Police boards are demanding that Scottish ministers take responsibility for pensions, as the cost of a surge in retirement lump sum payments threatens to leave a £145m gap in budgets over the next three years.

Police boards are demanding that Scottish ministers take responsibility for pensions, as the cost of a surge in retirement lump sum payments threatens to leave a £145m gap in budgets over the next three years.

The conveners of Scotland's eight boards, drawn from different political parties across Scottish local authorities, yesterday issued a statement saying there has to be a centralised fund by April next year. This was to step up political pressure, with warnings about the impact the pensions bill could have on crime-fighting. The warning came as the SNP and Labour clashed over police recruitment numbers, with the Holyrood opposition claiming the Scottish Government is missing its targets.

Labour leadership candidate Andy Kerr highlighted figures that show Strathclyde police numbers have fallen by 129 to 7471 since the SNP came to power.

But Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill countered that recruitment across Scotland has met this year's target of 150 and remains on track towards the pledge of 1000 more officers by 2011, with recruits at record levels. The difference is explained by retirements outnumbering recruits.

The Scottish Government last week shifted ground on the looming pensions crisis, looking for ways to centralise and arguing the UK Treasury should help.

It claims money has been found for English police retirals, but not for Scotland, and that the Scots are being treated unfairly, with the subject discussed yesterday when the Scottish Cabinet met on Skye.

The Treasury has accepted there is a problem and it is open to negotiation, though the prospect of police pensions being controlled from London instead of Scotland is unlikely to find favour with SNP ministers.

The sharply rise pensions costs comes from the increase in the number of police retiring. Next year, it is estimated police boards will have to meet a £54m shortfall, and £41m the year after.

An additional bill has arisen from Home Secretary Jacqui Smith agreeing to enhance police lump sum pay-offs to address anomalies. Male retirees are to receive around 25% more than previously planned, and female ones will get 10% more, with that cost being applied also in Scotland. That adds additional costs of £11m to last year's bill as it applies from last October, £13m this year, and £19m and £10m for the next two years. Those figures compare with a total annual police budget of under £1100m.

Paul Rooney, convener of Strathclyde Joint Police Board and of the Scottish Police Authorities Conveners Forum, met Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill last Friday, but it was claimed Mr MacAskill only repeated that there is no money available.

However, the police boards say the Scottish Government has recently started work on options for centralising the pensions liability.

Mr Rooney said yesterday: "The pension's shortfall is the biggest threat facing Police Authority budgets in 2009/10 and 2010/11. Unless the shortfall is met in full by the Scottish Government, it will impact on frontline policing.

"A centralised pension fund by 1st April 2009, controlled and underwritten by the Scottish Government will remove the burden on operational policing budgets. It rightly places police pensions under the direct responsibility of the Scottish Government."

A Scottish Government spokesman responded: "We recognise the potential advantages of managing police and fire pension payments outwith operational budgets, as happened south of the border in 2006 but not in Scotland under the previous administration. However, it is too early to say how this will work.

"That is why Scottish Government officials are currently looking at the options for reforming the management of police and fire pensions in Scotland and are in discussion with Cosla, Acpos and police board conveners' representatives."