Some forces are more effective than South Yorkshire in bringing in extra income through external sponsorship deals and officials are now looking at the viability of schemes to duplicate that record.

All forces are entitled to accept sponsorship, but there is a legal stipulation that the total must never exceed one per cent of the service's annual budget.

In South Yorkshire there is substantial potential to increase income from that source because its annual budget is over £200m, while last year it gained only £78,000 from sponsors.

This year the figure may be lower still, because in the first three months of the financial year the total stood at only £15,000.

Any single deals worth more than £10,000 would need approval from South Yorkshire Police Authority, the force's ruling body.

Many police forces are facing the prospect of financial cuts because Government grants will not keep pace with predicted inflation rates over the next few years.

In South Yorkshire the cuts will include the loss of some policing jobs, although force managers insist they will do everything possible to ensure front-line policing is not affected.

A report on the way South Yorkshire Police handles its sponsorship has now been prepared and suggests that using a charity, as many forces do, may be a future option.

In the 1990s a charity called People United Against Crime was set up and did some sponsorship-generation work for the force, but has since moved into different areas of working.

A report to the authority states: "Utilising the charitable legal structure of a police charity could be an approach worthy of further discussion for SYP.

"However, to utilise the already established People United Against Crime, agreement would have to be sought from the PUAC trustee board before this approach could be explored further."

Neighbouring West Yorkshire Police has secured sponsorship deals in the last year which include £35,000 from the Royal Armouries museum for crime prevention work, £30,000 to provide three vehicles and another £60,000 in donations from various sources.

Some forces have specialist staff working on sponsorship, but there is no guarantee income will exceed the overheads involved.

"Targets are often set; however the consultation with other forces has indicated that there is no guarantee that a dedicated post would necessarily bring in more funding and the cost of the post would need to be taken into consideration against any sponsorship funding secured."

In South Yorkshire, senior officers in individual policing districts or departments are currently left to make their own arrangements for sponsorship.

The Metropolitan force generated about £5m through sponsorship last year, although much of that was because of its position as the London force. Without that, the figure would be more than halved and the force has a team of seven staff committed to that work.

Elsewhere, Greater Manchester Police raised more than £1m, the Gwent force received £220,000 and North Yorkshire Police generated £46,000.

Further work on SYP's income generation policy is now expected.