Scotland’s cash-strapped police service is considering giving senior officers promotions with pay rises of at least £8,000 each to improve morale at the same time as announcing £139 million of cuts over the next two years, a union has claimed.
The news came at a meeting of the Scottish Police Authority in Aberdeen, where Police Scotland outlined their problems in balancing the books and said they were considering the promotions.
During a discussion Chief Constable Steven House said he was intending to interview more than 100 candidates for superintendent positions.
Union officials are up in arms at the news, stating that in the past two months nearly 140 police staff have lost their jobs as cuts in the Police Scotland budget continue to hit hard and the organisation tries to balance the books for this year.
Despite the tightening of the force’s belt, the union say that in “an astonishing move”, police officer promotions, which have been on hold for 18 months, have been given the green light by the Scottish Police Authority.
Unison regional organiser Gerry Crawley said: “It baffles me how, on the one hand, hundreds of staff jobs are being cut, but on the other hand, promotions to the rank of superintendent are being allowed.
“It would have been a positive sign to support staff by Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority if these promotions had been kept on hold and the savings used to keep police staff doing their jobs.”
George McIrvine, Unison Police Staff branch secretary, said: “Police officers are already very fortunate because their jobs are protected from the cuts as officer numbers cannot go below 17,234 officers.
“The hundreds of thousands of pounds going in promotions could be used as savings to save support staff from redundancy.
“Surely if support staff are facing redundancy and cuts to their jobs and living standards it wouldn’t be too great a sacrifice for senior police officers to postpone these promotions until the end of the current financial crisis?”
The discussion came at the Scottish Police Authority meeting in Aberdeen where the financial crisis facing the Police Service of Scotland was highlighted by news that £139m will need to be saved, through cuts, to balance the books in the next two years.
More than 84% of police costs come through staffing and support staff are the only group of workers in Police Scotland facing redundancy.
A spokesman for the authority said the discussion regarding promotions had come in an HR report and was not an announcement the authority was considering 100 promotions.
The HR report indicated that in excess of 100 officers will be given an interview for promotion to superintendent rank, but not all are going to be promoted.
It is understood the suggestion that all promotions are put on hold for an indefinite period is not something that the authority would support.
The issue of police counter closures was highlighted in Wednesday’s Courier when Unison’s Police Staff Scotland services and conditions officer in Dundee Drew Livingstone described the proposed counter closures as a “toxic issue”.
In particular, Mr Livingston, who works in the Tayside Division control room, believes rural areas will be hardest hit.
The Scottish Police Authority has now revealed it is extending the consultation on the closures by 30 days.