The UK Government has announced its police funding settlement.
Home Secretary James Cleverly said: “This government will always support our police. Our communities deserve a well-funded and equipped force, dedicated to making our country safer. Progress has been made, with overall crime down and 136,000 violent offences prevented since 2019, but we will continue to invest in policing. That is why we are putting up to £843m more into keeping our streets safe, so that every officer and community has the support and resources they need to cut crime, protect the public and build confidence in policing.”
The rank and file body the Police Federation called it the worst financial support forces have received in recent years. The Federation’s National Chair, Steve Hartshorn, said: “It is disappointing to see PCCs yet again having to choose to take more money from local residents who have already paid for policing in taxes at a time when the cost of living is still biting hard on many, especially the recent energy cost increases.
“To say that “should PCCs choose to take full advantage of police precept flexibility”, is at best a misleading way to describe another way to not fund policing completely and centrally, which continues a post code lottery of funding. Those areas that can least afford to pay extra will suffer unless funds are apportioned according to the needs of the public.”
APCC response
Roger Hirst, Essex’s Conservative Police Fire and Crime Commissioner, leads for the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) on the funding formula. He called the announcement good news for policing and said it gives Police and Crime Commissioners greater flexibility in locally raised funding. He said: “The police service must adapt to meet evolving threats and challenges, and this can only happen with sound investment to support growth. We welcome the flexibility in precept cap, which in part recognises the inflationary pressures currently impacting forces and the need for additional funding if we are to maintain the frontline resources necessary to get crime down.
“We also welcome the government’s commitment to funding the police pay increase, although it does not meet the requirements of every force given that it is allocated via the funding formula, not by the successes in officer recruitment. We will however, need a further discussion in-year to deal with a pay increase for 2024-25 and beyond what is already funded.”
The Deputy Lead Dr Alan Billings, the Labour PCC for South Yorkshire said: “There is a perception in many of our communities that levels of crime and anti-social behaviour are increasing. If they are to be tackled effectively, the police service must be properly funded.
“We have more officers than we did and that is to be welcomed. But, as we move further onto the digital age, so do criminals, and officers need the skills and technology to be able to defeat them. This all comes at a cost.
“Despite the tight finances, Police and Crime Commissioners will work with chief constables to use every penny to support the priorities people most want to see – not least targeting neighbourhood crimes and bringing offenders to justice.”
In the West Midlands force area for example, the central Government is allowing WMP an increase to council tax, by up to £13 per year (for a Council Tax Band D property) – £1.08 per month. Without that increase, the West Midlands Police PCC says, the force would be forced into making further cuts, with a £27.7m hole in the budget. The average £13 per year increase in council tax, will raise £9.2 m. In Avon and Somerset, the PCC has been proposing to increase the policing part of the council tax, known as the precept, by £10 a year for the average band D household. Local policing is funded by a mix of people’s council tax (the precept), central Government (Home Office) funding, and other grants.
Publication of the provisional funding settlement opens a period of consultation. The final police funding settlement will be debated in Parliament ahead of the new financial year.
