Police paid hundreds in bonuses simply for handling dead bodies: Outcry as officers 'get extra just for doing their job'

  • Police get £500 bonus to attend a car crash, murder, or fingerprint a corpse
  • It amounts to £100,000 a year despite all other bonuses being scrapped
  • Even train drivers who witness suicides do not get similar payments
  • Keith Vaz said: 'I would have thought these matters were part of the job'

Police forces have been criticised for paying officers hundreds of pounds in ‘macabre’ bonuses for dealing with dead bodies.

Families of victims of accidents and crime are likely to be horrified that officers are profiting from their personal tragedies.

Police and civilian staff are paid compensation of up to £500 if they are sent to the scene of a car crash or murder, or have to take fingerprints from a corpse, according to figures obtained by The Mail on Sunday.

An estimated £100,000 is spent every year on the payments for ‘outstandingly unpleasant’ work, despite almost all other bonuses being scrapped in a recent review.

Gruesome: Officers dealing with unpleasant crimes can receive £500 - totalling £100,000 a year

Gruesome: Officers dealing with unpleasant crimes can receive £500 - totalling £100,000 a year

Critics say police should not be paid extra for just doing their jobs, and point out that neither paramedics nor firefighters get bonuses when they have to handle dead  bodies.

Even train drivers who witness suicides are not automatically entitled to compensation.

Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, vowed to quiz Home Secretary Theresa May over the issue this week.

He said: ‘I would have thought that dealing with these matters were part of the job and did not require additional payments.’

Criminal justice expert Harry Fletcher added: ‘It’s traumatic for anybody to deal with a fatality and the best way forward is to provide counselling rather than a pot of money. Most victims’ relatives would rather emergency services were given counselling than paid extra.’

Until recently a bonus bonanza meant police across England and Wales received up to £150 million a year in a variety of extra payments, including ‘professional competence’ awards and ‘special priority’ cash if they took on extra tasks.

Almost all of these rewards were scrapped after a Home Office review by lawyer Tom Winsor in 2011, but he allowed the payments of £50 to £500 for ‘outstandingly demanding, unpleasant or important’ work to remain.

But new details make it clear that ‘unpleasant’ tasks usually relate to the dealing with dead bodies.

In a document obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Suffolk Constabulary states they may include ‘handling of a badly decomposed body, dealing with an extremely difficult fatal road accident or investigating and extremely unpleasant offence or incident’.

Thames Valley police provides payments of £50 for civilian staff who have to ‘search/fingerprint dead body’ and its guidance states: ‘Payment only for cases deemed to be particularly unpleasant, such as badly decomposed bodies’.

Angry: Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said he will quiz Theresa May this week

Angry: Keith Vaz, chairman of the Home Affairs Select Committee, said he will quiz Theresa May this week

It expects to pay out £1,000 in the current financial year for workers who have to handle corpses, as well as £45,000 to officers and teams who carried out demanding or important work as well as unpleasant tasks.

This year, two constables were each given £200 when they attended the scene of a 'female on hard shoulder hit by vehicle'

Dorset said it paid out about £2,000 for unpleasant work last year while Gwent spent £1,900, including three payments of £100 to officers who had to recover bodies. South Yorkshire paid out £2,700 in 2011-12 for unpleasant work.

The most detailed breakdown came from Hertfordshire Constabulary, which paid out £2,050 last year for ‘exceptionally unpleasant’ work ‘over and above’ normal duties.

One PC received £250 for ‘body retrieved from river which had been there for some time’, while a colleague got £200 when they ‘attended murder/suicide scene and assisted with the removal of the bodies’.

Two officers shared £400 to deal with ‘male hit by train – body dismembered’ and a sergeant got £200 when they were ‘witness to man who shot himself in chest and then assisted medical staff in extreme circumstances’.

Earlier this year two constables were each given £200 when they attended the scene of a ‘female on hard shoulder hit by vehicle, body thrown some distance’.

In 2011 four officers received a total of £800 to handle an ‘extreme decomposed body’ while one PC got £250 when they had to attend ‘suicide from bridge – hit by vehicles’.

If each of the 44 forces across England and Wales spent £2,000 on unpleasant work cases, it would mean a total annual cost of £88,000 but the figures are likely to be higher in larger areas and in for British Transport Police, whose officers deal with suicides on railways.

Police forces budget for bonuses they plan to hand out to officers or civilians that have to deal with dead people

Police forces budget for bonuses they plan to hand out to officers or civilians that have to deal with dead people

Rob Flello, the Labour MP who chairs the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Victims and Witnesses of Crime, said last night: ‘Forces should be ensuring officers get proper support and any counselling they need, as should all those encountering distressing situations That’s where the money should go.’

The Taxpayers’ Alliance said: ‘Bereaved family members and friends may find this particularly macabre at a time when they will be under incredible pressure.’

Senior police have previously criticised bonus schemes as divisive and contrary to the culture of policing, and called for their abolition.

But last night both the Police Federation, representing rank-and-file officers, and the Association of Chief Police Officers, defended the extra payments.

Thames Valley’s Deputy Chief Constable Francis Habgood, said: ‘Even within policing there are some tasks which even the most experienced officer can find emotionally draining and challenging.

'These bonuses are not designed to reward officers for merely doing their day-to-day jobs, but to recognise when the task can try even the toughest emotional and professional resolve.’

Steve White, vice-chairman of the Police Federation, added: ‘Police officers’ remuneration should reflect the sometimes extraordinary tasks they are asked to perform.’