Equality Information Report 2021/22 - accessible version
Equality Information Report - HTML / accessible version
Publication Date: November 2022
West Yorkshire Police
Foreword
West Yorkshire Police serves an area with a population of over 2.3 million people. We remain committed to providing the best possible service to all those people, ensuring everyone has fair access to our services and are always treated with respect.
Our Force area is one of the largest in the country and is varied not only in terms of its combination of cities, towns, and rural areas, but also in the diversity of its people, who represent a broad range of ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds, which is constantly changing. Understanding the differing needs of these diverse communities is essential and presents us with an opportunity to engage and better understand the people we serve.
In 2021/22 we continued to live with the issues that living with Covid-19 pandemic have presented.
Working closely with partners we take a neighbourhood focused, problem solving approach to dealing with crime and anti-social behaviour, ensuring we have a highly trained workforce and the means to identify and protect the most vulnerable and disadvantaged in our society. We are also part of co-located multi-agency teams, which aim to provide co-ordinated and improved services to those who have experienced the most serious crimes.
In line with our Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Strategy we aim to integrate equality, human rights, and respect for diversity into everything we do in order to deliver a service which meets the needs of our communities and supports our workforce. In line with our Force Code of Ethics, I expect every police officer, volunteer, and member of police staff to take responsibility for delivering a fair and professional service, promoting equality for all.
This report provides equality data for the period 1st April 2021 – 31st March 2022. A separate report about our Equality Objectives and progress made to date is also available.
John Robins
Chief Constable
Contents
Introduction
Overview of West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire Police serves over 2.3 million (2020 ons.gov.uk) people living in five districts of Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield. The Force area covers some 2000 square kilometres and has a network of motorway and trunk roads allowing easy access to and from other areas. Its five districts are varied, ranging from large busy city centres to towns, quiet villages, and rural locations. People who live, work, and visit the area are from a diverse range of ethnic, cultural, and economic backgrounds. The county is also temporary home to one of the largest student populations in the country, based at our universities in Leeds, Bradford, and Huddersfield. West Yorkshire also has a number of national and regional tourist sites and large sporting events attracting visitors into the county.
There are some areas of challenge in the county. The English indices of deprivation (2019) stated that more than 1 in 5 (22%) West Yorkshire residents (over 500,000) live in the worst 10% of the most deprived areas in England, indicating that these are areas with significant issues relating to unemployment, poor education, health, housing, income, and the living environment. In contrast there are some areas of significant affluence across the county.
Demographic data by the nine protected groups
We are still using the 2011 Census data, as at the time of writing this report, the 2021 Census data is yet to be released in its entirety.
Data relating to the protected groups of age, marital status, race, religion, and gender, are all taken from the Census 2011, much of which was released in December 2012. It should be noted that some people may have chosen not to complete the census and will therefore not be represented within the data. The ONS releases mid-year estimates for some of the information included within the census, however these estimates do not cover all the protected characteristics.
It is noted that there is no direct question on the 2011 Census on disability, however the survey did record those ‘people whose day-to-day activities are limited’ and ‘people with ‘bad’ general health’. Marital Status refers to the percentage of the adult population.
Other sources of data, relating to sexual orientation uses the Annual Population Survey (APS) produced by the ONS (England 2013-15). The ONS data relating to sexual orientation is a national estimate, which has been extracted to estimate the LGB population of the Force area of 1.8%. However, it is recognised from further research Report 37, EHRC (2009) such estimates can only be used an indicative data source and other sources may be necessary. Independent sources in 2005 by HM Treasury and The Department of Trade and Industry in preparation for Civil Partnership Act legislation, generated a higher national percentage estimate of 6% which, was reported by The Guardian (2005) and endorsed by Stonewall, a leading national campaign group.
It is noted that the 2021 census included new voluntary questions for over 16-year-olds about sexual orientation which is expected to provide more reliable data going forward.
Our Obligations
Public Sector Equality Duty
The Equality Act 2010 places statutory duties on public bodies which protect people from discrimination on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, marriage and civil partnership, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. These are referred to as ‘protected characteristics.
The Public Sector Equality (General) Duty, Regulations 2011, requires West Yorkshire Police to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, harassment and victimisation against people who share a protected characteristic, in addition to advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations between those who share a protected characteristic and those who don’t. Showing due regard requires the force to demonstrate continual improvement through consultation with people which may for example, lead to improved recording of data based on protective characteristics.
Under the Specific Duty we are also required to publish our Equality Objectives and make Equality information accessible on an annual basis.
Diversity, Equality & Inclusion (DEI) Strategy
West Yorkshire Police remains committed to understanding the different needs and demands of our diverse communities and promoting the principles of equality, diversity and human rights in all areas of policing. Our Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy under the themes of Our Organisation; Our Communities; Our Partners, seeks to: -
• embed diversity, equality, and inclusion in all aspects of police decision-making.
• create a workforce that is truly representative of the diverse communities we serve.
• better understand the barriers to developing a representative workforce at all levels.
• protect vulnerable people, create safe communities, and value everyone in our workforce, whilst being compliant with the Equality Act 2010 and Public Sector Equality Duty 2011
To further these aims, an overarching Equality Governance Framework is in place to deliver our DEI Action Plan, monitoring the provision of services and employment, and ensure we meet our statutory public sector equality duties under the Equality Act 2010.
