Cash-strapped? No, police are sitting on a £1.85bn stockpile
POLICE are sitting on £1.85billion of public money – while complaining bitterly about ‘cuts’.
Forces even managed to boost their reserves by more than a third over the past five years of ‘austerity’, watchdogs found. The extraordinary treasure chest has emerged despite forces axing 16,659 officers and doom mongering about reduced services and fewer bobbies on the beat.
Whitehall’s spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, was told police had been hoarding the money in anticipation of further cuts to come.
But the Home Office says there is now ‘no question’ that the long arm of the law still has the money to do the job properly.
The NAO carried out the first comprehensive study of how forces coped with budget cuts of 25 per cent – or £2.3billion – since 2010. Police have repeatedly warned the public is being put at risk and that they could be reduced to the role of ‘fire-fighting’. One force has even claimed it could go bust.
But the NAO said that, while spending had been reduced, many were ‘tactical or efficiency savings, rather than service transformation’.
Most striking was the discovery of the 35 per cent real terms rise in reserves. This is public money – made up mostly of government grants and the police element on council tax bills – which is effectively sitting in the bank.
The money could instead have been spent on keeping more officers on the streets.
Police also received £630million last year in ‘other’ income. This includes fees for policing sporting events such as football matches. They also got money from renting out or selling properties, such as old police stations. It comes at a time when complaints against police have reached a record high, with 35,000 cases brought against forces in England and Wales last year. The NAO said the growth in reserves was ‘not necessarily a sign of financial health’ as many forces were planning on using the money to offset future cuts.
The Home Office is expected to cut budgets by a further five per cent.
But government officials say the findings confirm the view of Home Secretary Theresa May that there are more savings to be found.
She has said she does not accept the view that there is ‘no more waste to cut’ – and pointed out to police bosses in England and Wales that their ‘usable reserves’ had risen by almost £250million.
Whitehall officials say there is no need for the police to hold vast reserves, because they can apply for special grant funding in response to an emergency. Yet a string of chief constables has complained about ‘the cuts’.
Britain’s largest force – London’s Metropolitan Police – has around £430million in reserve and its chief Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe has said cuts would put public safety at risk.
Sir Peter Fahy, of Greater Manchester Police, spoke of the ‘stark choice’ of officers returning to the ‘ fire brigade policing of the 1980s’.
Neil Rhodes, of Lincolnshire Police, claimed his force might effectively go out of business by 2018 if the cuts continue.
Last night the Home Office gave a robust response to the report, which said that Police and Crime Commissioners are planning to reduce reserves by 41 per cent by 2017.
Pointing out that crime is falling, Police Minister Mike Penning said: ‘There is no question that the police still have the resources to do their important work.’
Martin Hewitt, of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said forces had ‘risen to the challenge of austerity’ by making £2.53billion worth of savings and losing 36,672 staff but added: ‘It’s unrealistic to think that further cuts can be absorbed with no significant impact on the service.’
Paddy Tipping, of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners, said the amounts police kept in the bank were not ‘uncommitted funds’.
Police Federation chairman Steve White said: ‘Ministers point to falling crime rates as evidence the service is coping, however they are basing this argument on a false premise.’
Comment – Page 14
‘Have resources to do the job’