Financial Overview
For 2022/23 the Force's outturn position was £1.1m underspent.
This outturn position included transfers of £7.6m in-year to reserves to provide funding for capital and revenue expenditure that span multiple financial years, such as the cost of transformation programmes, digital infrastructure and estate capital requirements as well as contributions towards ongoing large-scale, mainly historic, investigations.
The main reason for the underspend in 22/23 related to £0.8m of unplanned council tax income due to a prior year error at a borough council, and additional investment provided from the Home Office for Op Uplift equated to the growth of 104 Police Officers. While funding was provided for the whole year, Officer intakes were profiled throughout the year, the underspend relates to the timing of recruitment. Surrey Police achieved the Home Office milestones for Op Uplift. For Police Staff the force experienced an average vacancy rate of 11% over the year which was higher than planned, resulting in underspend.
In the published statement of accounts for 2022/23 a cash equivalent balance of £34.1m was held at 31 March 2023 which includes £32.83m held for investment by Surrey County Council. It should be noted that this is part of standard treasury management as cash is drawn down for expenditure throughout the year - it is not simply additional money.
The usable reserves published in the 2022/23 statement of accounts total £34.7m, this includes £21.9m of reserves allocated for specific expenditure such as the modernisation of the estate; capital programmes; transformation programmes to improve output and reduce operating cost; an insurance reserve; and a net-zero reserve for future investment as part of the government commitment to reduce our carbon footprint.