'My hands are tied' — Fife chief constable says police officer guarantees mean civilian staff must bear brunt of cuts
Fife's chief constable has given assurances over frontline policing as the axe hangs over civilian posts.
- Published in the Courier : 16.09.11
- Published online : 16.09.11 @ 10.18am
Norma Graham made clear no decisions had yet been taken after 250 civilian staff were told their jobs could be at risk and notified of a 90-day consultation period last month.
She said Scottish Government pledges on police numbers meant cutting frontline officers was not an option.
Mrs Graham said: "As a chief constable, I can't reduce police officers. The Scottish Government's imperative around it means my hands are tied."
Fife Constabulary has had to identify huge savings and salaries account for 89% of its expenditure. Of this, civilian staff salaries account for 19%.
The report to Fife Council's police, fire and safety committee on Thursday said the non-staff budget had been "all but exhausted," resulting in "a potential significant impact on police staff costs."
'Natural wastage' would not be enough to rein in spending but the force was committed to doing what it could to minimise redundancies.
It has been suggested that staff could be redeployed in the council. In addition, the force has said it will look at its estate and sell buildings or land it no longer needs.
How many jobs are lost will depend on the Government's comprehensive spending review and the financial settlement due to be announced on Wednesday.
Although Fife is not in a position to give numbers, it is anticipated that, even without a budget reduction, as many as 30 people could potentially be made redundant in 2012/13.
The worst-case scenario outlined predicted as many as 150 staff — nearly a third of the workforce — would be at risk if the budget was cut by 5%.
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11.18am - 16.09.2011 John - Montrose, Scotland Report This
So what is going to happen is that while we maintain our police officer numbers, more and more of them will be in these back office jobs - which means less on the streets! Madness.
01.06pm - 16.09.2011 Pro Police - Dundee, Scotland Report This
Does McCaskill or the Chief Constables think were stupid! They arent protecting front line services but protecting an SNP Policy which is failing badly. Loosing Civilian posts will result in them being filled with cops, thats a fact, its happening already! It will onlyget worse under a single Force
02.08pm - 16.09.2011 Adam - Dundee, UK Report This
Vote for us, SNP in this case, and we'll protect jobs. This decision shows politicians at their cynical best, months after an election and years before the next one. The hope s that the general public will have long forgotten about the support staff, even if these people won't.
05.24pm - 16.09.2011 Alexander - Montrose, Angus Report This
Savings are having to be made due to the cuts from Westminster, a small country does not require 8 police forces, front line services will be protected by the reduction in duplicated services, lots of girnin going on but no alternatives being put forward.
01.05am - 19.09.2011 D Docherty - Fife, Scotland Report This
All this talk that we don't need 8 forces is intriguing. If this is the case why then wasn't it addressed last year for example?
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