Question
Conor Murphy MLA has announced an additional allocation for the PSNI of £14.8 million per annum over the period 2022-2025 for staffing costs.
Previously, the PSNI in a written response, told me increasing the headcount to 7,500 officers in the three year period in question would cost some £74.63 million (1)
Grateful for the Chief Constable's assessment of the implications for increasing the PSNI officer headcount and further, the implications for delivering policing in the community.
Answer
The figure was based on three elements (i) retaining headcount at 7,000 (ii) recruitment and training and (iii) annual recurring costs of employing an additional 500 officers, assuming recruitment would take place over a number of years.
- Although the draft budget proposals include a ring fenced allocation of £14.8m for staffing costs, they also reflect a 2% cut of £14.6m, largely offsetting this new funding.
- As a result, the draft budget baseline falls far short of what is required to even achieve or maintain officers numbers at the 7,100 target envisaged by March 2022. Rather than increasing headcount towards 7,500 as set out in NDNA, the likely implication of the draft budget is that officer numbers will need to be reduced yet further, simply to control costs.
- To illustrate this point, by freezing all recruitment immediately, officer numbers would fall to less than 6,700 by March 2023. Although this action would generate much needed financial savings, it would still leave a significant funding gap and the impact on frontline policing would be significant.
- Given the scale of the funding gap and limited time available, it is difficult to see how the Police Service could deliver the savings required, especially in the next few years.
- Although the Police Service will continue to strive to keep people safe and deliver policing with communities, there is no doubt that the potential reduction in officer and staff numbers as a direct result of this draft budget would impact local services.
- The case for increased investment in policing remains the same. This was reflected in the commitment to increase officer headcount to 7,500 but is at odds with the proposed budget allocation.
Mike Nesbitt - UUP