Federation welcomes biggest funding boost in 10 years

24 January 2020

The Force could get a £51.4 million boost in the Government’s biggest funding increase for policing in 10 years.

The amount of funding available 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 the Force’s funding go from £568.8 million in 2019/20 to £620.2 million in 2020/21 and represents the second largest increase in the country, behind only the Greater London Authority.

“This is the biggest funding increase we have seen in a decade so, of course, we welcome the Government’s efforts to reinvest in policing; something we have been calling for over a number of years,” says Jon Nott, chair of West Midlands Police Federation.

“Since the Government started cutting our budgets in 2010, we have seen our numbers plummet and we now have 2,131 fewer officers than we did back then. The police service has suffered, our communities have suffered and police officers themselves have suffered as they have tried to do more with less.

“This extra funding will make a huge difference but we also need the Government to reconsider the way in which it funds policing. One-year funding arrangements do not work, we need longer term financial settlements that will allow us to properly plan to meet the needs of the people we serve.”

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.