More spending on police has been welcomed.
The Home Office said that funding available to the policing system for 2020 to 2021 will increase by more than £1.1 billion, totalling £15.2 billion, if Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) take full advantage of flexibility to set the police precept.
This represents an almost 10 per cent increase on the core (resource) grant provided to forces last year, according to the Home Office. As announced by the Home Secretary on January 21, funding for counter-terrorism policing will total £906 million in 2020 to 2021, a year-on-year increase of £90 million.
Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “This government is delivering on the people’s priorities by giving policing the biggest funding increase in a decade. It will mean more officers tackling the crime blighting our streets, so people can feel safe in their communities. The police must now make full use of this significant investment to deliver for the public.”
Welcoming the funding settlement at the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Finance Lead, Roger Hirst said it was the largest increase in government grant funding seen since the crisis in public finances started. “We need to focus on bringing crime down, and this settlement will mean Police and Crime Commissioners can invest more into policing to tackle crime and keep our communities safe.
“We know that the public want to see more police and this additional funding will drive the recruitment of 6,000 officers over the next 12 months, as part of the government’s Uplift Programme to recruit 20,000 new police by March 2023. Combined with the precept flexibility announced today it means we will also be able to make further investment in critical areas including technology, fund police pay properly, and deal with the inflationary cost pressures that we all face.
“We remain committed to making further efficiencies within the service, building on the huge amount of work that has been done to date, and delivering a modern police service able to get crime back down to historic lows.”
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said that the announcement did not come close to unravelling a decade of under-investment in police forces. He said: “At last the government have recognised the damage they have done with ten years of cuts to policing. This must be the first step in addressing the chronic funding problems that still exist. I am pleased that after years of campaigning we have had some success in changing the government’s direction. There is much more for them to do though.”
“Since 2010 West Midlands Police have lost over 2,100 officers and faced real terms cuts of £175 million in government funding.”
