Legislation requires that the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) agrees their budget and associated precept and basic council tax for the forthcoming year before 1st March each year. However before doing so the PCC must notify the relevant Police and Crime Panel, by the 31st January, of the precept which they propose to issue for the following financial year.
The PCC has been informed by the Home Office that “This settlement provides a total of up to £15.8 billion for policing in 2021/22, an increase of £636 million on the 2020/21 funding settlement. Available funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will increase by up to an additional £703 million in 2021/22, including local flexibility to increase council tax precept.
This increase is broken down as follows:
- A £415 million increase in Government grant funding to PCCs. This additional funding will support year 2 of the Police Uplift Programme. £100 million of this funding will be ring-fenced and allocated according to funding formula shares, and will be paid in line with progress on recruitment.
- Up to £288 million additional funding from council tax precept, if all PCCs maximise their precept flexibility. We are enabling PCCs to increase precept by up to £15 for a Band D equivalent property. Furthermore, PCCs will receive a portion of the £670million of additional grant funding announced for local council tax support as part of the Spending Review 2020.
- This precept flexibility is that PCC’s have been provided with is the option to increase their Band D precept by £15 in 2021/22, without the need to call a local referendum. In Cleveland this equates to an increase of 5.74%.
The results of consultation with the public of Cleveland, in relation to the level of precept for 2021/22, which had 181 responses, has resulted in the following:
- 52% (94) stated that they would be willing to pay more Council Tax to support policing. This figure rose to 58% (105) if the alternative meant cutting police services.
- Just over 20% indicated that they would be willing to pay an increase of £15.
If the precept is increased by 1.99% then the Net Budget Requirement is expected to increase in 2021/22, by nearly £7.3m (or 5.2%), and after taking into account the additional grant that will be provided if the Force deliver against the Governments recruitment targets for Police Officers, the total funding available in 2021/22, in comparison to 2020/21, is forecast to increase by £6.4m.
The funding will support the continued accelerated increase in Police Officer numbers within in the Force and will ensure that National Target are delivered a year earlier than expected. It would also mean that the number of Police Officers within the Force will have increased by over 250 FTEs in 3 years, which is an increase of over 20%.
Decision Record Form – Precept proposal 2021-22 (application, 213kB)
2021-22 Police Precept Report (application, 218kB)
The Acting Commissioner will present a proposal report to the Police and Crime Panel for approval:
Precept 2021-22 Report to the Police and Crime Panel (application, 238kB)