Here are the stats for 2021/22. The slow decline continues. Even with the inclusion of Fixed Wing Action Calls the number is less than last year. Flying hours are down on last year as well with the total now less than half of what was being flown prior to NPAS.
The overall cost of Air Support is down by 4.4%, but there is the usual mix of some paying more than last year and some less. The way that NPAS charge Forces continues to be somewhat of an enigma. Going by the easy option of cost per Actioned Call, we have at opposite ends of the scale, GMP at £1215 per call and Cambridge at a whopping £10,382 per call!
So, I asked NPAS the following:
With regards to charges made to Forces for Air Support, how is that broken down? A couple of items don’t appear to make sense.
Cambridgeshire were charged £705,951 and had only 68 Actioned Calls, which works out at £10,382 per call. GMP paid £1,325,186 and had 1091 Calls, which equates to only £1215 per call. Amongst the other Forces charges per Call range from £1413 to £8258. Why is there such a variation?
Their answer:
Their answer: The action calls to service model has not been used in NPAS for 2 financial years. When it was used it was based on the previous years calls so there wasn’t a direct correlation between Forces contributions in a financial year and the actioned calls for the same year.
Is there a “standing charge” raised as soon as an aircraft arrives on scene, regardless of how long it remains? If so, how much is that?
The new funding model sees Forces contributing towards the fixed costs of NPAS within a regional structure as well as making a contribution towards variable costs based on an agreed regional user requirement.
Well that wasn't much help so I went back to them:
In order to help me further understand the charging regime for Air Support, would it be possible to have a breakdown of how the amounts for Cambridgeshire and GMP(for the period 2021-22) were arrived at?
West Yorkshire Police can advise that amounts for all Forces are arrived at by applying the National Police Chiefs Council Direct Cost Charging model. This is done on a Regional Basis and then Forces within those regions agree how much each Force will pay as their share of the regional total.
The total regional charges are established by allocating three types of cost per Region. Those costs are Fixed Costs of Bases, Variable Costs of Flying Hours and an allocation of NPAS Operating Overhead.
As clear as mud then.
