Council tax to rise to fund increase in police budgets
Council tax is set to increase by almost £330 million to fund policing across England and Wales next year.
Ministers have set out a provisional 3.5% real-terms increase in funding for forces, but a third of the total £986.9 million package depends on council taxes increasing by £14 for the average Band D house.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson said the funding settlement “strikes the balance between protecting taxpayers and providing funding for police forces”.
Pay rises
In a statement to Parliament, she said the 2025-26 settlement for forces will amount to £17.4 billion, an increase of up to £986.9 million on the current year.
The additional funding will cover the costs of the pay rises given to officers, the £230.3 million increase in employers’ national insurance contributions (NICs) and also pay for recruitment to help meet the Government’s neighbourhood policing promises.
The total amount going into policing, including the money to forces along with “wider system funding” will be £19.5 billion, a £1 billion increase, representing an overall 3% real terms rise.
Core grants
Dame Diana said: “Of the £986.9 million of additional funding for police forces, I can confirm that £657.1 million of this is an increase to government grants, which includes an increase in the core grants of £339 million to ensure police forces are fully equipped to deliver our safer streets mission.
“This also includes £230.3 million to compensate territorial forces for the costs of the change to the employer national insurance contributions from 2025-26, and an additional £100 million to kickstart the first phase of 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles.
“This will provide policing with the funding required to tackle crime and keep communities safe.”
Police and crime commissioners
Police and crime commissioners have the ability to increase the precept – their portion of council tax – by up to £14 without triggering a referendum.
“This could generate up to £329.8 million of additional funding available to police forces compared with 2024-25,” Dame Diana told MPs.
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Yes, give them more money so they can buy bigger top of the range BMWs to go racing down to the local takeaway!!!
I cancelled whoever felt compelled to mark you down. What you are really getting at is the question of value for money. Too often we hear that “local Plod” could not be bothered to pursue a criminal matter, seldom see any meaningful patrol presence, and loads of politically correct “statements” from high ranking officers who seem to be more concerned with own careers than preventing crime or arresting criminals.
Defund the police is the wrong call, but somehow we need accountability and the present office of Commissioner doesn’t cut it.
The Police forces are supposed to be enforcing a universal law, but with UK govt passing a third of the proposed funding increases onto CT it risks situations where Police services in more affluent populous areas get more money compared to less affluent or less populous areas, thereby creating a tiered Police service.
All police funding should come from central taxation and savings started by removal of mostly useless Police Commissioners and their entourages of failed and retired politicians.
I wholeheartedly agree that PCCs have been a complete waste of space since they were ‘invented’: political appointments that have never delivered their promised function.
Another week, another tax rise…
OK, so you don’t like paying tax – no one does. But I’ll ask you: how would you pay for extra funds for the police? And please don’t say ‘efficiency savings’, that’s just Tory code for job cuts which won’t do anything to improve public services – quite the opposite. They’ve spent the last 14 years trying that and it simply doesn’t work. And don’t say ‘get rid of backroom staff’ either. The idea that there is so-called ‘dead wood’ in our public services is another Tory myth used as an excuse to slash public spending whilst cutting taxes for… Read more »
So why are your friendly Holograms Starmer & Reeves bent on it. The idiot attack on the civil service, the demand for cuts in departmental budgets across the board, cutting out the waste and “deadwood”. Oh I forgot, today is Thursday.
Who said I was a supporter of Labour?
two double figure tax rises on the bounce and they want more? maybe stop wasting the money they get on the latest crazes and get back to basics.
John Major tried back to basics, didn’t work.