Met police firearms

[Fedster + 1,307]

Council tax changes appear to favour rural areas over urban ones.

Andy Burnham pictured at the Police Federation Conference in 2016

 

Some of the biggest police forces in the country may have to make further cuts next year as a result of the budget announcement.

On Tuesday the Home Office announced the central grant for constabularies is being frozen until 2020, with police and crime commissioners being given slightly more flexibility to increase their council tax.

The three per cent limit for PCCs to raise council tax by has been replaced with a cap of £12 per band D household.

In some areas this enables them to raise tax by more than three per cent, but in some it limits them even further.

Former ACPO finance lead Dr Tim Brain said: “It seems as though urban forces which are already struggling will miss out while the shires will be able to raise more cash.”

He has calculated that the terms allow Surrey’s PCC to increase his tax by 3.6 per cent, Dorset's by 3.4 per cent and North Yorkshire's by 3.1 per cent.

By way of contrast the Met can only increase it by 1.7 per cent, GMP by 1.9 per cent and Cleveland by 1.8 per cent.

He added: “The pay rise alone means much of what forces can raise will be used straight away. If they cannot raise at least two per cent more next year they will be facing cuts.”

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: “People are noticing the loss of visible policing in their communities and this dangerous decision will make that even worse. With the terror threat at its current level the government are gambling with public safety.

“Areas like Greater Manchester, with some of the most deprived communities, are less able to raise money from council tax compared to more affluent areas of the country, and it therefore less able to mitigate the damage caused by these cuts.”

Hampshire Police Federation chairman John Apter says public safety is at risk.

“The government is responsible for the safety and security of the public, they should ensure that policing is properly and fairly funded but in this case they have not,” he said.

“They have simply passed the buck to local PCCs and asked the public to pay more in their local council tax for something which should be funded centrally.”

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson pointed out that inflation means his force faces a real terms cut.

He said: "Despite warm words over the last few months, this is once again a disappointing settlement that falls a long way short of what police forces require.

"West Midlands Police or other local forces across the country will not receive a single extra penny from the government. Local police forces will not benefit from this announcement, there is no new money in this announcement for local forces.”

However the chief constable of the same force, speaking on behalf of the NPCC, said the funding settlement is better than last year, but cautioned it is not enough.

CC Dave Thompson said: “It offers greater certainty over the next two years and gives us more resilience to respond to rising demand and sustain current policing services – as long as police and crime commissioners increase the council tax precept to the maximum. 

“The settlement recognises the need for further work to make savings, increase productivity and carefully manage major Home Office technology programmes.

“While the extra funding to tackle terrorism is welcomed, counter-terrorism policing are considering tough choices as their settlement equates to a less than two per cent increase on current spending at a time when demand has grown by 30 per cent and investment is needed to fulfil recommendations following the London and Manchester terrorist attacks this year.”

Nottinghamshire’s Paddy Tipping, who led the campaign for increased funding for the Association of PCCs, said the announcement: "won't resolve our financial difficulties” but is “a welcome and helpful step forward”.

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[Hyphen + 693]

I’ve said it in other threads, it’s going to take a complete disaster for this to actually be looked at seriously. Even then, as each year goes by the damage gets worse and will cost more and more to fix in the future. The problem is no one seems to care.

Policing is creaking and shaking.

The comments from CC Dave Thompson for the NPCC are simply unhelpful and angering. This is one of the reasons we don’t get anywhere. There doesn’t seem to be any real appetite from the majority of chiefs to tell the government/public how it is.

[Member of Public + 206]

I agree with Hyphen, not only are all these cuts putting police/public safety at risk, they're also probably counter-productive from a financial aspect too. Somewhere, sometime, there will come a point where all this damage and erosion will have to be fixed, we're already seeing increases in a lot of crimes - look at London, moped gangs, acid attacks, how far will this 'government' (if you can really call them that) let things go?

[Zulu 22 + 4,576]

16 hours ago, PC Wannabe said:

I agree with Hyphen, not only are all these cuts putting police/public safety at risk, they're also probably counter-productive from a financial aspect too. Somewhere, sometime, there will come a point where all this damage and erosion will have to be fixed, we're already seeing increases in a lot of crimes - look at London, moped gangs, acid attacks, how far will this 'government' (if you can really call them that) let things go?

Is this from experience in a financial background?  It has been obvious for several years, since the cuts came in, that you cannot get more from less. The increased use of technology is expensive, in its own right and has a massive effect on Police budgets. Every single PCC and Chief Constable should be shouting this from the rooftops.

[Member of Public + 206]

4 hours ago, Zulu 22 said:

Is this from experience in a financial background?  It has been obvious for several years, since the cuts came in, that you cannot get more from less. The increased use of technology is expensive, in its own right and has a massive effect on Police budgets. Every single PCC and Chief Constable should be shouting this from the rooftops.

No, I'd be hopeless in a financial background as maths isn't a strong point of mine! However it is simply common sense, these cuts are doing untold damage to the police (and other emergency services) which will at some point have to be repaired, so the government's idea of cuts to save money is a false economy. I agree you can't get more from less - that is just another quote the government like to use in order to try to justify their actions.

[Zulu 22 + 4,576]

4 minutes ago, PC Wannabe said:

No, I'd be hopeless in a financial background as maths isn't a strong point of mine! However it is simply common sense, these cuts are doing untold damage to the police (and other emergency services) which will at some point have to be repaired, so the government's idea of cuts to save money is a false economy. I agree you can't get more from less - that is just another quote the government like to use in order to try to justify their actions.

The term "You cannot get more with less" is actually the quote from the Police Federation and representative bodies. The Government do not accept that statement.

[SimonT + 1,185]

You could make a truck load of savings across the entire criminal justice system if there was the will. 

A proper computer system, a national police force, same kit, same process, same training. . Get rid of many badly worded or pointless legislation and streamline things. 

[Member of Public + 206]

45 minutes ago, Zulu 22 said:

The term "You cannot get more with less" is actually the quote from the Police Federation and representative bodies. The Government do not accept that statement.

Theresa May continually went on about 'doing more with less' during her time as home secretary, in an attempt to justify the cuts. She was trying to defend the indefensible though. 

[Zulu 22 + 4,576]

May never accepted the Federations statement "You cannot get more with less" She derided the phrase. We're you at the Conference?

[Member of Public + 206]

36 minutes ago, Zulu 22 said:

May never accepted the Federations statement "You cannot get more with less" She derided the phrase. We're you at the Conference?

That's effectively the point I'm making...