To ensure our commitments to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion remain not only a priority, but responsive and relevant to societal changes, our Strategy is currently under a major review. The outcome of the review will help West Yorkshire Police to progress even further and ensure the DEI is embedded into our working practices and culture.
Equality Objectives (2020-2025)
Our Equality Objectives reflect our DEI Strategy, the National Police Chief Council’s Diversity Equality & Inclusion (DEI) Strategy and Toolkits and align with Force Priorities and the West Yorkshire Police and Crime Plan 2021 - 2024.
Our Equality Objectives are detailed below including how we will measure progress. A separate progress report on how we are delivering against them is available on our website along with this report, which will be updated annually.
Our Equality Governance Framework monitors progress against our Equality Objectives, as well as overseeing delivery of the DEI Action Plan. Equality data will continue to be used to identify longer term trends and inform future Equality Objectives.
Equality Objectives
Equality Objective 1:
Recruit, develop and retain a diverse and inclusive, flexible workforce which reflects the communities we serve to help the police service in West Yorkshire understand and protect our communities.
- Transparency and Scrutiny
- Understanding our workforce
- Leadership and culture
- Attraction and Recruitment - Use positive action in the recruitment of people in underrepresented groups.
- Retention and Progression
- Increasing public confidence
- Data Monitoring and scrutiny - applicant profiles and workforce data, including Gender Pay Gap – identifying trends over time
- Exit interviews
Equality Objective 2:
Scrutinise, monitor, and improve our processes to ensure equality and fairness is transparent and embedded into everything we do.
- Transparency and Scrutiny
- Developing our workforce
- Attraction, Recruitment and Retention
- Wellbeing and Fulfilment
- Delivery of Force Equality Plan
- Data monitoring and scrutiny
- Review HR policies
- Equality & Human Rights Assessments
Equality Objective 3:
Ensure robust analysis of all workforce and service delivery data to identify areas of concern or disparity to inform organisational priority and training and development needs.
- Understanding our workforce
- Leadership and culture
- Attraction, Recruitment and Retention
- Tackling Disparity
- Understanding our communities
- Deliver staff survey and wellbeing action plans
- Data monitoring and scrutiny – to include workforce and also service delivery such as stop and search, victim satisfaction to identify disparity
- External scrutiny, i.e., Independent Advisory Groups
Equality Objective 4:
Create safer and more confident communities in tackling the under reporting of hate crime and incidents.
- Joint Service Delivery
- Monitor Hate Crime Incident data by protected characteristic
- Monitor Victim Satisfaction – Hate Crime data
- Deliver Hate Crime Action Plan
Equality Objective 5:
Improve our understanding of communities so we can treat everyone as individuals according to their needs.
- Understanding our Workforce
- Engagement and building relationships
- Increasing public confidence
- Deliver the DEI Action Plan
- Deliver the Neighbourhood Policing Strategic Plan
- Monitor data from the Police & Crime Commissioners survey ‘Your views’
Equality Objective 6:
Strengthen our relationships with partners through collaborative working to improve service delivery and increase public confidence.
- Workforce retention and Exit from Service
- Understanding the partnership landscape
- Tackling Disparity
- Joint Service Delivery
- Understanding our communities
- Deliver Equality Action Plan
- Deliver Neighbourhood Policing Strategic Plans
- Data monitoring to identify disparity
Equality Data 2021-2022
The Equality data in this report relates to the year April 2021 to March 2022 (unless otherwise stated) and is used to inform the Force strategy in relation to diversity, equality, and inclusion. The 2021/22 equality data is presented in two areas: how we deliver our policing services to service users, and data about our workforce.
Equality data is monitored and used to assist with the development of new and/or revision of current Force policy. It also helps West Yorkshire Police identify how the workforce is changing and whether we need to revise our procedures, policies and learning interventions. Observing trends and patterns relating to operational policing helps the Force to develop equality strategies and objectives aimed at improving services to our communities. Further statistical information is available from: www.gov.uk, www.police.uk and www.ons.gov.uk
Service Delivery data
Stop and Search
Source: Figures from the force Stop and Search system relate to stop and searches in 2021/22 and 2020/21.
Data Limitations: The protected characteristics have been calculated using stop and search records where the protected characteristics of the subject are known.
Comments: Ethnicity – Ethnic Minority groups comprise 18.2% of the population in West Yorkshire however a higher proportion of stop and search activity (41.0%) within the county take place amongst Ethnic Minority groups. When analysed against the denominator of ethnic group populations, people from an Ethnic Minority background are more likely to be stop and searched than a person from a white background (i.e., the “Ratio of Ethnic Minority to White stops” is 3.1:1) and this disproportionality has remained consistent with that reported in 2020/21.
Gender - 91% of all stop and searches (where the gender is stated) takes place on males, and men are almost 10 times more likely to be stop and searched then women.
Age – Just over one third of all stop & searches are conducted on people aged between 14-20 years and people of this age group are around four times more likely to be stop and searched than people aged 21 and over.
Arrests by Nationality, Gender, and Age
Source: Data extracted from the Force custody system
Data Range: 1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022. The top 10 nationalities identified in 2021/22 are also reported for the two previous years to determine any significant recent variation in the nationalities of people being processed through custody. A person’s nationality (when recorded) will be counted in the report each time they passed through custody.
