Too many police chiefs? - A review of police strength and costs in England & Wales 2010

Police overtime keeps cropping up as an easy target, but the media attacks are wearing thin. We maintain that there are far more appropriate and bigger pots to aim at. Whilst “think tanks” produce pretty graphs and pictures, they often gloss over areas more deserving of scrutiny, which are perhaps too controversial for them. By way of example:-

Senior Officers – as our report title suggests, we maintain the service is top heavy. The numbers are disproportionate, both operationally and financially. The Chief & SMT bonus schemes are masked within the overall totals, and FIO requests for detail meet with blank responses. Police Organisations – NPIA, APA & ACPO, of doubtful value and spending hundreds of millions, for what? Police Staff Costings – Civilianisation has grown at a faster and more expensive pace than the frontline services. Non Frontline Resources – A phenomenal amount of cash and resource is tied up in officers who could and should be more gainfully employed, at the sharp end with officers on response duties. Non Staff Costings – Often overlooked, we look at this in some detail, as it represents 20% of service expenditure. There are massive economies of scale in national sourcing arrangements that could be achieved here, rather than each force paying more than it needs to.

• Total cost of policing • Total cost of staffing • Total non staffing costs

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS DRAWN FROM HMIC FORCE PROFILES ON STAFFING COSTS AT 31st MARCH 2009

£13.5 Billion

£10.8 Billion (80%) £2.7 Billion (20%)

• Police Officer costs ex O/T £7.3 Billion (78% of staffing cost net of O/T—but inclusive of pension & bonus payments) • Police Staff costs ex O/T • Police Officer Overtime • Police Staff Overtime • PCSO Costs

£2.7 Billion (22% of staffing cost net of O/T) 320 Million (84% of total overtime spend) 63.2 Million (26% of total overtime spend) 484 Million (5% of total staffing cost)

• Police Officer cost inc O/T £7.6 Billion (70% of total staffing costs) • Police Staff cost inc O/T

£2.7 Billion (20% of total staffing costs)

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