Most of the temps supplied by recruiter Grafton and employed by the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) earlier this year were former police officers who had retired under severance schemes, finds a report from the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO).

And representative body the Police Federation of Northern Ireland (PFNI) blames “a collective determination by government and political parties to portray Northern Ireland as being entirely at peace”, despite the fact that terrorism still continues, a spokesperson tells Recruiter, for an “over-eagerness” to reduce police numbers.

The NIAO report released yesterday (3 October) finds that 19% of the 5,600 PSNI officer who retired under one of two severance schemes operated between 2001 and 2011 were later re-employed in a temporary positions, with most of these temps (63%) working in the crime operations department, which is responsible for investigations into organised and serious crime, when data was collected on 31 March 2012.

Since 2002, recruitment agency Grafton has provided 1.5m agency days to the service, which has been the sole supplier of agency staff since 2004, having won an extension to a previous contract, before winning a competitive tender to extend this further in 2008. 

The NIAO report finds: “Although PSNI now collates some data on temporary staff, it did not always have sufficient information to fully understand the extent and costs of using temporary staff. Work has begun to enhance the data sharing arrangements between PSNI and Grafton.”

The report also shows that at 31 March, 73% of the 391 full-time equivalent temporary staff at PSNI had previously retired under PSNI’s severance schemes – with such workers making up 59% of agency days since 2002, and on average assignments lasted 223 days.

A PSNI statement says: “PSNI welcome the findings of the Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) report into the use of agency staff and the recommendations made, many of which are reflective of our current practice.”

“Importantly, in addition to highlighting some areas for improvement, the report recognises the clear business need for the PSNI to use temporary staff in an uncertain financial climate… The appropriate place to discuss the detail of the report is with the Policing Board and the Public Accounts Committee and we look forward to having that opportunity in the coming days.”

The PFNI adds: “While the process could evidently have been managed better we should be grateful that there were ex-officers available to help us meet the ongoing challenges of protecting the community from terrorism and crime.”

Grafton had yet to respond to Recruiter’s requests for comment before going to press.

For the full report, click here.