A SUSSEX police boss took home more than £100,000 in 2020-21. 

That figure is highlighted in research from the TaxPayers’ Alliance, which has also pointed out that Sussex Police increased their precept by £15 in 2020-21, the maximum amount, despite underspending by £33,000.

The take-home pay of Katy Bourne, the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner, was £108,000 in that year.

The research states that average total remuneration for PCCs was £90,184, with only eight commissioners taking home more than £100,000 in total.

The TaxPayers’ Alliance has also hit out at government plans to introduce mandatory deputy police and crime commissioners, which it says could see bosses taking home an additional £1.4 million on top of the existing £77 million police commissioner budget.

The research also showed that, with budgets totalling £76.7 million, the majority of offices for police and crime commissioners underspent by an average of £313,976 in 2020-21.

The total not spent was more than £6 million, according to the research.

“This means savings could be passed on to the following year and police precepts not raised further on struggling taxpayers,” said a TaxPayers’ Alliance spokesman.

Despite this, more than three quarters of commissioners raised the precept by the maximum or near-maximum £15 in 2021-22.

Government ministers have committed to legislating for new deputy PCCS, and the draft Victims Bill announced recently in the Queen’s Speech aims to grant a “greater role” for PCCs.

“Any commissioner can already appoint a deputy, meaning making them mandatory would place an unnecessary additional burden on the taxpayer,” said the spokesman. “With yearly increases in precepts adding to taxpayers’ bills, the TaxPayers’ Alliance is calling on the government to drop plans to make deputy PCCs mandatory.”

A spokesman for the Office of the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner said: “The end of year balances on the police budget can be affected by many things. The budget for that year was £298.6m so a variance of £33k is very, very small by comparison.”

He added that Mrs Bourne’s salary is £86,700.

He also said that, as agreed in September 2018, the government increased the PCC salary bands by 2%, backdated to 1 May 2018 and that this was the first increase since PCCs took office in 2012.

“There are government plans for PCCs to have a mandated deputy,” he added. “We don’t have one yet. The reasoning behind deputies seems to be ensuring that there is continuity in the absence of the PCC.

“[The PCC] has previously said that the public elected her which means she’s accountable. Unless Deputy PCCs are elected too then they would be political appointees.”