03 November 2006
Police authorities have reacted with anger and disappointment to the costs paid by central government following the abandonment of the police merger programme.
On October 30, police minister Tony McNulty set out the amounts to be paid to each authority in compensation for the costs they incurred in preparing their business cases for merger.
Although all forces affected received something from the Home Office, the size of claim varied widely. Almost £4m was paid out from claims totalling £6.5m.
Sue Martin, director of Surrey Police Authority, told Public Finance that a 'considerable' hole had been left in the authority's finances after the Home Office paid only a fraction of the money requested. The authority put in a bid for £649,311 but received only £100,000, the upper limit paid out by the Home Office.
'We feel we've been short-changed,' Martin said. 'We were extremely disappointed that the approach the Home Office took was to set a cap across all police authorities. It is not clear how the Home Office came to decide to set the cap at £100,000.'
She added that the authority would have to use reserves to plug the financial gap and protect local services. Surrey intends to write to the Home Office to ask that its claim be reconsidered, but is not optimistic about the outcome.
Similar criticisms were voiced by Nottinghamshire Police Authority, which received £46,200 of the £137,400 it had asked for. Chair John Clarke said he was very disillusioned and that he would be asking the Home Office for reassurance that each authority's claim was subject to the same process as Nottinghamshire's.
'I am unsure how [the Home Office] have reached their decisions on which authorities were awarded how much, as there does seem to be some disparity,' he said.
Other forces struck a slightly more conciliatory note, despite not receiving the full amount they had asked for. North Yorkshire got the maximum £100,000 out of the £167,000 it had requested but remained pleased with the payout.
Chair Jane Kenyon said: 'We would have preferred to have had more, of course, but the actual amount exceeded our realistic expectations.'
The Home Office made exceptions for Lancashire and Cumbria authorities, the only two forces that had volunteered to merge. Each had its claim of £725,000 and £271,000 met in full.
Lincolnshire Police Authority also received £287,000 because its claim involved costs incurred on the specific advice of the Home Office.
PFnov2006
