Modest raise in police precept on council tax will thaw out the current police jobs freeze

Police and crime commissioner Martin Surl is to ask the county's police and crime panel on February 5 to support an increase of 1.2 per cent, which works out at under £3 on the annual bill for a band D householder.

Mr Surl said this increase will raise around £560,000 that will lead to an additional 40 officers and an additional 200 special constables being recruited over the next four years.

The proposals also include provision for one per cent of the policing budget to be made available for community projects and programmes managed through the Commissioner’s Fund.

“This is a responsible budget that will enable the chief constable to meet her operational responsibilities, enable her to implement her plan to bring the force back up to the strength required. A higher figure would have placed an unfair burden on local taxpayers who are facing further increases to pay for local council services,” he said.

To supplement a 1.2 pre cent increase, a further £8m will be released from police reserves.

Mr Surl added: “This has probably been the most difficult of the four budgets I have had to write because for much of the last year, the chief constable and I were being told to prepare for cuts of up 25 to 40 per cent.

“Thankfully, the Chancellor surprised everyone when he announced in his autumn statement there would be ‘no cuts in the police’. But that only related to the Home Office settlement and that figure had still to be distributed amongst the country’s 43 police forces through a complicated funding formula.

“Although the constabulary is in a much better position than everyone expected, the lack of clarity around how the funding formula will be applied in future means we cannot assume that austerity is over. The budget I have prepared reflects the responsibility of the police to protect the public against a backdrop of continued financial uncertainty.”