Campaigners hit out at the estimated £7million it is costing to keep a record 155 police officers in London suspended on full pay over alleged wrongdoing.
New figures show Scotland Yard and the City of London force spent around £581,250 a month on staff ordered to stay away from work while they are being investigated.
Allegations range from sexual misconduct to corruption.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, said: “Taxpayers will be disgusted to see millions of pounds going on police officers suspended from duty with accusations of committing egregious acts, in some cases for years on end.
“While disciplinary processes drag on for some of the most horrific crimes, households are left footing the bill for officers who are sat at home on full pay.
“Police chiefs and ministers must urgently reform this broken system so that officers awaiting results from appalling misconduct cases are resolved quickly and taxpayers are no longer left funding such an outrageous waste.”
The Daily Mail first reported 750 UK officers are on so-called “gardening leave” at a cost of £2.6m a month, up five per cent on the 711 suspended last year and more than treble the 225 recorded in 2022.
It comes after Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Matt Twist voiced frustration at having to pay disgraced Commander Julian Bennett for five years while a disciplinary procedure dragged on.
Cmdr Bennett was suspended in 2020 after failing to take a drugs test. He was fired in 2023 but reinstated after the initial decision was quashed, only to be sacked again after a second hearing earlier this year.
Because he already turned 60, Bennett will be entitled to a pension lump sum over £400,000 plus index-linked monthly payments of half his final £159,000 salary, around £80,000-a-year.
His case is estimated to have cost taxpayers in excess of £1.5m.
“This should have been a simple matter,” AC Twist said, noting that Bennett “never disputed he refused a lawful order to take a drugs test”.
He added: “I am sure Londoners will be as outraged as we are, at the utter waste of public funds spent paying a senior officer to sit at home suspended and not work.”
Around 145 Met employees and ten from the City of London force after suspended.
Met firearms officer Wayne Couzens, 52, who is serving a whole-life prison sentence for the kidnap, rape and murder of Sarah Everard in 2021.
When pension contributions and NI contributions are added to the bill, it is thought each case costs around £45,000.
The Met was approached for comment.
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