Police pensions shortfall 'will hit £50m'

Published on Thursday 17 January 2008 21:00

POLICE pensions funding has reached "crisis" proportions with an expected shortfall next year of more than £50 million, MSPs heard yesterday.

The claim came from Scottish Labour leader Wendy Alexander who called on Alex Salmond, the First Minister, to publish estimates for the police pensions bill for the next three years.

Labour later said there was already a forecast national shortfall of 17 million in pension funds for Scotland's police forces. This was expected to rise to more than 52 million next year, driven by a "massive" rise in the number of officers retiring over the next three years, the party said.

Ms Alexander said: "Grampian Police have had to plunder their budget to meet the crisis in police pensions.

"At First Minister's Questions, Alex Salmond repeatedly failed to give assurances that local authorities across Scotland would not foot the bill for the financial crisis facing all Scotland's police forces.

"It's time the SNP came clean on the true scale of the problem facing local authorities and Scotland's police forces."

In the Holyrood exchanges, Mr Salmond told MSPs: "What Wendy Alexander describes as a crisis might have been developing over the last eight years when Labour was in power."

He added: "The figures she asks for are already with police boards and local authorities, and discussions are under way on how we can address the pension issue which has built up over a substantial period of time."

In later clashes, Ms Alexander repeated her demand that Mr Salmond publish the estimates.

He replied: "The difference between this government and the last Executive in addressing such issues lies in the historic concordat between local and national government."