Data Limitations: The report only includes data where a person’s ethnicity, age and gender are recorded on the custody system.
Comments: Nationality - the range of nationalities passing through the custody system reflects the diverse nature of the population in West Yorkshire. 278 nationalities (including dual nationalities) passed through custody in West Yorkshire in 2021/22. Around eight in ten of these persons had a United Kingdom nationality which is similar to previous years. Albanian detainees account for less than 1% of all detainees but are increasing year on year.
Gender - the gender of people passing through the custody is generally consistent across the nationalities with 84% of arrestees reported as being male. Arrestees from Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, and Albania have proportionally fewer female arrestees.
Age – Around six in ten arrestees are aged between 20-39 years and almost nine in ten arrestees are aged between 20-59 years and this profile is shared across the majority of nationalities. Around one in eight arrestees are aged nineteen or younger.
Section 136 custody related arrests
Source: Force Custody System
Comments: Section 136 of the Mental Health Act 1983 empowers a Police officer to
remove a person from a place to which the public have access to a ‘Place of Safety’ if the person appears to have a mental ill-health condition and in immediate need of care and control. The purpose of removing a person to the place of safety is only to enable the person to be examined by a doctor and the necessary arrangements be made for the person’s care and treatment.
Some detentions under section 136 will lead to admission into a secure medical ward or a home detention which would be the first preference, other than a period in a custody suite. The number of detainees in West Yorkshire relating to Section 136 of the Mental Health Act fluctuates year on year however the number of S136 detainees being taken into custody has fallen significantly over time. In the past two years just one S136 detainee has been taken into custody.
The Force has worked with partners to improve Mental Health Services in line with the National Mental Health Crisis Care Concordat and are developing crisis triage to better inform decision making around people in mental health crisis. This is contributing to fewer people being brought into custody.
Over half of all S136 detainees are male whilst just over three quarters are White with the majority of detainees falling into the 20-59 age group.
Strip Search in Custody
Source: Data extracted from the Force custody system
Data Range: Based on primary arrests 01/04/2021 to 31/03/2022.
Data Limitations: The report only includes data where a person’s ethnicity, age and gender are recorded on the custody system.
Exceptions: In the past year, the total number of strip searches undertaken in Custody has increased by 57 to 2,691 (an increase of 2.2%). Of the total detainees who have been strip searched in Custody, white men between the ages 18-39 are most likely to be strip searched within custody whilst strip searches on Ethnic Minority detainees at 25% is higher than the general population (18%).
Use of Taser
Source: West Yorkshire Taser monitoring reports
Data Range: Data over the past 2 financial years has been used.
The "use of taser" includes Firing, Drive Stun, Angled Drive Stun, Red Dot, Aimed, Arced and Drawn. The officer records highest level of usage when a "Use of Taser" form is submitted.
Exceptions: In the past year, about nine in every ten taser uses involved male subjects (88.3%). Just over one quarter of all taser uses were on people from Ethnic Minorities (28.6%), whilst around two thirds (67.3%) of taser uses were on subjects aged between 18 and 39.
Taser use has increased by 20.3% from 2020/21 to 2021/22. Non-contact taser use accounts for 92% of all taser usage showing that non-discharge use of taser is a successful method of de-escalating volatile situations often without progressing to firing, drive stun or angled drive stun use.
Domestic violence offences: outcomes and high-risk referrals
Source: Data extracted from the Force Crime Recording system. Offences and outcomes that are domestic related are ‘flagged’ on the system. The number of high-risk referrals is also recorded.
Date Range: Figures are provided for the financial years 2021/22 and 2020/21.
Data Limitations: High risk referral figures relate only to the referrals where a district has been specified on the MARAC record on the crime system. Victim Profile figures exclude ‘unknowns.’
Comments: High risk referrals are under ‘multi agency risk assessment conference’ (MARAC). The MARAC is a victim-focused meeting where information is shared on the highest risk cases of domestic abuse between criminal justice, health, child protection, housing practitioners, Independent Domestic Violence Advocates (IDVAs) as well as other specialists from the statutory and voluntary sectors. The referrals are the number that took place in 2019/20 and 2020/21.
Exceptions: The number of domestic related offences has been on a long-term upward trend, and this reflects a change in the way that domestic abuse is recorded. This ethical and victim focussed approach by the Force increases the likelihood of being able to identify and safeguard vulnerable victims. In 2020/21 8.4% of all finalised Domestic Abuse related crimes resulted in an offender being either charged, summonsed, cautioned, or being dealt with via a community resolution. In 2021/22 the Force achieved a slightly lower outcome rate of 6.8%.
The protected group breakdown of domestic violence victims indicates that a number of protected groups are overrepresented when compared to the population profile in West Yorkshire. Whilst the ethnicity of the victim generally reflects the population make-up, those victims aged between 18-44 years account for almost three quarters of all Domestic Violence victims and are over-represented compared to the population. Females who account for just over half of the population account for 74% of all Domestic Violence victims which is similar to the previous year.
Hate Incidents (hate crime and hate non-crimes)
Comments: Data is compared from the past three financial years by district and hate strand as the primary motivator. It is noted that a reported hate incident can have more than one associated prime hate motivator.
