Secrecy Cop Out On Bonuses

Just seen a news report on ITN about Whitehall civil servants creaming off a total of £26 million from the tax payer in performance related bonuses.

It seems the same story is in today's Daily Mail, click here, which estimates the pay outs range from £6500 to £8500.

But that's small beer when you learn about what Lothian and Borders top cops are trousering. See my Police Box blog on how L and B are trying to hide behind Freedom of Information/Data Protection legislation to keep the exact payouts secret.

But as a rough guesstimate, if Chief Constable David Strang is on a salary of around £130k and he has been awarded the top level 15% bonus, then he is pocketing just shy of an extra £20 grand a year.

And his sidekick, Deputy Chief Freeloader Tom Halpin, on a salary of around £110,000 and based on the top bonus payable at 12.5%, will be helping himself to a nice little earner of about £13k. Nice work if you can get it fellas.

No wonder L and B cops rushed round mob-handed to Fred the Shred's hoose when his windows were tanned in - no doubt seeking advice on how to invest the windfall and how to face down a potential public outcry.

p.s by the way Tom, have you found that missing laptop yet?