No more money from Government for policing in England/Wales

HOME Secretary Amber Rudd has announced “a £450 million increase in police funding across England and Wales” – but it comes with some serious caveats.

It has been announced that there is no more money from Central Government for policing in in England and Wales in 2018/2019. Instead, Police and Crime Commissioners are going to have to raise it themselves.

This could amount to as much as £270 million – if all PCCs raise a substantial amount, which will amount to £12 a year per household.

The Government also stated that: “The Home Office has signalled its intention to repeat the same settlement for 2019 to 2020 provided there is substantial progress from policing in delivering productivity and efficiency improvements.”

So it looks like there will be no more money for policing next year either.

The Government said it is “protecting its grant to forces in cash terms and empowering locally elected police and crime commissioners to raise precept contributions by up to £1 a month for a typical household. Together, this will mean force budgets will increase by up to £270 million nationally.”

The Government added: “Counter terrorism police funding will also increase by around £50 million to £757 million, a rise of 7%. This is in recognition of the changing threat from terrorism and to ensure counter terrorism policing has the resources needed to respond and keep the public safe.

“At a national level, £130 million extra will be provided for priorities such as special grants to help forces meet unexpected costs, for example, the £9.8 million given to Greater Manchester Police after the Manchester Arena attack, and national technology programmes designed to deliver greater productivity and mobile working.

“Police forces will also be able to access the £175 million police transformation fund. Led by the police themselves, the fund gives individual forces money to invest in reform and digitisation projects to benefit the whole policing system.”