The Hate non-crime information relates to the total number of Hate incidents which didn’t subsequently result in a crime being recorded, broken down by district and by hate strand, based on the date the incident was recorded by the Police. The hate crime information relates to the total number of Hate crimes by district and by the primary hate strand, classified as a crime during the observed period.
Exceptions: Reported hate non-crimes are relatively low in volume but these increased last year by 11.0% when comparing 2021/22 with the previous financial year. Race related non-crime incidents are the most prevalent hate non-crime incident type and these were relatively stable last year. The number of faith, sexual orientation, transphobic and disability related non-crime incidents all reported small increases last year.
The statistics report a 20.3% increase for recorded hate crimes. Race related hate crimes account for 68% of all hate crimes and these increased by 16.5% in 2021/22. Increases were also reported last year for all other hate crime strands including Sexual Orientation (29.6%), Disability related hate crimes (20.6%) Faith related hate crimes (29.9%) and Transphobic related hate crimes (58.2%). West Yorkshire Police continues to encourage victims of hate incidents and crimes to come forward and report their experience to the police.
Racist Incidents Victims Satisfaction
Source: User Satisfaction database, racist incident victims only
Date Limitations: Data covers period of 01/04/2021 to 31/03/2022. The percentages relate to the satisfaction rates for each ethnic group. We are unable to publish satisfaction results for individual hate stands (other than racist incidents) due to the small sample sizes involved.
Comments: Racist incident victims are contacted as part of our victim satisfaction survey programme to evaluate satisfaction of victims with the service they have received. Victims are asked to gauge their level of satisfaction with the ‘whole experience’ and are provided with seven options. Those who are completely, very, or fairly satisfied are classed as satisfied.
Overall satisfaction of racist incident victims has seen a decrease of 9.9% vs year end 2017/18, however an increase of 2.2% when compared with the same period last year.
From April 2015 the views of other protected characteristic groups were included for the first time within the Home office Survey Programme and 76.0% (of a sample of 50 respondents including the strands of disability, faith, sexual orientation and gender identity) were satisfied with the service they received from the police in the last 12 months.
Rape Offences
Source: Data extracted from the Force Crime Recording system.
Data Range: Figures are provided for the financial years 2021/22 and 2020/21.
Exceptions: The Force has reported a 17% increase in the number of recorded rape offences in 2021/22 albeit the previous financial year was impacted by the COVID pandemic, and which saw fewer sexual offences being reported. The Force has however reported a long-term increase in the number of sexual offences and rapes being recorded and the increase has been impacted by the way that rape offences are recorded and reflects greater emphasis by the Force to safeguard vulnerable victims whilst the positive effect of the media interest in high profile cases has also encouraged and given victims the courage to come forward and make reports of historical offences. This increase in reporting has been reflected across the country. The difficulty the police face with investigating historical reports of this nature is that much of the evidence has already been lost in relation to forensics and witness accounts.
Safeguarding – Missing from Home and Child Protection Case Conferences
Comments: West Yorkshire police treats reports of missing people very seriously and devotes a considerable amount of time and resources in effort to locate these people.
Child protection case conferences are arranged so that agencies concerned about protecting children can meet to discuss their concerns and make plans to protect children. West Yorkshire police have an important role to play in this process and the Force supported over 1600 initial case conferences last year.
In 2021/22 the Force recorded over 7,000 missing person occurrences involving children (someone aged under 18 years old), 46.8% of these occurrences involved a female child and 32% of these involved a female child believed to be at risk of Child Sex Exploitation. During the same period 4,034 adult missing person records were also created.
Victims of Crime
Source: Data extracted from the Force Crime Recording system
Data Limitations: The report only includes crimes where a person’s ethnicity, age and gender are recorded on the crime system. A number of crimes recorded by the police will be offences where the complainant is a business or organisation and, in these circumstances, no personal details will be recorded. The Force continues to work towards improving the accuracy of data quality to ensure we fully understand the protective characteristics of both victims and offenders.
Exceptions: Gender - Taking all offences and all victims into account recorded crime increased in 2021/22 by 17.3% however crime in the previous year (2020/21) was unusually low due to restrictions associated with the COVID pandemic. Similar increases were reported for both female and male victims of crime. Around 54% of all crimes (where the gender was recorded) reported that the victim was female, and this is the same as in the previous year. The latest gender victim profile is therefore slightly adrift of the local population as 49% of the population in West Yorkshire are female.
Exceptions: Ethnicity - Around 22% of all crime victims (where the ethnicity of the victim is known) are from an Ethnic Minority background and like gender this is slightly adrift from the overall make-up of the population. 18% of the population in West Yorkshire are from an Ethnic Minority background.
Exceptions: Age - Around 15% of all crime victims are aged between 0-19 which is low in comparison to the number of these people in the general population in West Yorkshire whilst victims aged between 20-39 years (47%) are overrepresented in comparison to the general population of this age group in West Yorkshire.
Requests for interpreters: suspects, victims, and witnesses
Source: Statistics provided by current service provider Capita Translation and Interpreting.
Data Range: Data from Capita Translation & Interpreting up to March 2022.
Comments: Requests for interpreters relate to suspects, victims and witnesses combined. Requests for interpreters are not necessarily a reflection of first languages spoken within West Yorkshire. Some suspects, victims and witnesses may speak English sufficiently to not require an interpreter. However, interpreter request data is a useful local demographic source of information.
