SCOTLAND’S former Chief Constable left his post amid bullying claims with an £85,000 exit package before landing a £162,000 job a few months later, it has emerged.
Phil Gormley collected £54,137 for three months’ salary in lieu of notice and £28,227 for 34 days of “untaken annual leave”, despite being on 150 days of “special leave” before quitting.
He also benefited from £2,497 in “removal costs” to help him relocate from his subsidised flat at the Scottish Police College in Tulliallan back to his home in Norfolk.
The figures are revealed in the latest accounts of the Scottish Police Authority (SPA), the body which oversees Police Scotland and its £1.1bn budget.
Caroline Gardner, the Auditor General, said the SPA had improved its management and finances in 2017/18, but highlighted a doubling in spending on consultants and agency staff.
Consultant spending rose from £1.9m to £4.3m and agency staff from £1.5m to £4m due to a “lack of capacity in the SPA and Police Scotland to deliver strategic projects”.
Mr Gardner also warned the SPA had yet to finalise the £298m funding needed for a five-year IT strategy seen as critical to Police Scotland’s future operations.
The SPA ended the year with a £34.3 overspend.
Mr Gormley was appointed Chief Constable at Police Scotland in January 2016.
In July 2017 it emerged he was being investigated for alleged bullying, and when a second misconduct complaint was made, he went on special leave in September last year.
By the time he quit in February, seven complaints had been made about him to the SPA, five of which were passed to the Police Investigations & Review Commissioner.
He denied the allegations but said they had made it impossible to resume his duties.
When he resigned, all the investigations were automatically dropped, something which would not have happened under the equivalent system in England.
In October this year, Mr Gormley was appointed to HM Inspectorate in Constabulary, which upholds standards in police standards south of the border, on a salary of up to £162,500.
Mr Gormey's former deputy, Iain Livingstone, was appointed as Scotland's new Chief Constable in August.
Ms Gardner said there were still “considerable challenges” for policing and the force’s long-term plan.
Slow progress in workforce and estate strategies would also restrict the SPA’s ability to achieve “long-term financial stability”.
She said: “
It's vital that the SPA and Police Scotland develop comprehensive strategies for its future workforce, estates and ICT and clarify where the funding is coming from to make them a reality."
Tory justice spokesman Liam Kerr said the "damning report" suggested the SPA remained “dogged by overspends, missed opportunities and insufficient progress”.
He said: “The massive increase in spending on consultancy fees and agency staff is highly questionable and it also demonstrates an alarming failure of workforce planning.
“Most concerning is the SNP’s failure to deliver on crucial upgrades to ICT, which is currently undermining the work of police officers on the ground.”
LibDem MSP Liam McArthur said: "Spiralling consultant and agency staff costs show that the SPA is still struggling to find its feet. The effects of the SNP's bungled policing centralisation will be felt for years to come."
SPA chair Susan Deacon said the report confirmed improvements in the organisation's operations and transparency.
She said: “I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge which the Authority and Police Scotland still face.
“I am confident, however, that we are now putting in place the people and the practices needed to build a police service which is fit for purpose, fit for the future and which commands high levels of public confidence and trust. ”
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