Police overtime payments rise by 90 per cent
Updated on 13 May 2010
A report into police forces' expenditure over the past 10 years has shown that overtime payments have shot up despite a large increase in police officers and civilian staff.
Slashing police bureaucracy and putting officers back on the streets are two of the government's top priorities, the new home secretary, Theresa May, said today. But perhaps tackling police overtime ought to be right up there too.
One police officer with over 20 years experience told Channel 4 News today that it is possible for someone to be called into work on a day off, complete an hour's work, go home and then expect eight hours pay for it. That is because there is a four hour minimum payment entitlement which gets doubled on a day off.
But these are union rights, he said, which had been fought for - and it is down to managers to make sure the system does not get abused.
Today's report by the independent Centre for Crime and Justice Studies shows police authorities have been able to grow their ranks and expenditure considerably over the last ten years.
Total police authority spending has grown by 48 per cent to £14.5bn a year, and there are now record numbers of police officers - 15,000 more than ten years ago. However, the growth in police has not brought about the expected decline in overtime and that bill has almost doubled in the last decade.
Another factor highlighted by today's report is the reliance of police forces on council tax funding. Ten years ago just 14 per cent of police expenditure was paid for through council tax, but in 2003 it rose to over 22 per cent and has stayed at that level since.
And there is significant regional variation - in 2007/8, Northumbria Police Authority got 11 per cent of its income from council tax, while Surrey Police Authority got nearly half of all its income from council tax.
In some areas it is leading to strained relations between central government, police authorities and chief constables regarding funding activity.
In London, where officers are thought to earn on average more than £4,000 a year in overtime, Jenny Jones, green party member of the Metropolitan Police Authority has been arguing for a reduction of the overtime bill for years.
"There is a culture that overtime is acceptable in the system and therefore it is something that has not been looked at with scrutiny in the way it should have been," she said.
Now it may become less of a "cultural issue" and one of economic necessity. The police have already been told by the previous government to make £500m savings in the next three to four years, and to cut overtime costs by £70m a year.