In the 12 months to March 2022 there were 6,474 requests for an interpreter, which makes up 91 languages, with 10 languages accounting for 70% of the occasions when an interpreter has been requested. Polish and Urdu were the most requested language. British Sign Language also continues to be requested (159 occasions), accounting for 2.5% of requests in the latest 12 months.
Victim Satisfaction
Source: User Satisfaction database
Data Limitations: Data covers period of 01/04/2021 to 31/03/2022. The victim satisfaction programme was expanded in April 2017 and now includes all crime types based on the Home Office crime tree classifications including Domestic Abuse (but excluding Homicides, Sexual offences, and Fraud). The programme also includes ASB and Safety and Welfare callers. Feedback is gathered each month via telephone surveys.
Comments: During 2021/22, 10,195 victims took part in the surveys, with 72.6% of those victims saying that they were satisfied with the overall service delivered, a decrease of 5.1 percentage points compared to the same period last year.
Victims are asked to gauge their level of satisfaction with the ‘whole experience’ and are provided with seven options. Those who are completely, very, or fairly satisfied are classed as satisfied.
Exceptions: Women are more satisfied than men with the service they have received from West Yorkshire Police. Victims who are aged 55 and over are more satisfied with the service they have received than those under 55. Victims who said they had a disability were less satisfied than those who said they didn't have a disability.
Victims who have described themselves as White are more satisfied than those victims from an Ethnic Minority background. Satisfaction for both White and Ethnic Minority victims has declined over time.
Anti-Social Behaviour Victim Satisfaction
Source: User Satisfaction database
Data Limitations: 01/04/2020 to 01/03/2022.
Comments: Surveyed respondents who are ASB callers are contacted as part of our victim satisfaction survey programme to evaluate satisfaction of victims with the service they have received.
During 2021/22, 603 ASB callers took part in this survey, with 66.5% of those callers saying that they were satisfied with the overall service delivered. This was a decrease of 7.4% on the same period last year.
Victims are asked to gauge their level of satisfaction with the ‘whole experience’ and are provided with seven options. Those who are completely, very, or fairly satisfied are classed as satisfied.
Exceptions: Men are less satisfied than women with the service they have received from West Yorkshire Police, while Victims who have described themselves as White are more satisfied than those victims from an Ethnic Minority background.
2.1.15 Public Consultation results
Comments: As a result of the COVID pandemic, the Your Views Public Perception Telephone Survey carried out by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), was suspended in 2020/21. An on online survey took place in May 2021 and again in June 2022; the surveys were distributed via social media, WYCA and Community Safety Partner websites and Neighbourhood Alerts emails. As the online survey now relies entirely on members of the public selecting to complete it each year, comparing results from one year to another would not reflect a fair comparison. Therefore, we are publishing the results from the above surveys without a comparator.
In total, 2745 West Yorkshire residents completed the survey.
The below excerpt is taken directly from the WYCA summary report which compares responses from ethnic minority individuals with those who identify as white:
2022’s survey attracted a larger number of responses from members of Black and minority ethnic groups than last year’s, but at 7.2% of the total, responses from minority groups are still severely under-represented in the survey.
Combining the data from this and last year’s survey, respondents from Black and minority ethnic groups reported a lower sense of safety than members of White ethnic groups. 60.9% of Black/minority group members described themselves as feeling safe in their neighbourhood, compared to 74.2% of White respondents.
The proportion of respondents who recognise that people in their neighbourhood from different backgrounds get on well is very similar between White and Black/minority groups (55% of both groups give a positive answer to this question), but the proportion of those who disagree with the statement is greater amongst Black and minority residents’ responses (23.9% disagree compared with 15.6% of White respondents).
Satisfaction with local policing across both waves of research was lower amongst Black/minority ethnic groups (59.0% describing it as good or satisfactory) than amongst White groups (72.9%), although dissatisfaction with policing increased most sharply amongst White respondents between 2021 and 2022’s results, with the proportion describing policing as poor/very poor growing from 20.8% to 34.4%.
Both groups of residents report the same level of dissatisfaction with the police presence in their neighbourhood.
On policing integrity measures, although there is no real difference between White and Black/minority groups’ perception of the effectiveness of local policing, in the last two waves of research, almost one quarter (24.7%) of Black/minority respondents have said they did not feel that the police would treat them fairly (equivalent figure for White groups was 9.2%).
Whilst 76.9% of White respondents felt that the police would treat them with respect, 62.9% of Black/minority respondents gave the same response.
Complainant data – complaints made against the police force
Source: Data extracted from the Force complaints database.
Data Range: Data relates to financial years 2021/22 and 2020/21
Data Limitations: The protective characteristics of complainants are not always recorded and therefore the totals for each characteristic may not be the same. Upheld complaints do not directly relate to complaints recorded during the same period.
Comments: New statutory guidance introduced by the Independent Office for Police Conduct in mid-2020 changed the way in which complaints are recorded and categorised. This has led to a larger number of recorded complaint cases in 2020/21 than in previous years and a smaller proportion of those cases categorised as "upheld".
Exceptions: When compared to the population men are more likely to make a complaint than women whilst a higher number of complaints are received from people from an Ethnic Minority background compared to White people. Complaints from Ethnic Minorities are also more likely to be upheld.
Workforce Data
Overall workforce breakdown (officers, staff, special constables)
Source: Data is extracted from the force Human Resource system.
