Cuts mean more overtime hours for GMP officers

14 August 2018

Greater Manchester Police has paid nearly £93 million in overtime to officers in the last five years, a new report from the BBC has revealed.

Over the last financial year an average extra £4,132 for each GMP officer was paid out, largely to cover the cost of policing the aftermath of the Manchester Arena bomb attack the force has said.

Across England and Wales overtime has cost forces £1.7bn since 2013 with many saying the money was spent on policing football matches and in dealing with the ongoing high-level terror threat.

Chief Constables told the BBC that the cut in officer numbers, which has seen 22,000 officers slashed from the front line since 2013, is largely behind the increased overtime spending.

PFEW Chair John Apter said more pressure was being put on officers to ‘plug the gaps’ left by the cut in police resources.

“Policing is not a nine to five job,” he told the report.

“As such, overtime is sometimes inevitable and often compulsory, but it should not be used as a crutch to prop up the service and enabling it to meet ordinary everyday demand.

“Policing has been stripped back to the bare bones and officers are increasingly being expected to plug the gaps.”

GMP Deputy Chief Constable Ian Pilling said overtime hours had to be put in to cover for vacancies and for ‘policing special events’ which included football set against the ‘challenge of losing 2,000 officers in the last five years.’

For more visit; https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-44900455