AN urgent probe which was commissioned when a £65m discrepancy was uncovered in South Yorkshire Police’s budget will provide ‘much-needed clarity’ on why the huge shortfall occurred.
South Yorkshire Mayor Oliver Coppard says he is ‘confident’ that the investigation will provide answers as to why the sum - blamed on ‘fundamental human error’ - was unaccounted for in the former Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s annual statements.
Mr Coppard ordered a comprehensive review of the financial practices when the OPCC merged into the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) earlier this year.
It was revealed that £65m had been spent on equipment such as kit for officers, vehicles and IT gear and services in recent years.
The work undertaken by the SYMCA identified that £16m of charges which should have been made to allow for the debt’s repayment had been missed - and that future payments of £49m were not included in future spending projections.
These errors were not identified by annual audit checks from 2020 onwards, it was uncovered.
Mr Coppard stressed his commitment to solving the issue and confirmed he is working closely with both the government and relevant authorities.
“We are gripping the issue, the work is underway, we continue to work with the government on this and we are confident the investigation will provide clarity on what happened.
“We will only ever be able to put South Yorkshire Police on a more secure footing, and continue to protect communities, if we now properly and proactively contend with the financial position we are in.
“Budgets have been under strain for a number of years, but the long-standing accounting errors identified will no doubt provide us with further challenges.
“I am concerned that the errors unearthed were not noticed before I took charge, and have been ongoing for the five years before we took control of those systems this year.
“The transparency and accountability that should come through that process is vital if I am to ensure that the public can continue to have confidence in this system I am now charged with overseeing.
“While we cannot rectify the mistakes of the past, we can ensure that we understand why those mistakes were made.
“I am grateful to South Yorkshire Police and the government for the constructive conversations we have already had about finding a sustainable solution to both these new challenges and the ongoing pressures caused by tightened police budgets over the last 14 years.
“Protecting communities will always remain my first and most vital priority.
“We will provide further information in due course.”
‘Reactionary measures’ including the cessation of planned activity and the re-allocation of resources currently deployed to ‘priority work, risks and priorities’ have commenced as a result of the findings.
A spokesperson at South Yorkshire Police added: “As stated in the report published by the SYMCA, there was a significant omission identified in the accounting practices of the OPCC.
“It’s clear within legislation that South Yorkshire Police is not responsible for approving the accounts of the OPCC, however we will now bear the burden of this error.”