Data Limitations: Police officers and police staff protected characteristics are derived from an individual’s initial application to the organisation, however a voluntary ‘self-service’ facility exists for employees to update their details as appropriate.
Comments:The number of Police officers has increased over the past 12 months whilst Police staff numbers have returned to levels reported two years ago. The proportion of officers that are from an Ethnic Minority background is on a positive upward trend. The proportion of Police staff and PCSOs from an Ethnic Minority background has also increased over time. Encouragingly the proportion of Police officers who are female has also risen over the past few years.
Age – Around 40% of police staff are aged over 50 years and this has stabilised following an upward trend. The proportion of officers under 21 years old has increased over the past 2 years whilst Police Staff aged under 21 years have fallen slightly compared to two years ago. The percentage of police officers and staff who indicate that they have a disability has risen over time and the slow upward trend continued in 2021/22 for police officers.
Comments: Religion – Where the religion of employees has been disclosed, 52% indicate their religion as being Christian whilst 5% of employees have disclosed their religion as Buddhist, Muslim, Sikh, or Hindu. The willingness to disclose religion remains voluntary and the trends in religion may therefore not be representative of the workforce.
Comments: Sexual orientation - For employees within the organisation who have disclosed their sexual orientation, 86% of people indicate as heterosexual. The willingness to disclose sexual orientation remains voluntary and the trends in sexuality may therefore not be representative of the workforce.
Comments: Maternity - The number and percentage of female staff, officers and PCSOs on maternity leave stands at 1.9% as of 31st March 2022.
Workforce Rank and Grade by Ethnicity and Gender
Source: Rank (officer) and Grade (Staff) data is extracted from the force Human Resource system.
Data Limitations: Ethnic Minority figures represent percentage of employees who have stated their ethnicity as being Black, Asian, Mixed or Other Ethnic Background, as a percentage of employees with a stated ethnicity, i.e., excludes employees with Ethnicity 'Not Stated'
Comments: Ethnic Minority representation - Both the number and proportion of Police Officers from an Ethnic Minority background have increased over time, and this is particularly driving the improving profile of Constables in the organisation. Ethnic Minority representation within Police Staff is also increasing over time
Comments: Female representation - Both the number and proportion of Police Officers who are female have increased over time and this is notable across the ranks of Superintendent, Chief Inspector, Sergeants, and Constables. Female representation for Police Staff is higher than for officers and this also continues to increase over time.
New starters (officers, staff, and special constables)
Comments: Monitoring of race, sex, age, and disability for new starters.
Exceptions: 13.6% of new Police Officers, PCSOs and Staff in 2021/22 were from an Ethnic Minority background. Women account for 62% of new police staff starters and 48% of new police officers. Around one fifth of new police staff starters were over 50 years old.
Recruitment process – Police Officers
Data Limitations Application status reports for Police Officer vacancies advertised between the period April 2021 and March 2022. Data is extracted from the Force Recruitment system. It is not possible to report at what stage candidates withdrew their application.
In 2019 two new Police Officer application routes were introduced nationally. PCDA refers to the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeships and DHEP refers to the Degree Holder Entry Programme.
Workforce Progression
Source: Rank (officer) and Grade (Staff) data by gender, ethnicity and age is extracted from the force Human Resource system.
Data Limitations: Police officers and police staff protective characteristics are derived from an individual’s initial application to the organisation; however, a voluntary ‘self-service’ facility exists for employees to update their details as appropriate. The data is taken at 01/04/2021 and 31/03/2022 by rank and grade and any variance over the year is an indication of people being promoted or moving laterally into a role within the force.
Comments: Police Officer progression data by ethnicity shows mainly an upward or stable position with an exception for officers who identify from a Black heritage.
Police staff progression data by ethnicity shows an overall stable position for each ethnicity category with the exception of a decrease across scale 1-6 grades for the staff who identify as White.
Police Officer progression data by age indicates an overall upward trend between ages under 24 to 37 years and then a decrease from 38 years to 52 plus.
Police staff progression data by age shows an overall upward trend between ages under 24 to 37 years and then a decrease from 38 years to 52 plus. The increase in volume for 52 plus group are consistent with the latest reports showing that the pandemic led to a wave of resignations and early retirements with three in five over-50s having left the workforce sooner than planned, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Equal pay and job evaluation
Data Limitations: West Yorkshire Police have not undertaken a full equal pay audit but have in the past conducted a desk top equal pay review which considered three areas of job evaluation, pay policies, and pay data, with reviews taking place to continue to monitor these areas.
Comments: West Yorkshire Police uses an analytical methodology to determine the grade of all police staff roles – the HAY Job Evaluation Scheme. Job evaluation is a practical technique designed to enable trained and experienced evaluators to judge the size of one job relative to others. This process measures key elements which form part of all roles giving each element a numerical score. These scores are then added together giving an overall score. The overall score then equates to a pay grade. Senior roles which fall into the top category of the score banding are deemed to be Special Grade roles. The salaries of these roles are determined by the Chief Officer Team, taking into consideration the salary levels of other roles assessed to be of a similar job size through the job evaluation methodology.
