Surrey Police Authority statement on Home Office refund for restructuring costs....


"The Government's announcement that police authorities will receive up to £100,000 as a refund for our merger costs to date is outrageous.

Yet again, local people are expected to pick up the tab because of the Government's inability to face the facts of the true costs. Our claim was for £649,000 (£552,000 plus VAT) yet the actual amount spent on restructuring to date far exceeds this. The true cost for Surrey is actually £811,000.

We spent money on Government restructuring plans in good faith that we would be reimbursed.

In our view, the Home Office guidance on what could be claimed back in no way meets the actual costs of all of the resources and time of people who have worked on restructuring. We incurred significant costs associated with the delay of major IT projects, for example, and had to exclude the costs of police officers from our claim as the Home Office rules stated that only "additional cash costs" could be claimed back.

If the Government really thinks that months of detailed work, consultation and assessment, including compiling lengthy reports on restructuring proposals, costs up to £100,000 - that is just ludicrous. Local people are being short-changed and it is unacceptable.

We are likely to write to the Home Office, asking for this to be reconsidered, but it is fair to say that we are not optimistic about the outcome."

The tab was goona be picked up by taxpayers either by PAYE or council tax so we all lose whichever way round!

It was all truely money wasted!