SNP blasted as Police Scotland overtime bill soars to £31m amid officer shortageOfficers numbers have decreased to the lowest on record following years of budget cuts brought by the SNP GovernmentView 3 Images Police Scotland spent £600,000 a week on overtime (Image: PA)The SNP have been blasted over dwindling officers numbers after it was revealed Police Scotland spent around £31million for officers working overtime. The FOI revealed that the force spent more than £327m on overtime payments since it was formed in 2013. The overtime bill in 2016/17 was £16.6m. It revealed that Glasgow's police division had the biggest overtime bill at £3.9m with Dumfries and Galloway the lowest at around £416,000. Scottish Conservative justice spokesman, Liam Kerr said: "This soaring overtime bill lays bare the impact of years of cuts and failure to support the police force.

Source: Express April 07, 2026 11:56 UTC