Further detail on report topic

CURRENT CONTEXT AND CHALLENGES

The Strategic Threat and Risk Assessment 2025-2030 identified
several environmental and societal shifts impacting future workforce design and capacity.

These pressures and opportunities reinforce the need for a strengthened strategic, sustainable and data-led approach to workforce design, ensuring resources are targeted to areas of greatest impact and that capacity creation is systematic, not incidental.

KEY ACTIVITIES AND PROGRESS

A central strand of the Chief Constable’s vision is ensuring officers are deployed where their warranted powers are essential, while empowering staff to deliver roles that do not require those powers.
To drive this and coordinate strands, the Building Frontline Capacity Tactical Coordination Group was established to:
• Maximise the number of officers in frontline policing
• Establish sustainable workforce structures that balance officers and staff
• Improve resilience and efficiency within business areas
• Demonstrate progress through clear evidence of number of officers released to frontline policing
The group’s immediate focus and priority is to establish a road map which aligns delivery of key workstreams to the Chief Constable’s 2030 vision.

A schematic overview of on-going workforce activity and strategic owners can be found at Appendix A.

Some activities are well underway such as:
• Policing for Our Communities - policing model pilot underway in C Division, with expansion planned to P and D Divisions in 2026.
• Force Mobilisation Model (FMM): Rolling out across national and corporate functions, introducing seven-day shift patterns for better deployment flexibility and improved officer wellbeing. (Linked to Workforce Survey 2024 insights – index score 48% on rest and recharge).
• Modified officers: An Accelerated Leadership Pathway officer is now embedded and continues to focus on progressing the High-Level Action Plan presented to the SPA People Committee in August 2025. This area of work links directly to the 25/26 HR Strategic Work Plan activity to “Evolve the focus of the Duty Modifications Panel to enable increased capacity to the frontline.” Separately, an audit led by BDO is now underway focused on evaluating the processes (including occupational health interventions) for officers on recuperative duties to ensure everything possible is being done to support and enable them to return to full operational duties as soon as possible and within 12 months, minimising the number of officers who then require transitioning to longer term ‘adjusted’ duties (+12 months).

A governance structure has been established to ensure activities directly align with the group’s aims and organisational priorities. This structure includes senior representation (senior officers, directors, and heads of departments) who collectively review proposals, with decision-making authority held at DCC level. Senior leadership oversight guarantees that all proposals are evaluated for strategic alignment and accountability for outcomes. The full governance structure and process are detailed in Appendix B.

OVERVIEW OF FUTURE APPROACHES

Recent external insights (from PA Consulting on behalf of CIPD Police Forum & College of Policing) highlight three characteristics of mature workforce planning:
• Executive ownership and leadership.
• Integrated data driven decision making.
• Embedding SWP into organisational culture and governance.

In line with this and as ongoing activity matures, a key next step is to bring the various strands of workforce planning under a single, coordinated governance structure to provide cohesion and act as the central forum for oversight, decision-making and assurance across all workforce modernisation activity.

Police Scotland will establish:
• A structured mechanism to identify and redeploy capacity gains and FTE benefits to areas of greatest need, ensuring benefits from change and reform activity are captured and reinvested.
• A prioritised list of workforce initiatives reviewed bi-annually by the Force Executive to maintain alignment with strategic priorities.
• A proposed Design Authority to act as the central governance hub for workforce design ensuring visibility of all change activity, coherence across initiatives, and informed decision-making to avoid duplication and manage competing priorities – visual aid provided below.

This governance would complement existing forums such as the Transformation Board and People Board, providing clearer lines of ownership, a single line of sight across all initiatives, and a consistent approach to resource allocation and workforce design. It will help the Strategic Workforce Plan function as an integrated system, not a collection of discrete programmes.

Subject to agreed Terms of Reference, the Design Authority would not only oversee resource requests but will also maintain awareness of all workforce change activity, promoting consistency, collaboration and alignment with Force priorities. Conversations to establish this group and define its remit are underway.

