PSNI under fire as bill for legal battles hits ‘eye-watering’ £25m
THE PSNI spent over £5m on legal battles in the last year, with significant sums paid for “wrongful acts” by officers and on legacy hearings.
An MLA has questioned the expenditure in an economic environment where the police service has repeatedly called for additional funds.
The 2023/24 spend of £5,177,470 on compensation and legal fees awarded to plaintiffs represents a six-year high. The figure takes in the period up to January, so could be higher by the end of the financial year.
Figures provided under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act show that £24.5m was spent between 2018/19 and 2023/24.
SDLP Policing Board member Mark H Durkan said: “It is clear that compensation and legal fees are costing the PSNI an eye-watering amount at a time when their budgets are already stretched to the limit.
“We have seen significant cuts to police officer numbers where this money could be much better spent. It comes with the territory that a police service would incur some legal costs, but every effort must be made to bring these costs down.
“High awards when it comes to wrongful acts resulting in injury or damage, employment cases or damage claims suggest that there are issues within the service that need to be addressed.”
A breakdown of the figures reveals that over £3.97m was awarded over the last six years because of “wrongful acts” committed by the PSNI which resulted in injury or damage.
Over the same period £6.64m was consumed by legacy cases, with more than £2.3m spent last year alone. Furthermore, £776,954 was spent on judicial reviews in 2023/24, almost 10 times more than money attributed to judicial reviews in 2018/19.
A judicial review is a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision made by a public body. It will have included the case of two officers disciplined over a service marking the anniversary of the Sean Graham Bookmakers attack by loyalist paramilitaries.
About 30 people attended that event in February 2021, amid restrictions on public gatherings due to Covid-19 regulations. One man who had been injured in the 1992 attack was detained on suspicion of disorderly behaviour. He was released without charge.
Former Chief Constable Simon Byrne resigned last year after coming under intense pressure in the wake of a High Court ruling that he had unlawfully disciplined the two junior officers for their actions at the event and also due to data breaches.
In his ruling the judge said the officers had been disciplined to allay any threat of Sinn Fein abandoning its support for policing. Sinn Fein denied that assertion. The judge quashed decisions to suspend one probationary constable and re-position his colleague.
Responding to the costs incurred, the PSNI said it is “always conscious” of its duty to spend public money “wisely, efficiently and effectively”.
A spokesperson added: “Litigation brought against the police service is entirely legitimate and proper but can have significant resource implications. Every opportunity to minimise our legal costs is taken within the litigation costs framework.”