Scotland’s Chief Constable Jo Farrell has landed taxpayers with an eye-watering £134,000 bill to help her buy a second home, the Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The police chief – who earns £270,000-a-year – has bought a £595,000 second home in an upmarket Edinburgh suburb while keeping on her £1 million five-bedroomed family home 100 miles away in Northumberland.
Police Scotland’s annual accounts – due to be published later this month – reveal Ms Farrell received relocation expenses of £69,901 – while oversight body the taxpayer-funded Scottish Police Authority (SPA) paid out additional “tax costs” of £64,525.
It is thought that part of the expenses claim relates to Land and Building Transaction Tax (LBTT) and Additional Dwelling Supplement (ADS) – a controversial extra tax introduced by the SNP government for all second homeowners.
Details of the huge bill come just days after the Chief Constable demanded an extra £140 million from the Scottish government and said Police Scotland was at a ‘crossroads’ financially and it would have to slash officer numbers if ministers short-changed it.
The “benefits in kind” attributed by the SPA to Ms Farrell are the equivalent of four new police recruits’ starting salary of £31,400.
Last night Scottish Conservative leader, Russell Findlay, MSP, hit out at the SPA approved reimbursement and called for a probe into the rules on police relocation expenses.
He said: ‘Struggling frontline officers and the paying public might question whether such huge sums of taxpayers’ cash should be spent on a second home for a chief constable who’s on more than £260,000.
‘This highly generous deal must now be subject to proper scrutiny and a full public explanation from Police Scotland, the SPA and the SNP government. If such largesse is within the rules, then the rules should be looked at.
‘Taxpayers are sick of being relentlessly hammered by SNP ministers who far too often spend their cash with reckless abandon.’
Under ‘Remuneration’ in Police Scotland’s annual accounts it is noted: ‘Jo Farrell received taxable relocation expenses of £69,901 (£134,426 including tax costs paid). These costs are in line with the Chief Officer relocation procedure. The costs facilitate the reimbursement of the incremental accommodation costs upon the recruitment or transfer of Chief Officers.’
The rules on chief officer relocation expenses state the retention of a second home may be considered only in “exceptional circumstances” and that LBTT and ADS may be eligible for reimbursement.
It is understood the Chief Constable, who joined Police Scotland in October 2023, makes frequent trips back to the Northumberland home she bought in May 2023 with her retired police officer husband Peter.
In August 2024, the couple bought a two-bedroom apartment in a well-known property hotspot in central Edinburgh.
The total LBTT and ADS tax due on a property worth £595,000 would total £68,500
Due to strong demand in the capital, similar properties increase in value by an average of 5 per cent annually, meaning the Farrells could benefit from a £150,000 uplift in just five years.
Hellbound and Down 