£236m ... how much overtime has cost the PSNI in the last five years
THE PSNI had the second highest overtime bill among UK police forces over the last five years, shock new figures have revealed.
The bill for overtime policing in Northern Ireland has now hit £236.4m. Only the UK’s largest force, the Metropolitan Police, spent more, at £490.8m.
By contrast, between 2013 and 2018, Police Scotland paid out £106.8m, the third highest amount on overtime.
A BBC investigation has found that overtime spending has now reached its highest level since 2013 as the number of officers continues to fall.
Earlier this year, the Belfast Telegraph revealed how the PSNI is spending £125,000 a day on overtime as it struggles to plug gaps in its workforce.
In the 12 months to last April, a total of £45.5m was spent on overtime here — equivalent to £124,730 a day. Over 1,787,400 hours of extra work were recorded in that time.
Last month PSNI Chief Constable George Hamilton urged Secretary of State Karen Bradley to provide assurances that the number of police officers here will be increased to deal with Brexit.
He believes the post-Brexit workforce should be in the region of 7,000 officers rather than the current 6,600.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd (above) said yesterday that due to peaks in demand and the often unpredictable nature of policing, officers are expected to work extra hours in order to keep people safe.
He commented: “This may entail working additional hours on top of their normal shifts, rest days and public holidays.
“As an organisation we seek to manage this in a way that both meets the demands on us and also provides for the welfare of our people.”
Mr Todd continued that spending on overtime had been lower in the 2017/18 financial year.
“This reflects reduced overtime budgets within overall budget and officer number reductions rather than a reduction in the various demands on policing or the terrorist threat faced by police officers daily as they go about protecting communities,” he explained.
Chairman of the Police Federation, John Apter, said the over- time bill represented the “hidden reality of policing” which was not a “nine to five” job.
He also pointed out that officers could not “just down tools and clock off the moment their shift is due to end”.
“As such overtime is sometimes inevitable and often compulsory but it should not be used as a crutch to prop up the service enabling it to meet ordinary day to day demand,” Mr Apter added.
The Home Office said it was investing £460m into the policing service and had a Police Special Grant scheme through which forces could apply for extra funding when resources were likely to be stretched.
A spokesman added that any decisions around recruitment and resourcing were a matter for chief constables and police crime commissioners.