Compensation claims set to add to police financial woes

THE cash crisis facing Scotland’s single police force could get even worse amid fears it will have to pay out millions of pounds in legal bills and compensation.

Chief Constable Iain Livingstone, pictured, admitted last week hundreds of officers could face the axe as Police Scotland faces up to huge pressures.

Now it has emerged it faces a financial threat related to the risk of compensation payments and legal costs.

A chart drawn up by finance bosses showed ‘legal costs and liability claims’ are the biggest risk to its already stretched budget.

It is understood that the biggest legal threat relates to claims totalling at least £30million over the police investigation into Charles Green’s takeover of Rangers in 2012.

It is also facing claims linked to the M9 crash scandal, when John Yuill, 28, and Lamara Bell, 25, died after being left in a wrecked car for three days following a call blunder.

Scottish Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said: ‘Potential payouts in the millions will make balancing the books particularly difficult in the future. The SNP must make sure that Scotland’s policing capability is not harmed.’

The warning emerged in a briefing to the Scottish Police Authority.

A chart showed ‘threats’ that ‘could result in a material change’ to spending plans for 2019-20. It rated ‘potential unbudgeted legal costs and liability claims’ as ‘high’ in terms of both probability and impact.

A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘Annual funding for Police Scotland is now more than £1.2billion and officer numbers in Scotland remain significantly above 2007 levels.’

Meanwhile, Scottish Labour social justice spokesman Pauline McNeill has written to Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf to demand more cash for Police Scotland to prevent job cuts.