Police officers in Kent claimed more than £12.5 million in overtime last year, new figures show.
The payments, made to constables and sergeants for working additional hours, was the seventh highest of all the 53 police forces in the UK.
The overtime payments, uncovered by industry magazine Police Review in a Freedom of Information request, show more than half a billion pounds was paid to police officers in the UK last year.
The biggest overtime payments went to officers in the Met police, with the 31,000-strong force pocketing an extra £135.9 million in 2007.
Next was Strathclyde in Scotland, which covers Glasgow, with a £26.1 million overtime bill, followed by Greater Manchester with a £25.1 million bill.
In fourth place is West Midlands with £20 million, in fifth Thames Valley with £15.7m, and just above Kent is Northamptonshire with £15 million.
The British Transport Police billed a total of £10.2 million in overtime, with the smallest claims coming from Humberside police, where the additional hours bill came to just £1.6 million.
Forces in Gwent, the City of London, West Yorkshire and Central Scotland failed to provide information about its overtime payments, so the nationwide figure will be significantly higher.
Julie Nesbit, chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales’ constables central committee, said overtime is going up as forces are in desperate need of more officers.
She said: “Forces across the UK are saying they will reduce the number of constables and the workload is definitely not being reduced, so overtime is the only answer.”
It has been suggested that the Government could scrap police overtime and replace it with a higher basic wage.
But a Home Office spokesman denied this.
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POSTED: 17/05/2008 09:00:00