Extra £30m to top up police pension pot

A police pensions crisis means taxpayers have had to help shore up the struggling Greater Manchester fund by almost £30 million this year.

Government records reveal the amount of cash needed to fill the blackhole in the force’s pot has more than tripled in two years.

Home Office figures show the department paid a grant of £29.9 million to cover the pension scheme shortfall — up from £9.6 million in 2006-07.

Nationally, the tax for police pensions more than doubled between 2006/07 and 2008/09, rising from £201 million to £482 million last year.

The Liberal Democrats, who uncovered the figures, claims that means an extra £20 for every household.

Lord Oakeshott, the party’s treasury spokesman, said: “We have paid twice for police pensions in the last three years, first through council tax and then through income tax too. It is time to stop turning a blind eye to the spiralling pension cost of delivering essential public services.”