Market Factors: A market factor is an additional supplement paid to staff in addition to their salary in exceptional circumstances. In the private sector if certain specialist roles are in demand and employers are having difficulty filling roles, they may increase the salary in order to attract and retain those specialist skills. Salary scales are fixed within West Yorkshire Police and so in some cases where a particular skill set is in high demand, we can find it difficult to attract and retain staff particularly where salaries are higher in the external job market. In these circumstances the Force has a process where managers can ask for a market factor supplement to be considered for a role. In order for such a supplement to be approved the manager must submit evidence to a market factor panel to demonstrate that the current salary of the post is no longer sufficient to recruit and retain suitably skilled, qualified and experienced post holders. This evidence must show that there is instability in staff retention, that they have failed to fill existing vacancies and/or that there are significant differences between the salary offered by external employers and that offered by West Yorkshire Police. The decision of the market factor panel will be based on the above, but this will be balanced against the requirement for the Force to deliver value for money. Annual reviews are carried out on all market factor payments to ensure that they are still necessary and in cases where it is determined they are no longer required the market factor will be removed. A market factor policy is used to ensure consistency in the application of market factor supplements.
Gender Pay Gap: West Yorkshire Police published its Gender Pay Gap report in March 2022 which is available: - https://www.westyorkshire.police.uk/about-us/inclusion-and-equality/inclusion-and-equality/gender-pay-gap
The gender pay gap is the percentage difference between average mean hourly earnings for men and women. Mean hourly earnings are calculated by dividing total pay by the number of staff. The median pay gap is the difference between the midpoints in the ranges of men and women’s pay.
The 2022 report indicates a slight improvement in mean and median pay gap compared to the previous year. The published report includes an action plan developed to address the identified pay gap, which includes themes of improving policies and procedures related to recruitment, development, and promotion.
Published March 2021 (data as at 31.03.2021)
- Mean gap % 11.95%
- Median gap % 17.2%
Published in March 2022 (data as at 31.3.2022)
- Mean gap % 11.58%
- Mean gap % 16.09%
Flexible and Agile Working Arrangements
Comments: UK Employment legislation allows all employees to make a request for flexible working. The term ‘flexible working’ describes a type of working arrangement which gives some degree of flexibility on how long, where, when and at what times employees work. The flexibility can be in terms of working time, working location or the pattern of working.
Having reviewed the data used within previous reports for flexible working arrangements, the view was that this information was not at its most accurate. This is owing to the fact that the option to select whether an individual was a ‘flexible worker’ on the system did not seem to be utilised to its full, and therefore the figures were under representative of the reality of those who worked flexibly.
Comments: Agile workers work from home and the office.
As of August 2022, the Force has 548 agile workers recorded, two thirds of which are police staff. This data has been taken from the aforementioned system on which individuals are marked as being an ‘agile worker’. Again, it must be noted that this data may not be the most accurate.
The data available shows agile workers based on ethnicity, sex, age, and disability. It should be noted that the data for disability is not as reliable as the other protected characteristics owing to the lack of self-declared data available.
For this section, we also pulled the data of all individuals who are currently issued with a work laptop, meaning that should they wish, are able to work agile. This figure stands at 3233.
Part time working (officer and staff)
Comments: Where percentages are provided, they relate to the proportion of staff who work part time or job-share with a protected characteristic, compared to the total staff working part time/ job-share.
Exceptions: 79% of all police staff and 90% of all police officers working part time are female whilst half of part-time police staff employees are over 50 years old.
Trends in Sickness
Data Range: Figures are provided for the last five financial years. Data is extracted from the HR system.
Exceptions: Sickness absence levels within West Yorkshire Police increased last year however COVID related sickness absence will have contributed to this increasing trend.
Dispute resolutions and Employment Tribunals (staff and officers)
Data Limitations: The protected characteristics figures relate to grievance where the gender and ethnicity was stated.
Comments: Formal Grievances - During the 2021/22 financial year there were a total of 75 Formal Grievances recorded, of these 46 were accepted as grievances and investigated.
Comments: Employment Tribunal claims – During the 2021/22 financial year a total of 9 proceedings were issued in the Employment Tribunals. These were 1 claim for Constructive Dismissal, 3 claims for Protected Characteristics, 3 claims for Protected Disclosure, 3 claims for Disability Discrimination, 1 claim for Race Discrimination and 1 claim for Bullying and Victimisation.
Of these 4 claims were settled and 5 are ongoing.
Leavers (officer, staff, and special constables)
Comments: Recorded are the number and proportion of staff, officers and special constables who left the organisation, by protected characteristic.
Exceptions: Over half (59%) of all Police staff leaving the organisation in the past 12 months were female whilst under one third (29%) of Officers leaving were female. 4.9% of Police staff and 7.0% of police officers leaving the organisation last year were from an ethnic minority background.
Reasons for leaving (officer, staff, and special constables)
Data Comments: The ‘Other’ category includes death in service, dismissal, required to resign, voluntary early retirement, and termination of temporary contract. Specifically, in relation to special constables the ‘Other’ category will include a range of personal circumstances including moving away from the area and also required to resign.
Comments: 53% of employees left the organisation in the past 12 months as a result of a resignation whilst 11% left through age retirement. 45.9% of Special Constables left the organisation so that they could take up paid employment within West Yorkshire Police.
Glossary
Age - Refers to a person having a particular age or being within an age group and includes all ages.
Bi - Bi is an umbrella term used to describe a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards more than one gender.
