If the police catch you (normally by stopping you) that police force gets the money. I learnt this on my recent awareness course...
Hmmm.
Not sure that's the case. Fines go to HM Treasury, ie the Guvmint.
Police forces are allowed to set threshold limits individually, the guidelines being the 10% +2mph for starters, so anything over 35 in a 30 would be a fine & the Guvmint, anything less "should" be a free allowance.
The money is so tight these days that forces are now increasing the threshold to whatever they want. For example, 10mph over the posted limit. By doing this they can offer guilty pleas a diversion from the court process and into Awareness Courses. Same financial punishment of course, but the money then stays locally and not nationally.
Around a decade ago the Safety Camera Partnerships were formed, using a set aside budget from all the emergency services, Highways and local authorities. This fund paid for a team of people that were responsible for reducing the costs of crashes both in terms of human tragedy and taxpayer, and setting higher speed thresholds allowed for revenue raising to top up the kitty.
This kitty was used to pay for many educational schemes, young drivers, motorcyclists etc etc.
These days, austerity has forced the local authorities and the Police to fight for the right to this kitty, and hence why some areas are hot on it & others not so much. Camera vans are predominantly non-Police officers and can be local authority peeps or part time Police civilian staff.
In
@Tourershine 's case, you have to accept guilt by replying before you know whether you're above or below that threshold. My guess would be a yes, as it pays for the camera system in the first place.
This is the case whether or not you're actually stopped by the Police or whether it's by the damned camera..
Whether this is still the system nationwide nowadays, I have no idea. This is how I understand it, though.