for enabling functions. 2. The NCA Board is ultimately responsible for making decisions around the investment of the pay bill from a strategic perspective. This is overseen through governance by the Remuneration Committee, which is chaired by an operational Director. This committee is responsible for overseeing and implementing the pay framework in a way which is fair, data-driven and in line with strategy. It is comprised of senior leadership team representatives from all commands in the Agency. 3. It is important to note that the Agency operates as both a civil service department, and as a law enforcement organisation. Part of our workforce hold operational powers, and part do not. 4. The NCA therefore engage in dual processes to determine the pay award across the workforce. For officers who hold operational powers, the Home Secretary sets a remit letter, whereby the NCARRB (as an independent pay review body) are requested to present recommendations on pay for those officers under their remit. The NCARRB cover only those officers who hold operational powers. To support the NCARRB in making their assessment, the NCA submit this written evidence document, which must first be approved by HM Treasury and the Home Secretary. This evidence submission is embargoed until it is published as part of the annual cycle. Once it is published, it is supported through the presentation of oral evidence by the NCA DG. The broad timeline for this process is as follows: November – Home Secretary issues the remit letter to the NCARRB (published on gov.uk) February – NCA submits written evidence to government for consideration March – NCA DG delivers oral pay evidence to support the pay case May – The NCARRB produce their written recommendations June – July – The government responds to their recommendations 5. There are a complex set of stakeholders and sign-off points throughout this process. The Home Secretary has accountability for the pay process and has developed a positive, partnership approach to working with the NCA. 6. As part of managing pay, the Agency engage with our three recognised Trade Unions, who represent the interests of their members. The Agency runs regular engagement discussions with the Trade Unions to invite challenge and scrutiny on proposals, and we shared planned workforce communications across parties. The Trade Unions also set their own set of evidence to the NCARRB to support in ensuring a holistic set of pay recommendations. 7. Whilst the NCARRB process covers officers with powers, non-powered officers pay is determined through a collective bargaining process with the Trade Unions. This is to negotiate on employees T&Cs whereby officers are not covered by an independent body. 8. Though, the NCA operate as one workforce, so there is consensus that both parts of the process should cover the entire pay award to ensure it is fair and equitable. This means that the NCA runs a multi-step process across each pay year, and often in parallel. This creates an often complex process. 9. The NCA are planning to submit a three year pay deal as part of the 23/24 submission. It is therefore prudent to consider the most efficient, effective and transparent pay process that will be deployed throughout that time to ensure the necessary level of scrutiny and challenge. 10.Engagement with officers on pay is key. The NCARRB feedback from their 2021 visits is reflective of the Agency engaging more, directly with the workforce. Officers will have not seen progression last year on pay, which has become evident through this year’s people survey results and some of the additional feedback that we have gathered through additional fora. There are areas we still need to do more work on, expert spot rates, allowances and capability based pay progression. 11.There is also a significant amount of pay activity that does not come under the direct remit of the annual pay bargaining and review processes. For example, the NCA utilises some form of recognition and performance bonuses through honorariums, which are awarded to those who go above and beyond their role, and end-of-year performance bonuses for officers who achieved exceeded outcomes in their performance review. To support this, the Agency has a number of pay processes, policies and procedures that are subject to negotiation with Trade Unions. 12.It is important to note that the above processes cover officers in delegated grades (Grade 1-6), and Senior Civil Service pay is governed centrally through government, with the Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB).
Annex C: Roles/Teams that are “hard to fill”
Investigation Officer Financial Investigation Digital Media Investigation Disclosure Social Workers Firearms Surveillance Intelligence Analyst Digital Forensics Protected Persons Cyber POCC UKFIU Defence against Money Laundering (DAML) Team UKFIU Terrorist Finance Team (TFT) Intelligence (NDEC) Data Science & Engineering Infrastructure / Field / Software Engineering & Architecture Cyber / IT Security STRAPSO Innovation Service Desk Information Assurance & Accreditation All commands (Strategy lead) Private Office Communications Change Project /Programme Management Accredited Finance Accredited Commercial Lawyer Psychologist The Agency apply capability-based pay in line with the following criteria: pay comparison in the market, recruitment and retention data, the level of disruption & accountability in the role, the complexity of the role, and whether it is deemed ‘hard-to-fill’. ↩ Although only powered officers come under the remit of the NCARRB, table 1 presents the capability-based pay position across all roles, in order to give the organisational picture. ↩ Back to top
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Nov 7, 2022 · These schedules set out judicial salaries and fees from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. Published 7 November 2022. Last updated 24 February 2023 + show all updates. Get emails about this page.
