No more fancy cars, less overtime for British police

London: Ministers want to slash police overtime payments by £70 million (Dh429 million) and ban beat officers from driving top-of-the-range cars.

Scores of jobs are also likely to be axed as the Home Office seeks to cut £75million from back office budgets, according to a leaked draft of a policing white paper.

Officers will be told they must slash the amount of overtime they work. The report estimates this will save £70million.

Police are likely to be furious about the loss of such a huge chunk of overtime. On average, they are paid £400million each year. Over the past decade, average-payouts have spiralled from £1,500 per officer to nearly £3,000.

They will also be told they must all purchase the same equipment, regardless of which force they are from, and drive the same standard "beat car".

This is designed to save money amid complaints some forces have been lavishing too much money on "fancy" vehicles.

The report also reveals £75million will be saved by "improving back office support services" — believed to be a reference to the axing of the number of civilian support jobs.

Bold new programme

An apparent admission in the leaked papers that there was not much new in the proposals — the phrase "bold new programme"was amended to delete the word "bold" — was seized on by opposition politicians.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling said: "This is quite clearly a real damp squib of a White Paper. There is a lack of any new real ideas and we get a clear sense that what we have now is a Labour Government which has run out of steam and has no idea how to reform policing."

The White Paper will be published alongside former Police Federation chairman Jan Berry's review on cutting police red tape.