The headline issued before Christmas from the Government with regards to police funding was full of festive cheer….

£6.6 million investment in policing in Gloucestershire was the headline as you can see from the main picture with this article.

BUT… that figure was not the whole picture.

The facts

The Home Office has announced a maximum £6.6 million cash increase for policing in Gloucestershire next year.

It’s correct to say that it will provide £3.2 million funding to help in recruiting an additional 45 Gloucestershire police officers, (46 last year) to put back some of the 249 officers that were lost during the period of austerity.

That’s good news and, of course, it’s very welcomed.

In parallel though, the Home Office has frozen our core grant with an expectation that I will increase the police element of your council tax by 5.8% (£15 per year for a Band D property) to make up the shortfall of £3.4 million.

To summarise, any additional funding for Gloucestershire Constabulary can only come from local taxation.

Less money from Westminster more from you.

The way in which Gloucestershire Constabulary is funded is changing , with a shift away from central Government funding in favour of the local council tax.

Over the past 10 years, the proportion of funding for policing in Gloucestershire from central Government has fallen from 64% in 2010 to just 52% today.

And the graph below gives you a sense of where our force stands in terms of money coming from the centre.

Gloucestershire receives a low level of core grant funding from the Home Office.

For next year, our grant per head of population will be only 68% of the national average and nearly half of some forces in England and Wales.

The Government has been clear there are no immediate plans to change that.

A force rated good during \”austerity\” for managing it\’s finances

But despite the fall in government funding especially during the years of austerity, Gloucestershire Constabulary has been rated by Her Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) as a good Force.

Good in the service it provides to its residents; a Force that has managed its finances well through years of cuts and a Force that is well led.

That said, improvements still need to be made and maintained, so on your behalf I have set the Constabulary a challenge to demonstrate that ‘Every crime matters, every contact counts.’ That means, it will strive to understand and meet your reasonable expectations and put victims at the heart of its response.

Should I ask you to pay more?

Since 2018, the Government has allowed Police and Crime Commissioners more flexibility to begin to make up the shortfall by increasing local council tax by rates above that of inflation.

The decision to do this has always been very difficult; I try hard to balance public expectations of the Constabulary and your ability to pay with the needs outlined by the Chief Constable to be able to deliver quality service.

That\’s why today we\’ve launched a public consultation to get your views, before I make my decision, to have you say please click here.

Freeze unlikely

However, I must be open with you – a freeze in the police element of council tax is unlikely.

I’m aware that during the years of austerity, the police did not have the resources they needed to provide the services you should reasonably expect, and we cannot return to that.

The strength and effectiveness of a police service is often spoken of in terms of the number of officers it has, but in the same way as the cost of a hospital bed isn’t the full cost of the health service, a police constable doesn’t represent the full cost of the many services the police provide.

It’s clear to me that as well as recruiting the new officers, the Force now must upgrade critical IT, infrastructure and communication systems, some which are mandated by the Government, if it is to meet the challenge of ‘Every crime matters, every contact counts.’

https://youtu.be/dZaOMUAukHE

Proud

I am immensely proud to represent you, the people of Gloucestershire, as your Police and Crime Commissioner.

I am also extremely proud of the Constabulary, not just in ‘weathering the storm’ of austerity but also in continually striving to improve service, even during a pandemic. ( please watch the above video)

I have seen first hand the pressures officers and staff have been under over the past year in responding to demands placed on the service, particularly those on the front line who have put the health of others before their own.