Jo Farrell told a Scottish Police Authority (SPA) board meeting on Thursday of budget pressures facing the force, including a requirement to “achieve £9 million of efficiencies” despite almost 90% of revenue spend going on the workforce.
She cited “pay award costs and further costs associated with the public inquiry into the death of Sheku Bayoh” as factors for a “challenging” 2025-26 budget, and said Police Scotland is saving £200 million per year compared to the eight previous regional forces.
SPA chief executive Lynn Brown told the meeting “reform has got to be rewarded”, but said not being given the full amount to support the national insurance increase shows “reform was not rewarded”.
Police officer numbers dropped to a historic low in March 2024 with 16,356 full-time equivalent (FTE) officers, the lowest since September 2008 – however numbers have now risen to 16,600, Ms Farrell told the meeting.
The chief constable of Police Scotland has warned “maintaining a maximum” number of officers will only be possible if national insurance costs are met in full.
