Police funding statement continued

Today the Minister for Policing set out the provisional police funding settlement for 2019-20.

It is clear that pressures on the police have risen this year as a result of changing crime, and the government is committed to ensuring that the police have the right capabilities and resources to deal with this. 

That is why we are enabling an increase in funding for the police system of up to £970 million, the biggest increase since 2010.

This includes increases in government grant funding, full use of precept flexibility and funding to support pensions costs. 

The first role of government is to protect the public. We will always ensure that the police have the powers and resources needed to keep our citizens and communities safe. We are doing this by:
  •  Enabling an increase in funding for the police system of up to £970 million, the biggest increase since 2010, to ensure our police have the resources they need. This includes increases in government grant funding, full use of precept flexibility, funding to support pensions costs, and increased national funding to meet the threats from counter-terrorism and serious and organised crime.
  •  Increasing the general government grants to Police and Crime Commissioners by £161 million, protecting them in real terms. This includes additional funding and brings it to a total of £7.8 billion. Specific grants to the Metropolitan Police Service and City of London Police will increase by £14 million – an affordable increase that will better reflect the additional costs of policing London.
  •  Allocating a further £153 million of specific grant funding to support the policing system with increases in pensions contributions. This follows the announcement at the Budget that the Government would allocate funding from the Reserve to pay part of the costs of increases in public sector pensions contributions in 2019-20. This funding will be distributed according to a methodology developed with police leaders.

 
Proposing to double the precept flexibility for Police and Crime Commissioners to enable them to take decisions locally and explain to their electorate how this additional investment will help deliver a better police service.

This year, the government proposes to give Police and Crime Commissioners the freedom to ask for an additional £2 a month in 2019-20, to increase their Band D precept by £24 in 2019-20, without the need to call a local referendum.

We cannot say today how much the additional precept flexibility will raise, but last year the vast majority used their flexibility.

If all Police and Crime Commissioners use their flexibility in full in 2019-20, based on the latest Office of Budget Responsibility tax base forecasts, it will mean around an additional £509 million public investment in our police system.

And have the opposition voted for?

Labour voted against making £460 million extra available to the police at the last settlement. Not a single Labour MP voted for the funding.

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