TOP brass at North Yorkshire Police are set to waive their bonuses as their cash-strapped force faces up to a spending squeeze.

North Yorkshire Police’s most senior officers will choose not to accept thousands of pounds in extra payments as they battle to save £6.2 million this year.

The move comes after chief constable Grahame Maxwell and deputy chief constable Adam Briggs pocketed performance-related bonuses totalling £15,000 last year, while North Yorkshire Police Authority’s chief executive, Jeremy Holderness, and its finance officer, Joanna Carter, each received £5,000.

A report, which will go before the authority’s management board next week, said while £52,000 had been set aside for bonuses during the current financial year, these would not be accepted and the cash was instead expected to be used to help soften the blow from funding cuts.

In the report, Mr Holderness said: “I understand that those senior leadership team members who would be eligible this year for consideration for a bonus have decided not to seek such a bonus this year. I have come to the same view insofar as my eligibility is concerned.

“In the circumstances, the North Yorkshire Police Authority budget for these payments will not be required this year.”

Mr Holderness said the money saved should be added to the force’s budget for this year, rather than into reserves and held for the future “so that the organisation can benefit from the decisions of its leaders”. In 2009/10, the force and the police authority’s senior officers received £939,000 in salaries, benefits, allowances, bonuses and pension contributions, £116,000 more than the previous year. The annual pay packets, bonus schemes and allowance levels for senior police officers are set at a national level.

Last week, Mr Maxwell warned budget cuts would lead to fewer police on the county’s streets.