ABSTRACT
This chapter describes in general terms how police financing operates but probably no single force’s arrangements will follow the descriptions. The Home Secretary may make grants to police forces to cover any expenditure incurred in connection with safeguarding national security. It is the duty of a police authority to maintain a police fund. All receipts must be paid into the fund, all expenditures shall be paid out of the fund and accounts must be kept of the fund’s transactions. All of the financial transactions of the police fund and any borrowing of funds are controlled by financial regulations approved by the Home Secretary. The police authority will consider the application and may need to seek either a supplementary grant from central government or permission to borrow money. Local councils can make grants to their local police authority either unconditionally or subject to particular conditions that are agreed with the chief constable.
