Catalogue description Records of the Receiver

The Receiver for the Metropolitan Police District was appointed by royal warrant from 1829 with statutory duties in respect of the finances, buildings and properties and supplies of the new force and the old police courts and their establishments.

He was independently responsible to the Home Office for such matters, though certain delegated powers of expenditure and of drawing up warrants for signature by the Home Secretary in respect of police rates remained with the Commissioner. From 1839 he was also Receiver for the reconstituted metropolitan police courts, whose functions were now entirely judicial.

The Receiver maintained his own office with a chief clerk, secretariat, registry, pay, accounts and pensions sections and, later, establishment branch separate from those of the Commissioner's Office. Professional branches were also attached to the office: a surveyor was appointed in 1842 and an Architect and Surveyor's Department developed. The engineering section of this department later became a separate Engineer's Department. From 1892 the Receiver's Office also included the police Printing Department. Responsibility for the maintenance of the metropolitan police court buildings passed to the Office of Works in 1871. In 1964 the Receiver ceased to deal with the finances of the metropolitan police courts.

In April 1968 the Commissioner's and Receiver's offices merged. The civil departments were merged with departments of the former Receiver's Office under the Receiver, who became chief administrative officer in charge of the whole civil staff of the Metropolitan Police in addition to his statutory duties as Receiver. He became more closely associated with the formation of policy. He was designated director of administration and finance and given oversight of three new departments: E Department, formed by the merger of S Department with the receiver's Establishment Branch, became responsible for civil staff establishment and secretariat; F Department (finance) was formed from the pay, accounts and pensions sections of both the Commissioner's and Receiver's offices: G Department (general) was formed from the remaining administrative branches of the Receiver's Office and some from the Commissioner's Office, and was made responsible for matters of civil administration.