POLICE Scotland faces a funding gap of just under £11m this year. Speaking at the board meeting of the Scottish Police Authority, Sir Stephen House, the force’s chief constable, said that the force had already made £46.5m of the £57.5m savings necessary to break even in 2015-16.

The chief constable said that part of the problem was down to the fact that Police Scotland is the only force in the UK who have to pay VAT.

Sir Stephen said: “We are the only UK police force not eligible to recover VAT. I’m frankly bewildered that we have to pay VAT as an organisation.

“I do not seek to blame anyone in Scotland in relation to that, it is quite clear the Scottish Government has been working very hard to recover the situation. This seems to me to be an unsupportable situation.”

The chief constable was not confident that this was going to change soon.

He said: “Everybody knows we are approaching one election in the UK and in 12 months’ time we will be on the verge of a second election in Scotland.

“And within those two milestones we have to bring about some significant change in an organisation that has already seen significant change. I think that will bring a challenge to the authority and the organisation itself.”

During the board meeting Police Scotland confirmed that due to cuts in administration costs it had already made savings equal to the combined budget of Dumfries and Galloway, Northern Constabulary and Central Scotland Police.

A spokesperson for Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Michael Matheson, said: “The people of Scotland are being penalised twice – firstly by the Westminster-imposed cuts and secondly by this additional VAT grab by HM Treasury.

“Police Scotland is the only force in the UK that pays VAT and this is around £23 million, the equivalent of nearly 700 officers.

“The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is similarly disadvantaged, and is liable for an annual cost of around £10 million.

“We will continue to press the Westminster Government to overturn these VAT charges that are penalising our police and fire services.”

A spokesperson for the Treasury was unable to comment under restrictions governing the forthcoming election.