Accounting error creates £65m hole in police funds

An inquiry has been launched after a "fundamental accounting error" led to a £65m hole in South Yorkshire Police's finances.

The South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority said the funds had been spent on essential equipment for the force, but had not been repaid.

On Friday, mayor Oliver Coppard said he had ordered an independent review to uncover how the accounting mistakes had gone undetected for five years.

Chief Constable Lauren Poultney said the deficit would affect the force's financial stability and the services it delivered.

Coppard, who assumed the powers of the region's police and crime commissioner (PCC) in May, said the error had been identified initially three weeks ago, with the final figures being confirmed on Thursday.

In an interview with BBC Radio Sheffield, he explained the money had come from the PCC's own reserves and repayments of £16m had not been made for more than five years.

Future payments of £49m had also not been included in spending plans, meaning money had been wrongfully allocated to other services.

"We now need to find the money to repay that cash and that’s the problem we now face," Coppard said.

He blamed a "fundamental error in accounting practices in the office of the former PCC", which had not been identified by annual audit checks from 2020 onwards.

His team, alongside South Yorkshire Police, are now in talks with the government to help address the shortfall.

“I am deeply frustrated by the problems uncovered by my team," Coppard said.

“I have now instructed my office to bring in an external team to independently look at the processes that allowed those mistakes to go undetected for five years."

Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire's former PCC, said the PCC was "nominally responsible" for finance but it had been the police force who carried out the work.

He told the BBC he had not been aware of any errors and had been “astonished that external auditors didn’t pick this up”.

Ch Con Poultney said the news had given her "great disappointment and concern" and would have an impact on police services.

She said: "We have a well-established savings and efficiency programme and healthy reserves but this is not how we would seek to manage our finances.

“My priority now is to safeguard the services we provide to the public and so I have sought reassurance from the mayor the accounts, now in his care, are properly governed."

Ch Con Poultney confirmed staff would be paid as usual and job cuts would not be explored in the first instance.

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