Police forces spend £1.7bn on overtime in five years

Police officers worked on average more than 97 hours overtime each in one year, a BBC investigation has found. Overtime spending has reached its highest level since 2013 as the number of officers continued to fall. Overtime cost £1.7bn in five years and the Police Federation said money spent in 2017-18 alone could have funded at least 10,000 new police officers. The Home Office said forces could apply for additional funding when their resources were stretched.