Bi people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including, but not limited to, bisexual, pan, queer, and some other non-monosexual and non-monoromantic identities.
Disability - A person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day to day activities. This may fluctuate or reoccur.
Districts - West Yorkshire Police is divided into 5 districts. These are Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, and Wakefield. More information on the geographical structure can be found on the West Yorkshire Police website www.westyorkshire.police.uk
Equality and Human Rights Assessment (EHRA) - An Equality & Human Rights Assessment is a tool that helps public authorities make sure their policies, working practices and projects, and the way they are carried out, do what they are intended to do equally for everybody in line with The Human Rights Act 1988 and The Equality Act 2010. Carrying out an EHRA involves consciously assessing the likely (or actual) effect on people in respect of their human rights and protected characteristics. This also includes looking for opportunities to promote equality that have previously been missed or could be better used, as well as how negative or adverse impacts can be removed or mitigated where possible.
Ethnic Minorities - We use ‘ethnic minorities’ to refer to all ethnic groups except the White British group. Ethnic minorities include white minorities, such as Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller groups. For comparisons with the white group as a whole, we use ‘all other ethnic groups combined’ or ‘ethnic minorities (excluding white minorities)’. We also refer to ‘white’ and ‘other than white’ if space is limited.
We do not use ‘non-white’ because defining groups in relation to the white majority was not well received in user research.
Flexible Working Arrangements - Flexible working is a way of working that suits an employee's needs, e.g., having flexible start and finish times, or working from home. Flexible working rules are different in Northern Ireland. All employees have the legal right to request flexible working - not just parents and carers. www.gov.uk/flexible-working
Hate Crime - National Police Chief’s Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing (2014) define hate crime as: any criminal offence which is perceived by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender; or perceived disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or transgender.
Hate incident - The College of Policing (National Policing Hate Crime Strategy) defines a hate incident as: any non-crime incident which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice based on a person’s disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity; or perceived disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.
Gay - Refers to a man who has a romantic and/or sexual orientation towards men. Also, a generic term for lesbian and gay sexuality - some women define themselves as gay rather than lesbian. Some non-binary people may also identify with this term.
Gender - Often expressed in terms of masculinity and femininity, gender is largely culturally determined and is assumed from the sex assigned at birth.
Gender Identity - A person’s innate sense of their own gender, whether male, female, or something else, which may or may not correspond to the sex assigned at birth.
Gender reassignment / transition - Gender Reassignment: Another way of describing a person’s transition. To undergo gender reassignment usually means to undergo some sort of medical intervention, but it can also mean changing names, pronouns, dressing differently and living in their self-identified gender.
Transitioning - The steps a trans person may take to live in the gender with which they identify. Each person’s transition will involve different things. For some this involves medical intervention, such as hormone therapy and surgeries, but not all trans people want or are able to have this.
Transitioning also might involve things such as telling friends and family, dressing differently, and changing official documents.
LGBTQ+ - The acronym for lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, questioning and ace.
Marriage and Civil Partnership - Marriage - the legally or formally recognised union of two people as partners in a personal relationship
Civil Partnership - Legal recognition of a couple's relationship. Civil partners must be treated the same as married couples on a range of legal matters.
Pregnancy and Maternity - Pregnancy – the period of being pregnant.
Maternity – the period after giving birth. In work context linked to maternity leave, in non-work context, protection against maternity discrimination is for 26 weeks after giving birth, which includes breast feeding
Protected Characteristics - These are the grounds upon which discrimination is unlawful. The characteristics are age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. www.equalityhumanrights.com
Race - Refers to a group of people defined by their colour, nationality (including citizenship), ethnic or national origins.
Religion or Belief - Religion means any religion, including a reference to no religion. Belief includes religious and philosophical beliefs including no belief (e.g., Atheism).
Sex - Refers to the biological sex assigned at birth. Sexual orientation - A person’s sexual attraction to other people, or lack thereof. Along with romantic orientation, this forms a person’s orientation identity. Stonewall uses the term ‘orientation’ as an umbrella term covering sexual and romantic orientations.
Staff Support Groups & Networks - West Yorkshire Police has a number of staff support groups and networks in place which include, Association of Muslim Police, Black Police Association, British Association of Women in Policing, Christian Police Association, Disability Association, Green Police Network, Hindu Police Association, LGBT Network, Jewish Police Association, Sikh Police Association.
Stop and search - Police Officers have legal powers to stop and then search people either on foot or in a vehicle if they have reasonable grounds to suspect that the person is in illegal possession of stolen or prohibited articles or are in possession of a controlled drug. It is legal power under Section 1(2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, 1984. In some specific circumstances police officers are able to conduct a stop and search without ‘reasonable grounds.
Trans - An umbrella term to describe people whose gender is not the same as, or does not sit comfortably with, the sex they were assigned at birth.
Trans people may describe themselves using one or more of a wide variety of terms, including (but not limited to) transgender, transsexual, gender-queer (GQ), gender-fluid, non-binary, gender-variant, crossdresser, genderless, agender, nongender, third gender, bi-gender, trans man, trans woman, trans masculine, trans feminine and neutrois.
White - Under the race breakdown, ‘white’ covers the following ethnic groups: English, Welsh, Scottish, Northern Irish, or British, Irish, Gypsy or Irish Traveller, Roma, Any other White background