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Bedfordshire Chief Constable Jon Boutcher

Financial system doubled invoices for up to seven years.

PCC Matthew Scott


By - JJ Hutber- Police Oracle

6 Comments





 

Discovering a fiver down the back of a sofa is a smug feeling like no other.

But few people will experience the mixture of horror and joy Kent Police auditors must have known when they uncovered £1 million - hidden by a “technical glitch”.

For between five and seven years, every time a Kent Police employee altered an invoice the system was charged double for accounting purposes.

The money never left force accounts, meaning the force has racked up almost £1m extra.

An eagle-eyed auditor spotted the discrepancy while Kent Police finance team was putting its end of year accounts together.

Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott told his police and crime panel he decided to describe the issue in his annual report “in the interests of transparency”.

The extra funds will be added to Kent Police reserves.

Councillor Fay Gooch said at a meeting of the police crime and panel she was “baffled” the mistake went unnoticed for so long.

“In local government we are the best at managing money so happy to come along and give advice at any time but I do think that you need to rack up the accuracy a bit more because something’s going wrong,” she said.

Mr Scott responded: "Because it was an unqualified opinion I didn’t have to [highlight the error]. I could have just said there are the accounts go find it yourself.  

“But I wanted to highlight that to the panel of where I’m holding to the force to account.

“We didn’t lose £1m in cash. It was there, it was always there.

"I bring that forward for that very reason because sometimes these things do happen and I don’t think always that agencies should hide behind unqualified opinion saying that everything’s fantastic.”  

Mr Scott’s chief finance officer Rob Phillips added the problem is “clearly unacceptable”.

“It was an error in the way that we’d been using the financial system that meant that effectively this money was double counted to a certain extent and is over a period of a number of years.

“So it’s happened over the last five, six, seven years clearly. That’s not right.

"We need to makes sure the systems we’ve got are working perfectly fine.

"So with the commissioner’s agreement and approval we are now going to engage an audit firm to come and have a look and to make sure we are using the systems correctly, that we’ve got to ensure that there aren’t any other of these things that are slipping.”

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Scottish police officers secure 6.5% pay increase

26 September 2018

The award will be backdated to 1 September and applies until 31 March 2021.

Scottish police officers are to receive an immediate 6.5% pay increase.

The Scottish Police Authority confirmed the award will be backdated to 1 September and applies until 31 March 2021.

The move will see all officers below the rank of Assistant Chief Constable receive an immediate and substantial increase in their salary. 

The SPA said the deal will represent an additional £125m in officer wages over the period.

A mid-point constable will receive a salary increase of £2,300 and the equivalent of an additional £6,000 in pay over the next 31 months.

The announcement comes on the eve of the SPA's monthly board meeting in Stirling.

In addition to an immediate pay award, the agreement will also address issues of inequality and anomalies in relation to pay progression. 

It also contains a commitment to resolve working practices in relation to court and night shift.