Commissioner comments on Home Office funding announcement
The Home Office has today announced the funding for police forces in 2018/19.
The full details are in the Government statements listed in the notes below, however the significant headlines are:
- No change to grant funding from central Government, this will be the same in 2018/19 as in 2017/18.
- Flexibility has been given to Police and Crime Commissioners to increase funding from local taxpayers through the policing precept portion of Council Tax by up to £12 per annum (based on a Band D property).
- This £12 per annum increase would equate to a 6.4% increase in the precept for a Band D property, generating an additional £3.2m in 2018/19 based on the latest taxbase in the Humberside Police area.
- The Government has indicated the same flexibility to increase the precept by this amount would be available in 2019/20, subject to conditions being met on efficiency and productivity.
Police and Crime Commissioner Keith Hunter has issued the following statement:
“The statement by the Policing Minister on police funding is disappointing and will not address the problems faced by policing across England and Wales. The minister said he had spoken to Chief Constables and Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and had listened. He may have listened but he has not acted accordingly. The provision of the same level of resource from central Government next year to local forces as we are receiving in 2017/18 takes no account of inflationary pressures, an effective reduction in the provision of Government support for local forces at a time when it is generally acknowledged that policing is facing pressures perhaps greater than at any other time in recent history. Some forces will face substantial challenges because of this proposed settlement.
“The Government has created some flexibility in the ability of PCCs to increase the police precept in council tax and have presumed all PCCs will raise the precept by the maximum possible in their calculation of the total amount available for forces. This is another step in the creeping movement from central Government funding, to local funding for local services, moving the burden from general taxation to local taxation, or put another way, benefitting richer areas at the expense of poorer areas. At the same time they sidestep responsibility for the resultant necessary increase in local taxation. A good proportion of the increased funding produced, even if this flexibility is used to its maximum, will be soaked up by inflation.
“The work undertaken in Humberside Police during the past eighteen months to get a real grip on the use of resources has allowed us to recruit additional officers at a rate beyond that of any other part of the country. Any additional money we can raise will not fill any financial holes but will translate directly into further additional officers which is what every community I speak to asks for.
“I will consult the public in relation to the potential increase in precept once the settlement is agreed and after careful consideration of the full potential impact of options.”
Posted on Tuesday 19th December 2017