Federation welcomes biggest funding boost for a decade

23 January 2020

The Force could get a £14 million boost after the Government’s biggest police funding increase for a decade.

The amount of funding available for policing for 2020 to 2021 will increase by more than £1.1 billion to £15.2 billion, as long as Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) take full advantage of flexibility to set the police precept.

This could see Derbyshire’s funding go up from £179.5 million in 2019/20 to £193.5 million in 2020/21.

“The fact the Government is ploughing this extra cash into policing shows that it has been listening to what the Federation has been saying; the cuts to police funding have had consequences and those consequences have been felt by the police service, individual officers and the public,” says Derbyshire Police Federation chair Tony Wetton.

“This re-investment in policing, the biggest increase for 10 years, will have a massive impact but we now need the Government to reconsider the way in which it funds policing. One-year funding settlements do not work, the Federation is calling for longer term financial settlements to allow police leaders to put in place sustainable plans for policing our communities, fighting crime and keeping the public safe.”

National Federation chair John Apter has also welcomed the settlement but said it was unfair that the Government had passed the buck to PCCs and local tax payers. He also re-iterated calls for the Government to urgently address the funding formula.

The settlement includes the £750m announced by the Chancellor last year to enable forces to meet their recruitment targets as part of the Government’s three-year plan to take on 20,000 new officers.

The funding will provide £150m to fight organised crime and continue to crack down on online child abuse. Tackling serious violence will be also backed with £39m, which includes £20m for county lines drug dealing.

As announced by the Home Secretary on Tuesday, funding for counter-terrorism policing will total £906m in 2020 to 2021, a year-on-year increase of £90m.

PCCs will have access to:

• £8,702m in Government grants, £667m more than the previous year
• Flexibility to increase local funding in England by setting the council tax referendum limit to £10 for a typical (Band D) property.