Fed chair welcomes budget increase

6 February 2018

Approval of a budget aimed at enabling the Force to strengthen neighbourhood policing has been welcomed by the chair of Leicestershire Police Federation.

Tiff Lynch says the budget, which will bring a 6.41 per cent increase in the policing precept meaning those in a Band D household will pay an extra £12 towards policing in their council tax in 2018/2019, will help maintain an effective policing service.

“The Government’s cuts to policing budgets have left the Force struggling to meet demand and we have seen our communities suffer. Increasing the policing element of council tax will help us better meet public demand,” says Tiff.

“This funding will mean that the Force will have 76 officers more than it had expected and will see three extra officers going to each of our neighbourhoods which has to be good news for all our communities.”

Lord Willy Bach, Leicestershire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), won unanimous support for his budget proposals at the Police and Crime Panel last week, allowing him to secure 76 officer posts, boost the number of investigators working on sexual assault investigations and invest in technology to improve efficiency. 

He explained: “In considering my options, I was determined to lay safe foundations for future years but the options available were not exactly plentiful.  The Government’s own calculations assume that Police and Crime Commissioners will raise the precept by £12 a year for an average property. 

“The policing minister’s proposals to raise more funding for policing are not wholly unwelcome but I am disappointed that the entire burden is to be placed on local residents without any increase from the central funding pot.  However, I am tremendously grateful for the support I have received from local taxpayers indicating their willingness to pay more for police services. 

“This budget sets out to address the key risks and threats to public safety and to meet the Chief Constable’s needs from an operational perspective.  It will protect police service delivery for the communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.  It focusses on increasing the time spent on front-line policing and making officers more accessible to the public.”

Chief Constable Simon Cole has joined Tiff in welcoming the increase in the policing precept.

He said: “I am extremely pleased that Lord Bach has developed proposals that will enable us to dedicate more effort and resource in local, neighbourhood policing, and into tackling serious sexual offences and emerging crime types like cyber-crime.

“He has done so with the support of many hundreds of people who took part in a survey about the proposed rise in the amount of money local residents pay for policing, and with the full backing of the Police and Crime Panel.

“The budget will enable us to replace 52 officers as they retire that we would otherwise have not been able to afford to replace. We can also grow by 24 officers, with three going to each neighbourhood to look at cyber-crime, fraud, sexual offences and modern slavery. That means 76 officers more than we had expected. 

“In addition, we will gain four further sexual offences investigators, and add a positive action post to help us recruit a workforce that ever more closely represents our diverse communities. We will invest in middleware that helps our mobile kit work more effectively and in mobile fingerprint ID technology too.”

The net revenue budget for policing in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland 2018/19 has been set at £176.255 million which includes a contribution of £5.058m from reserves.  The total amount paid towards policing by a Band D household will go from £187.23 in the current financial year to £199.23 in 2018/19.