Police and Crime Panel backs budget as PCC warns hard choices lie ahead

• With 52% of the cost of policing funded by the Government, the remaining 48% - £80m - will come through council tax
• This is still not enough to balance the books without making cuts to police staff numbers, although the number of police officers in the force will be protected

• Today (Tuesday 4 Feb), the county’s police and crime panel voted in favour of the Police and Crime Commissioner’s proposal to increase council tax by 4.5%, adding  £14 to the annual bill, or 27p per week, for a band D property and increasing it to £322
• PCC Chris Nelson said, “The settlement was a little better than I hoped, but is still far short of what we need to police the County. Hard choices are inevitable”.

The Government’s grant funding for Gloucestershire Police means the Home Office will contribute £88m, or only just over half of the Constabulary’s £168m annual budget for 2025.

That is an increase of £4.5m on last year’s Home Office grant. However, inflation and pay costs mean that is still not enough to maintain the current level of staffing with the remaining £80m to be raised through council tax.

52% of the police budget is funded by the Government, the remaining 48% comes from local taxation. Today (Tuesday 4 February), members of the county’s police and crime panel voted to accept the Police and Crime Commissioner’s proposal to raise council tax by 4.5%, adding £14, or 27 per week, to the annual bill for a band D property, taking it to £322.

It means the Constabulary will balance its budget, but will have no extra money to recruit any more police officers.

PCC Chris Nelson told the panel, “This has been the most difficult budget during my time as Police and Crime Commissioner. I have explored all the ways and means possible to get more money from the Government, but I have been left with no option.

“The aim to recruit more police nationally is welcome, but the Government isn’t giving forces sufficient money to meet further pay increases, or for the capital investment we’ll need to equip them.

“This is a settlement far short of what the Constabulary needs and I am left with no choice but to ask for the maximum increase in council tax in light of the annual Home Office grant announced just before Christmas.

“Yes, the settlement was a little better than I expected, but to enable us to balance our budget, which we are required to do by law, the Constabulary must make some changes to how it does things. And the reality is, that despite significant efficiencies already within the force, inflation, the rising annual costs of our recent officer uplift, the lack of money to fund the maintenance of our fleet, IT and buildings, we will still need to make further savings to balance our budget over the next few years.

“I have managed to stave off the most difficult choices for as long as possible, but I’m afraid the fact the Government has still not changed the outdated formula it uses to allocate funds, means with enormous regret, that a possible reduction of some police staff posts may be unavoidable. I have campaigned to stop smaller forces like Gloucestershire losing out, and stop ‘rewarding’ high crime urban areas at the expense of rural forces, but this has fallen on deaf ears.

“We are not alone in being in this position, as many other forces around the country are in a similar situation.

“Hard choices are inevitable”.

Gloucestershire Constabulary’s budget is already under pressure from inflation, increased demands, rising costs and interest rates, resulting in the need to make savings of around £12.3m in the next financial year.

A number of reductions in staff have already been taken through a mutually agreed resignation scheme, known as MARS, offered to staff in October.

Mr. Nelson said, “A working party, comprised of senior members of my team and the Constabulary, has been looking for areas where we can operate more efficiently. Good progress has been made and that work goes on.

“We are no different from any other police force in the country which has had to make similar savings”.