Cost of police overtime doubles over five years

Despite increases in officer numbers, overtime rocketed by more than 100m between 2002 and 2007.

One in six forces in England and Wales lack proper rules on when overtime can be claimed, the research showed.

It follows a report last week that some officers could claim hundreds of pounds in overtime just for answering the phone.

The latest study, carried out by the Home Office Police Productivity Unit, showed the 43 forces in England and Wales were set a target of cutting their overtime spends in 2003, but instead it rocketed by almost 45 per cent to 412m in 2006/7.

Large differences were found between forces, with more than half managing to make the cuts.

The study found seven forces had no formal overtime policy – meaning officers were "clocking up more hours than they have actually worked".

Four forces said they did have a policy but did not make it available to all their officers.

In a survey nearly three quarters of forces said overtime was due to "lack of staff" despite police numbers increasing by 20,000 over the period.

Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell, speaking for the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo), said: "As a 24-hour, seven day a week organisation, the police service has to be able to respond flexibly to any event or crime at any time – whether it be a flood, a major murder investigation or public order incident."