Jan 20th.
Am I correct in thinking that the various forces involved now pay NPAS
for the number of hours "budgeted" for, but they don't get any refund if those hours are not flown ?
I believe they pay for the budgeted hours, but I've no idea if they get a refund. The way that they are billed seems a bit off as well. If the Cheshire aircraft is over Southport doing a job for Merseyside, Merseyside would get billed until they land back at Hawarden.
If, when still over Southport, they are given a task for Cheshire in, say Chester, then Cheshire Police start paying the moment the aircraft completes the Merseyside task and leaves Southport on the way to Chester. So Cheshire are paying for an extra 15/20 minutes flying time, even though Chester's less than 5 minutes from Hawarden, and Merseyside don't have to pay for the trip back to Hawarden. We were on task over Accrington, north of Manchester, and then were tasked to Chester, so Cheshire picked up a bill for the return transit.
Ref the stats: I thought Merseyside didnt have an air support after NPAS started????
They do, it's just covered by all the other aircraft on the basis of the nearest aircraft gets the job.