POLICE in North Yorkshire are facing an unexpected £900,000 overtime bill despite trying to crack down on the amount they spend on extra hours.

The cost of sending officers to London to help tackle last summer’s riots and the need to deal with vacancies in the force control room means North Yorkshire Police could outstrip its overtime budget for this year by £902,000.

But the force still expects to come in £3.642 million below its overall budget for 2011/12 – which is £140.5 million – according to the latest financial rundown which will be discussed at a meeting of North Yorkshire Police Authority (NYPA) next week.

A report on the force’s financial performance said it originally budgeted to spend almost £1.4 million on officer overtime this year, but this was now likely to be £2.36 million, with the overall overtime costs – including police staff and PCSOs – being £2.94 million.

Tough controls on additional hours being worked were put in place during 2010/11 and North Yorkshire Police has said these are continuing.

More than 180 officers from North Yorkshire were drafted in to support other forces during last year’s violence in London, with the force aiming to recoup some of the expected £1.3 million cost. The NYPA report said the recruitment of new control room staff should mean overtime levels in this area reducing.

It also expects to beat its salaries budget by £907,000 this year and spend £1.642 million less than anticipated on supplies and services, while making £6.9 million in savings.

The Home Office told forces to start looking at cuts to police overtime three years ago as budgets began to be sliced. In 2009/10, North Yorkshire Police spent £4.7 million on overtime - £2.2 million more than the previous year - while it came to £2.5 million in 2010/11, £241,000 over budget. It was also £2.5 million in 2008/09.

The police authority will also be told next week that four per cent of the force’s total working hours were lost to sickness during the first six months of 2011/12, 0.7 per cent higher than during the same period the previous year, although a performance report by Chief Constable Grahame Maxwell said the situation improved towards the end of 2011 after peaking in October.

Statistics show the percentage of officer hours lost through sickness reached 4.2 per cent in the first six months of 2011/12, up from 3.1 per cent the year before, while sickness rates among staff showed a smaller increase. However, levels of sickness among PCSOs have been ranked as “improving”.