Thames Valley and Hampshire police to merge IT departments

The forces claim the move will save them £11.7m over the first five years

Thames Valley and Hampshire police authorities have agreed to merge their IT departments.

The forces claim that the move will save them a combined £11.7m over the first five years.

A good proportion of the savings will come from the axing of 62.5 roles across both the Thames Valley and Hampshire forces.

Remaining staff from both forces will work in a single department based at the Thames Valley Police headquarters.

"As both departments had frozen recruitment in preparation for this, the high level of vacancies - 66 at present - means we will be able to minimise redundancies. We are working closely with Unison on this," a Thames Valley Police spokesperson told Computing.

A foreward to the agreement reads: "Our priority is to ensure that we deliver a policing service to communities in the Thames Valley and Hampshire that is as resilient, efficient and effective as possible, at a time when we are faced with considerable financial constraints."

Amanda Cooper, director of information science and technology at Thames Valley Police, said: "We have built on the success of the first joint ICT project between the two forces - the IT Service Desk - which went live in May 2009.

"Combining our ICT support department and our ICT infrastructure will provide financial savings and a foundation upon which to build further collaboration."