The Mayor of South Yorkshire has ordered an independent review into the accounting practices of the former Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner.
This comes following a report that identified concerns about such practices.
May 2024 saw the Mayor taking on the functions of the Police and Crime Commissioner, with due diligence being taken by the finance team within South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority however, according to the combined authority, this led to a “significant error” being discovered in the accounts and future year budgets of the OPCC.
According to the combined authority, £65 million has been spent on the purchasing of essential kit however, in order to allow for the repayment of the capital spending debt, £16 million of charges for the repayment of the debt have not been made. Alongside this, £49 million of future payments have not been included in spending plans, representing a “fundamental error in accounting practices.”
In order to rectify the issue, a team including the mayor, combined authority officers, the government, external auditors, and South Yorkshire Police are working together to mitigate the impact of changes on future budgets.
Oliver Coppard, Mayor of South Yorkshire, commented on the issue:
“I am deeply frustrated by the problems uncovered by my team following the transfer of OPCC powers into my office earlier this year.
“These problems would appear to represent a fundamental error in accounting practices in the office of the former PCC.
“Those mistakes were missed by external and internal checks.
“I have now instructed my office to bring in an external team to independently look at the processes that allowed those mistakes to go undetected for five years.
“I am grateful to South Yorkshire Police and the government for the constructive conversations we have already had about finding a sustainable solution to both these new challenges and the ongoing pressures caused by tightened police budgets over the last 14 years.
“Protecting the communities of South Yorkshire will always remain my first and most vital priority.”
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