NORTH Yorkshire Police overspent by almost £800,000 in July, a new report has shown.

The revenue budget for July was presented to the Corporate Performance, Delivery and Scrutiny Board of the Police and Crime Commissioner this week, and showed overspending in a number of areas of the force.

The report shows police officers racked up £536,000 in overtime while police staff overtime totalled £128,000.

General PCSO pay was £127,000 more than budgeted, while PCSO overtime saw an overspend of £7,000.

The document also forecasted an overspend of more than half a million pounds on agency pay and £350,000 on "other non-salary employee costs", which also includes agency staff.

Deputy Chief Constable Tim Madgwick said despite evidence of overspending in July, this was not indicative of North Yorkshire Police's finances.

Mr Madgwick said: "Our budget is balanced and we are not overspending as an organisation. With the new Policing Fund Formula, it is difficult to predict exactly what this is going to mean in terms of resourcing for North Yorkshire Police.

"With this in mind, we are at present carrying a number of vacancies. A decision was made to use agency staff to temporarily fill some of those vacancies. It is prudent of us to do this as it means we can remain flexible and able to adapt to the demands of the forthcoming funding formula."

The report also suggested a drop in the number of police officers was expected, with new recruits due next year, and Mr Madgwick said this could mean fewer officers in the future.

It said: "Current recruitment plans show police officer numbers reducing during the year, reducing in an underspend against the budget of £1.5m. The next intake of 14 student officers is planned for March 16. An adjustment made in the budget for the impact of student officers on the average salary was understated resulting in a further underspend of £300,000."

Mr Madgwick said: "We have been recognised by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary for our prudent approach to financial planning, and we will continue to plan for every eventuality. That includes scenario plans for a small phased reduction in the number of officers over the next few years.

"We can’t confirm any numbers until we know the full implications of the Police Funding Formula, but in the meanwhile, we are carefully managing officer vacancies and recruitment. Regardless of the outcome of the Police Funding Formula, we will not be reducing numbers in frontline neighbourhood policing. We made that point in the public roadshows we held across the county in June, and that remains our firm position."