Fife Constabulary numbers to be cut by up to 42
A significant cut to the number of police staff in Fife is expected to be made in the next financial year, The Courier has learned.
- By Craig Smith
- Published in the Courier : 17.01.11
- Published online : 17.01.11 @ 04.00pm
Up to 42 police staff posts are likely to go between now and March 31 next year as the Fife force seeks to find ways to meet an anticipated budget shortfall of almost £4.3 million for 2011/12.
The prospect of a 9% reduction in police staffing posts will be considered as part of Fife Constabulary's budget setting process, with police chiefs expecting a 3.12% reduction in funding in line with that handed to Fife Council.
But given the SNP's pledge to maintain police officer numbers at their current level, a joint report to Fife's police, fire and safety committee this week will stress that the burden of savings will have to fall on areas of the budget not related to police officer costs, i.e. police staff and non-salary expenditure.
While the report states "every effort" will be made to ensure cuts will, in the first instance, affect non-core services, it admits that an impact on overall policing services is "inevitable."
And the immediate outlook for the future is not much rosier, with the report highlighting that further "significant action" will be needed to deal with the increasing budget gap.
According to the report by Chief Constable Norma Graham and council finance director Brian Livingston, that could include changes to terms and conditions, rationalisation of the force estate, greater collaboration with other forces and/or, as raised by justice secretary Kenny MacAskill last week, the prospect of a potential restructure of policing in Scotland.
"The budgetary position highlighted in this report, principally the reduction in police staff posts, coupled with the Scottish Government requirement to maintain police officer numbers, will in all likelihood have an impact on overall policing services in Fife," the report concedes.
"Fife Constabulary has in recent years provided a high quality service to the communities of Fife who have seen a substantial reduction in crime and significant investments in community policing with record numbers of police officers in the streets and visible in local communities."
Officers of the Crown
It adds, "It is important to recognise the vital role played by police staff in this delivery, many of whom are deployed in posts which are critical to the delivery of core services with the potential to impact on call handling capacity and station opening hours.
"A reduction in police staff in these areas has the potential to impact directly on policing with officers being redeployed to backfill core posts."
With 88.2% of the force's cost base in staffing, finding savings from non-staff costs is particularly problematic for policing — a situation heightened by the fact that police officers are not employees but officers of the Crown and cannot be made redundant.
That means that the focus has to partly turn to police staff, whose salaries account for 19.8% of the annual revenue budget, although the report highlights the "sensitive approach" adopted by the force in cutting police staff numbers through natural attrition and workforce planning.
The force has already been exploring a number of ways to reduce staffing numbers while retaining core posts, and those have included voluntary reduction of contracted hours, flexible working, career breaks, allowing staff to take unpaid leave and early retirement.
Savings of £2.9 million have already been made over the last two years of the current spending review period — more than the £2.14 million target and in addition to the £2.59 million saved in previous years — and that has been achieved through improvements in attendance management, reducing overtime costs and other initiatives to free up staff time.
Fife has also been in talks with Tayside, central Scotland and Lothian and Borders police foces to find where resources can be shared — although it is expected significant savings could be made, these are not likely to bear fruit until 2012.
Nevertheless, in addition to the 3.12% cut to come, councillors will hear that the force's cost base will increase by almost £4 million in 2011/12 as a result of increased costs, incremental progression of staff on pre-negotiated pay scales, and other factors outwith the force's control.
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