Paying suspended officers costs police force £5m

One senior Essex Police officer may have pocketed up to £330,000 while suspended

Essex Police has spent more than £5m paying suspended officers to remain at home since 2020, the BBC can reveal.

In one case, an ex-chief superintendent may have pocketed up to £330,000 before he was sacked after a three-year investigation.

Steve Martin, chair of Essex Police Federation, said lengthy processes were putting forces out of pocket and leaving officers found to be innocent in mental turmoil.

A spokesman for the force said: "Suspension is only used where it's appropriate and we're always considering value for money for the public."

In the five years to April, 101 of its officers were suspended with full pay. Of those, 53 were dismissed.

Their salaries during this period cost Essex Police £5,435,193, data obtained via a Freedom of Information request showed.

Tom Simons, a former chief superintendent with Essex Police, may have pocketed up to £330,000 before he was sacked

Allegations of misconduct are either investigated by the force or, in more serious cases, escalated to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

There are no restrictions on how long these investigations can continue, but a government-sponsored review found they took nine months on average.

"The pressure and stress it puts on that officer is not fair," Mr Martin said.

"There are a number of investigations that appear to have dragged on for months and months and months where, actually, they could've ended a lot earlier.

"If there are areas we can bring them back with sufficient learning and training, then I would say let's get them back into the workplace.

"That can only be good for everybody."

'Complex or difficult'

In April, former Ch Supt Tom Simons was sacked by Essex Police for abusing his senior role for sexual purposes with a colleague.

He would have been paid between £99,612 and £111,117 a year for his job, according to the force's pay scales.

It meant he could have taken home as much as £333,351 during the three-year probe into his conduct.

PC Georgie Bean, who was based in Basildon, also collected a salary over several years while he was investigated for having a sexual relationship with a key witness.

The Essex Police spokesman said some proceedings could become "very complex or difficult".

"When officers are suspended, it is at the point where there is an indication that an officer may have committed a criminal offence or breached the standards of professional behaviour amounting to misconduct," he said.

"Following an investigation, the officer may be cleared from any wrongdoing and therefore it would be considered unfair to suspend their pay when nothing has been proven against them at that stage."

In October, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced a review into the "timeliness and appropriateness" of IOPC investigations.

An IOPC spokeswoman said addressing timeliness was its "absolute priority" and that "fundamental reform" was needed to reduce complexities.

"We understand the impact of long investigations on both complainants and the police officers involved," she said.

"We are committed to working with the government, policing and other stakeholders to speed up the system and address the wider causes of delays."