Chief constable forced to ‘cannibalise’ the force under inadequate government funding

Scotland’s chief constable Jo Farrell “faces a stark choice of cannibalising the service” to deliver pay rises above inflation, a senior officer has said.

Speaking at the Association of Scottish Police Superintendents (ASPS) annual conference, chief superintendent and president of ASPS Rob Hay said policing services are “stretched to breaking point”.

The funding awarded by the Scottish Government to policing in 2025-26 is £1.6bn, but Hay insisted the budget does not account for “inflationary pressures” and will fail to keep up with demands on the service.

He said: “Simply put, reduce police numbers or reduce pay. This is a choice no chief principal should have to make…We look back to 2013 at the birth of Police Scotland and know that almost every pay point and every rank is now worth less in real terms.”

A survey carried out by ASPS showed its members feel overworked and underpaid. Less than three per cent believe the level of support the Scottish Government offers policing allow them to do their job effectively.

“When we look around and we see prisoners being released from their sentences, after just 40 per cent of time served,  facilities for the consumption of illegal drugs open without increase in rehab beds, you can understand why”, Hay explained.

He urged justice secretary Angela Constance – who was in the room – to bar offenders serving time for police aggression from the early release scheme as a “show of support”. Constance who addressed the conference later in the day said she would continue “to engage with policing partners”.

The ASPS survey also revealed less than three in 10 agreed that the demand placed upon them in their role was manageable, with only 27 per cent believing Police Scotland's executive actively supported them in their post.

Hay continued: “We look at equivalent professions in the public service, whose pay growth has outstripped policing by 13 per cent and even higher in some cases. If we're to attract candidates who meet the exacting standards of professional behaviour that we expect, who have the resilience  to withstand the violence and trauma a career in policing  exposes you to, and who can endure the constant scrutiny,  second-guessing, criticism and commentary levelled against them, there needs to be a career-long offer that recognises all that officers endure.”

The survey showed officers are overworked, with more than two thirds saying they attended for duty last year when they should have been on annual leave.

Hay added: “Achieving a thriving workforce requires recognition of the challenges we face now, not head in sand comments about things are just as busy as they always were. For our key leadership ranks, this means giving us the time, the tools and the support to ensure we are creating a positive working environment that lets people deliver at their absolute best. So let's dispense with the culture where people are described  as unhelpful or pointing out inconvenient truths, or worse, described as internal terrorists.”