SOUTH Yorkshire Police has been named as one of five forces in England and Wales which will find it especially difficult to cope with further budget cuts after 2015.<\/p>\n
HM Inspectorate of Constabulary said it \u201cis concerned that South Yorkshire has not embraced the level of change or achieved the savings seen elsewhere.\u201d\u00a0Neil Bowles, Federation chairman, said: \u201cHave the last three years been a waste of time? This is another major blow to officer morale.\u201d<\/p>\n
The HMIC stated South Yorkshire Police has identified that it needs to save \u00a349.3m over the four years of the spending review – between March 2011 and March 2015. But it warned the force has only planned how it will save \u00a339.6m. It therefore still has \u00a39.6m to find.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHMIC considers that South Yorkshire Police faces a particularly difficult challenge,\u201d added in its report Policing in Austerity: Rising to the Challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is because the amount of money it spends on policing is lower than most other forces, yet it has a higher number of staff so has a comparatively high pay bill. The amount it spends on each officer and staff member is also higher than most other forces.<\/p>\n
\u201cSouth Yorkshire Police will find it much more difficult to make any further savings required in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
HMIC stated that the force \u201cmay need to make more workforce reductions than it is currently planning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr Bowles added: \u201cOfficers in South Yorkshire Police have undergone three years of pain with every job being reviewed and pennies being counted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are trying to do the job to the best of their abilities but they are getting frustrated. Now this report says we are not going to hit our target for 2015.\u201d<\/p>\n
Roger Baker, HM Inspector of Constabulary for the Northern Region, said: \u201cSouth\u00a0Yorkshire Police faces a more difficult challenge than some other forces. Although spending on policing is lower than in most forces and staff costs higher, South Yorkshire Police\u00a0has not embraced the level of change or achieved the savings seen elsewhere.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe force still has \u00a39.6m to find by March 2015. HMIC is concerned that this outstanding\u00a0financial gap means that South Yorkshire Police will find it very hard to make any further\u00a0savings required in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cHMIC will continue to monitor the force for the remainder of the spending review period.\u201d<\/p>\n