Policing in Scotland is not yet financially sustainable, Scotland’s Auditor General has warned. 

A new report on the management and financial structure of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) by Stephen Boyle shows a total overspend of £26.8 million in 2019-20.

This includes an extra £2.2 million in March as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

A cash injection of £32.9 million from the Scottish Government was used to plug the funding gap.

According to projections by Police Scotland, deficits will continue to increase unless "significant action is taken either to increase funding or to reduce the cost of its workforce".

A report published by the SPA in September showed that, if a 3.25% annual pay increase is given to staff and numbers remain the same, the deficit could be as high as £200 million.

The report said: "The Scottish Police Authority is not yet operating to a financially sustainable budget.

"Police Scotland has failed to develop a detailed workforce plan.

"Without firmer progress on these key areas, they will find it difficult to deliver the ambitions of the new joint strategy for policing."

Boyle said: "The SPA has made progress in the past year whilst faced with the significant additional challenges of Covid-19 and preparing for the UK's withdrawal from the European Union.

"It is now a matter of urgency that the SPA, Police Scotland and the Scottish Government reach agreement on what needs to be done to achieve financial sustainability.

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"Without firmer progress on the key areas of budget balance and workforce planning, the SPA and Police Scotland will not be able to deliver the ambitions of the new Joint Strategy for Policing."

SPA interim chairman David Crichton agreed with the report, saying: "The Auditor General rightly raises the ongoing financial challenges for policing.

"The authority's position has been well documented and we remain of the view that the deficit is unsustainable, and without an increase in core budget or a reduction in officer numbers there is no short-term route to eliminating it.

"The authority continues to engage with the Scottish Government and Police Scotland to identify options for delivering financial sustainability."

The SPA has had significant shifts in its leadership structure in the last 18 months, with both the chairman and chief executive roles being filled on an interim basis after the resignation of the previous incumbents.

Despite this, the report said: "There has been stability in the leadership of the Scottish Police Authority and Police Scotland, and the authority has made good progress in developing the capacity of its corporate function.

"There has also been progress in relation to organisational governance."

Asked about the report during the Scottish Government’s daily coronavirus briefing, Police Scotland’s Chief Constable, Iain Livingstone, admitted things were tight. 

He said the force needed to be ready for the future: “There's a duty and a discipline for me as Chief Constable to make sure that we do have realistic financial projections so we can achieve sustainability going forward."

The Chief added that he had a “very, very low tolerance for any risk around change or any reduction regarding the number of police officers we have in this country".

Plans to reduce the number of officers by 750 by the end of this financial year were scrapped due to fears over risks caused by Brexit.

Livingstone said: “The demands next year are going to be significant. We still don't know the full consequences and implications of Brexit, we still don't know the full consequences or implications from Covid. 

“And we know that there are significant large scale international events coming to Scotland next year. So we need to retain our officer strength at this stage, but we do need to continue to reform and look ahead, two years, five years so we can build a sustainable police service."

The First Minister, who was standing alongside the top cop at the briefing, said the Scottish Government were “committed to funding the police to the very best of the ability we have within the financial constraints that we face".