Cash crisis threat to police recruits

Published on Monday 11 August 2008 22:04

SCOTLAND'S biggest police authority is considering a freeze on recruiting new officers after being hit with a £25 million pensions bombshell.

Police boards face having to fund higher lump-sum payments for retiring officers – a revelation that threatens to blow apart the Scottish Government's pledge to put an extra 1,000 officers on the street.

The Strathclyde police board has admitted it may have to abandon plans to hire hundreds of officers later this year if it is forced to meet the extra costs.

Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has announced extra payments for retiring officers that will, by 2011, cost an estimated 50 million in Scotland, and 25 million in Strathclyde. Police pay and conditions are decided at Westminster, so the Scottish Government has little choice but to approve the changes.

Last month Yvette Cooper, chief secretary to the Treasury, wrote to finance secretary John Swinney rejecting an appeal for an extra 48 million to meet the additional pensions cost.

The move means the bill could land at the door of police boards who are already having to find an extra 100 million in the next three years to pay for increased pensions costs due to a sharp rise in retiring officers.

Paul Rooney, convener of the Strathclyde board, told The Scotsman: "It is simply nave to believe this kind of shortfall will not impact on front-line policing or recruitment. Strathclyde faces a deeply damaging and immediate threat to essential recruitment plans.

"Unless the Scottish Government accepts immediate responsibility for this shortfall, Strathclyde has no choice but to consider cash-saving options from budgets which have already been slashed.

"The last thing we want is a freeze on police recruitment. Unfortunately the impact of this financial crisis means it must be considered."

Strathclyde Police plans to recruit 942 officers this year, 300 being funded by the Scottish Government. Most will replace retiring police, but recruiting of about 500 of these is now at risk.

A Scottish Government spokesman said police pensions issues were "the subject of ongoing correspondence between the Scottish Government and the UK Government and were discussed at the 31 July meeting between ministers, Cosla (the local authorities' body), Acpos (the police chiefs' association) and the Police Conveners Forum".