NEXT STEPS AND MEASURES OF SUCCESS

Police Scotland is now moving to embed sustainable workforce planning as a shared organisational responsibility. The next phase focuses on joined-up governance, defining measurements of impact, and embedding change as part of business as usual. To enable this, the following activities must be completed:

• Define strategic workforce priorities in consultation with the Force Executive to ensure alignment with operational need and strategic intent.
• Progress with the establishment of a Design Authority.
• Develop key performance indicators to measure success, such as:
o Turnover and retention trends
o Career progression and diversification
o Improved engagement and wellbeing metrics
o Sickness reduction and resilience measures
o Workforce planning data integration
• Nominate an Executive Sponsor to champion the workforce modernisation programme, for visibility and ownership, and to assure adherence to agreed governance arrangements.
• Explore opportunities to analyse workforce mix and reduce time to hire in service of strengthening frontline capacity.

KEY RISKS AND DEPENDENCIES

Delivering this vision depends on several critical enablers:
• Funding certainty: Multi-year budgets to enable sustainable workforce planning.
• Data integration: Improved data quality and interoperability across HR, Finance, and operational systems are essential for informed planning.
• Governance alignment: Clarity of roles between boards, design authorities, and tactical delivery groups is needed to prevent duplication and fragmentation.
• Cultural adoption: Success relies on embedding workforce planning as a shared leadership responsibility, not a standalone HR function.

These risks are being actively managed, but they remain material to the pace and depth of progress.

COLLABORATIVE WORKING AND DELIVERY

Effective workforce planning depends on collaboration across the organisation and enabling services. Work is already progressing with:
• Resourcing: Recruitment aligned to Vision 2030 priorities and succession planning pipelines.
• Leadership, Talent & Performance: Integration of career pathways, capability development, and application of a talent lens to workforce insights.
• Finance: Workforce modelling and scenario planning against budget assumptions and settlements.
• Transformation Directorate (Operation Evolve): Alignment of the future workforce to the Force’s strategic direction and Vision 2030.
• HR Strategic Leads: Early engagement with workforce planning and organisational design specialists on all change activity.
• Strategy & Analysis: Insights from APU/DPU demand forecasting and trend analysis to prioritise resource deployment to areas of greatest operational need, for example.

This collaborative model ensures that Strategic Workforce Planning is considered at all levels and creates a connecting fabric across resourcing, leadership, and transformation, creating a single line of sight across workforce initiatives.

DESIGN PRINCIPLES

• The structure is aligned to overall organisational, functional and departmental strategies
• The structure defines accountabilities clearly across service/business/functional areas to provide clarity and avoid duplication
• The structure is as flat as operationally possible with optimal layers, each layer of management/leadership adding value to those on the frontline
• The structure supports efficiency, co-ordination, collaboration and flexibility for effectiveness
• The structure respects legal and regulatory requirements and risk within agreed parameters

These principles provide the foundation for a coherent, future-ready workforce that supports both operational effectiveness and organisational wellbeing.

CONCLUSION

The collective efforts underway across Police Scotland reflect genuine momentum in advancing a structured, evidence-led approach to workforce modernisation. By weaving together clear design principles, robust governance, and integrated data, the organisation is laying the groundwork for strategic workforce planning to become an intrinsic part of its operational fabric. While financial constraints and data integration challenges persist, the trajectory is unmistakable: towards a workforce that is sustainable, adaptable, and resilient; capable of meeting the evolving demands of policing in Scotland.

As this journey progresses, the next phase is defined by a commitment to unify these strands by embedding shared governance, upholding consistent design principles, and establishing a single source of truth for workforce priorities. The creation of a Design Authority, coupled with a sustained emphasis on collaboration, will ensure that strategic workforce planning is not merely a series of initiatives, but a deeply embedded, evidence-based, and connected way of working. This approach positions Police Scotland to operate with greater foresight and agility, ready to respond to future challenges with confidence and clarity.