West Midlands Police: 500 officers could go over £20 million pensions bill
West Midlands Police will be forced to shed nearly 500 officers after it was hit with a pensions bill of more than £20 million by the Treasury.
The stark warning comes from Chief Constable Dave Thompson, who says an 'utterly extraordinary' increase in force pensions contributions ordered by the Government could lead to a drastic reduction in officer numbers.
Mr Thompson has called for an emergency budget to address the proposal, which he says will cost the force £8.6m next year and a further £14m the year after.
He has accused ministers of 'getting their maths wrong' and warned that the changes would have 'a significant impact' on the level of policing across the region.
It comes as West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson revealed that cuts to the force had now hit £175m since 2010.
'Extraordinary'
Addressing the pensions changes at the PCC's strategic board meeting this morning, Mr Thompson said: "This is utterly extraordinary. I don't think I have ever seen anything dropped on us at such short notice.
"In relation to police officers there is a significant impact. There is a reduction of approaching 500 officers.
"Clearly our intention is not to do that, but let's be realistic, that is a huge amount of money we are talking about."
He added that police chiefs contacted the Treasury to raise 'serious concerns' two weeks ago, but said that in terms of a response 'the silence had been deafening'.
"It is quite simply unreasonable what has been proposed," he said.
"The cost of police pensions are dropping because of the changes made. We are being charged more for a pension scheme that is costing less.
"What the Government is doing to the scheme will, quite simply, reduce the amount of people that are paying into it because we will be employing less police officers.
"At a national level police chiefs are trying to liaise with the Government to point out the perverse implications of this.
"At a time when police forces are being asked to plan for lot of eventualities and challenges, we'll also be planning to reduce our headcount.
"I would say the Treasury have done their maths wrong on this one."
Emergency budget
Mr Thompson said there was a 'necessity' for an emergency budget in October or November 'to plan for a worst-case scenario'.
"We will try very, very hard to avoid the impact of this on the public," he added.
"What we do want to do is to maintain the right level of operational capability in the force.
"There are some big choices that are going to have to be made as part of this budgeting process."
The Police Chiefs' Council say the increase in internal pension contributions will cost forces in England and Wales an £417m by 2020/21, putting 10,000 jobs on the line.
Mr Jamieson, who says his force needs £85m extra and 500 more officers to tackle the region's crimewave, said he was 'very concerned' about the impact the pensions changes would have on police finances.
“The Government needs to listen to senior officers and ensure this does not create an additional huge pressure on already over-stretched budgets," he said.
"This is one of my biggest financial concerns going forward. If common sense does not prevail, I fear officer numbers will end up falling at a time when everyone accepts they need to rise.”
Mr Jamieson said that taking into account inflation, cuts to West Midlands Police had now hit £175m.
