Police paid £500,000 last month as compensation to officers missing time off

Police Scotland has had to pay officers £500,000 in compensation for not being able to get time off last month alone.

With US President Donald Trump visiting Scotland in July, and his Vice-President JD Vance also holidaying in the country in August, deputy chief constable Jane Connors said it has been a “very busy summer for policing in Scotland”.

She said Police Scotland, together with others, including police forces across the UK, had “ensured safety and security across a range of events, most notably the visit to Scotland of the president of the United States Donald Trump and the vice-president JD Vance”.

She stressed that at the same time as such events, “day-to-day policing continued for our communities”.

She told a Scottish Police Authority meeting on Thursday: “It does put pressure on our resources and our staff who we know are very tired after a long summer.”

Deputy chief constable Alan Speirs went on to tell the meeting that in July alone – the month of Trump’s visit – the force spent £500,000 to “buy back” time off in lieu (Toil) from officers who had been unable to take this time because of the demands on the police.

Police Scotland mounted a major operation when the US president spent several days in Scotland in July, with Trump holding talks with both UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish First Minister John Swinney as he visited his golf resorts in South Ayrshire and Aberdeenshire.

Less than a month later, officers were needed to help with security arrangements when Mr Vance and his family flew in as part of their holiday.

Mr Speirs explained police can either receive overtime payments, or if given Toil have three months to take this before Police Scotland buys the time back from them.

He told the SPA meeting in Glasgow: “Regrettably the spend for us in the month of July alone was £0.5 million because officers weren’t able to get the time back, which to me demonstrates there is a real demand on the service and it is largely through events.

“The trend around Toil is quite significant, so we will continue to look at that on a monthly basis.

“It is a growing challenge for us, to manage that element of the budget.

“We don’t want officers at work when they should be off, so it is regrettable that we’re in that position of having to compensate them through payment for things like Toil.”

His comments came as Ms Connors told the SPA board meeting about the pressures on the force, saying police are dealing with an “increase in the volume of challenging protests and counter protests”.

In addition, she said there are now more football matches that require to be policed.

“Games that would be police free, we are now having to police,” the senior officer said.