Police Funding Increase Confirmed

PCC Mark Shelford today asked the Police and Crime Panel meeting for Avon and Somerset to support an increase of £13 a year in council tax to fund local policing.

The PCC’s proposal, which equals an extra £1.08 per month for a Band D household, was approved by the Police and Crime Panel at the meeting at Taunton Deane House.  The increased precept level will raise an additional £7.76 million.

Each year, the PCC is responsible for setting the amount of money you contribute to local police services through your council tax bill – this is known as the police ‘precept’.

PCC Mark Shelford said:

“I extend my sincere appreciation to the Police and Crime Panel for their thorough interrogation of the information used to make this decision, and to local people for their support and active participation in the survey.

“I recognise the financial challenges people are facing and understand the strain on households.

“I want to emphasise that this decision was not taken lightly. My job is to balance the views of the public with the right level of financial support needed to provide Chief Constable Sarah Crew with the resource required to ensure the continued delivery of an effective, efficient, and legitimate policing service.”

The precept accounts for 41% of police funding and the rest is from central Government. The Government set the maximum amount by which PCCs can increase the precept each year. This year the maximum Government said PCCs can ask for was £13.

The PCC’s decision follows a 12-week-long consultation that saw more than 6,500 people complete an online and postal survey asking if they supported an increase and how much extra they were willing to pay from zero to £20.

69.8% of respondents with an opinion were supportive of an increase of £10 or above, which includes the 44.8% who were supportive of an £20 increase. While 30.2% of respondents did not wish to pay any increase at all.

Out of the 6500 responses the majority were not employed by the police (4,953) were not employed by the police. 1,565 of those who participated were police officers and staff.

The Police and Crime Panel is independent of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner and has a statutory responsibility to scrutinise the PCC’s proposed council tax precept.

To hear more about the decision please tune into the PCC’s Performance and Accountability Board at 11am on 13 February, it can be watched via: https://fb.me/e/1x9HWPYiB