NIO Bails Out PSNI Over Funding Crisis?

A major funding crisis revealed last month for the Police Service of Northern Ireland's work in the rest of this financial year has been resolved - if only temporarily.

However, the deal only came after the police agreed to postpone a number of projects and the NI Policing Board was allowed to take money from the 2009 budget.

The PSNI was facing a shortfall of £24.5m during the next four months.

Security Minister Paul Goggins has now agreed to provide an additional £1.5m to the Historical Enquiries Team - but no more than that.

The police have also agreed to delay projects costing £15m until next year, and the NI Policing Board will be allowed to spend almost £8m from next year's budget.

To overcome problems with next year's budgeting, the Board is to ask the First and Deputy First Ministers to lobby the Prime Minister for more money.

The news comes after the Board held what they described as a "constructive meeting with the NIO Minister of State, Paul Goggins", and provisionally announced agreement for "a process for dealing with the current funding shortfall facing the PSNI in 2008/09".

NI Policing Board Board Chairman, Professor Sir Desmond Rea, said yesterday: "Following some detailed work on the funding pressures facing PSNI, we have put in place a mechanism to allow the PSNI to achieve a balanced budget in the 2008/09 financial year.

"However, whilst the gap has been bridged with minimum impact to the delivery of frontline policing service, the ability to invest in infrastructure for the future will be affected.

"The challenge remains to deal with the historical funding issues, which are placing an unsustainable burden on the budget," he said, commenting that "the PSNI and the Board will be taking this forward in the weeks and months ahead".

The difficulty has arisen over several factors - all of which are said to be outside 'the gift' of the Board to deal with.

One is the cost of paying pensions to officers who left the RUC under Patten arrangements - with these costs exceeding that of the current salary bill for serving officers.

Others involve historic claims from former officers relating to industrial-type injuries, specifically related to deafness acquired in service during firearms training, as well as the immediate cost of adding hundreds of full time Reserve officers to the legions of former RUC officers already receiving pensions in the New Year.

Last month, the Board refused to accept the PSNI Chief Constable's proposals to meet these financial constraints, as members said they would have a severe detrimental impact on the PSNI's ability to deliver 'front-line' policing activities, and appealed to the Northern Ireland Office Security Minister for intervention.

See: Funding Crisis As Policing Board Rejects Cuts

See: Opening Hours To Be Slashed At Glengormley Barracks

(BMcC)