Police Scotland overspends by £25m

The Scottish Police Authority (SPA) was told the deficit stands at more than £14m than was predicted.

The single force, which has an annual budget of £1.1 billion, said it was looking at “potential options for managing the financial position” with the government.

Janey Murray, director of financial services at SPA, told a meeting of the board that they were “considering all options” in order to save money.

A spokesman for the authority said: “The financial update scrutinised by the SPA today highlights a projected overspend of £25m for the current financial year. It was explained that this is directly linked to a number of anticipated savings not being realised as planned and therefore are unlikely to be achieved in 2015/16.

“Members sought assurances from Police Scotland that everything possible was being done to mitigate against any overspend. The board also requested an update on current budget planning in the coming weeks as well as sight of the longer-term financial plan by the end of the year.”

Deputy Chief Constable Neil Richardson, of Police Scotland, said” “We continue to work with the SPA to identify savings on top of those already achieved across the entire cost base of policing and continue to liaise with Scottish government on this issue.

“Our commitment to delivering effective and responsive policing to our communities is our priority, against a backdrop of having already achieved savings which are the equivalent of three legacy forces.

“Savings achieved in 2015-2016 will bring that amount to the equivalent of the budgets of four legacy forces. We remain on track to deliver savings to the public purse of £1.1bn by 2026.”

The Scottish government added: “In previous years, Police Scotland and the SPA have successfully worked together to identify further savings and close any notional gaps, and savings targets were met in the first two years of reform.

“We will continue to work closely with both organisations to ensure policing in Scotland continues to perform effectively and efficiently.”