CUMBRIA Police is expected to spend £1m more on police officer pay and allowances this year than it originally forecast.

Ahead of a meeting of Cumbria Police and Crime Panel today, Cumbria Constabulary and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner have published budget monitoring reports which forecast what they expect to overspend in 2018/2019.

They highlight that the forecast constabulary overspend, on a combined budget of £98.6m, is largely as a result of police officer pay and allowances of £998k.

More than half a million of this facilitated the earlier recruitment of the additional 25 police officers pledged by Police and Crime Commissioner Peter McCall in relation to the increase in the council tax precept, as well as the recruitment of a further 20 officers during the year to cover the risk that future recruitment might be delayed when new police training regulations are introduced at the end of 2019.

The overspend also includes £369k on pensions, relating to an increase in the number of individuals required to be retired under the pensions regulations, and £75k forecast on the pressure on overtime budgets.

When asked why an overspend was forecast for 25 new officers despite funding for their recruitment due to come from an increase in the precept, the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner explained that this was due to them being drafted in earlier than expected.

"The additional 25 officers, who have already made a significant difference to neighbourhood policing across the county, were originally planned to be recruited by mid-year," said Police and Crime Commissioner, Peter McCall.

"Following significant efforts to recruit the extra officers earlier in order to deliver on my pledge the recruitment target date was achieved by July 18.

"Also, some of the additional officers were recruited as experienced transferees from other forces which costs more. In combination these elements gave rise to higher costs than were originally anticipated.

“Whilst, any overspend is far from ideal it actually represents less than one per cent of the overall budget and is compensated by the fact that the officers are out on the streets keeping people safe. Measures are now in place to mitigate the overspend and if required there are plans in place to address the overspend from an underspend in the capital budget.”