Mayor moves to protect frontline policing in London but warns Ministers are implementing a new era of austerity

• Policing budget hit by Government refusal to cover loss of council tax and business rates caused by Covid-19
• Mayor steps in to provide £22 million from City Hall to help plug some of the financial gap helping to protect police officer numbers
• Sadiq warns Government must step in and cover costs of pandemic

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, will today announce that he is providing additional funding from City Hall to protect frontline policing and help plug some of the financial gap caused by Covid-19.

The GLA Group faces a forecast £493 million budget shortfall over the next two years as a result of an unprecedented loss of business rates and council tax income, caused by Covid-19, and the Government’s refusal to fully refund local and regional government in London for the cost of tackling the pandemic.

Savings to be delivered through policing, which includes the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime and the Metropolitan Police, were £45.5m for 2020-21 and then £63.8m for 2021-22. This is proportionally less than the anticipated loss of tax income. The Mayor has reduced the saving targets for policing and fire, with a greater burden falling on the other Greater London Authority budget and the two Mayoral Development Corporations.

In order to protect frontline policing and to deliver on the Mayor’s commitment to drive down knife and violent crime in the capital, Sadiq has taken a decision to provide half of this year’s shortfall - £22.5m of funding - which he had prudently established in GLA reserves.

The Met and City Hall had intended to bring forward 600 additional officers that had been planned for 2021/22 – but the Met has been recruiting officers above its target level this year, and as a result will now use £15.25m towards meeting the savings target.

The remaining shortfall of £7.5m will be met through savings made in reserves held by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime – which means Sadiq has fully protected police officer numbers this financial year.

MOPAC and the Met have begun working on savings plans for the financial year, 2021/22, and have managed to identify savings through a staffing recruitment freeze - not including police officers - and by pausing operational projects such as digital innovation. However, there remains £37m of savings still to find, which will be addressed as part of the ongoing budget process.

A decade of Government cuts to policing has already forced the Met to make £850m of savings since 2010 and the Mayor has warned Ministers that they need to step in now and help fund the cost of Covid-19 and avoid ushering in a new era of austerity.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I‘m proud of my record of being both tough on crime and tough on the causes of crime - and that there are more than a thousand additional police officers on London’s streets than when I first became Mayor.

“This additional funding I have announced today means the Met protect police officer numbers over the next year.

“However, we still face huge financial challenges because the Government is implementing a new era of austerity on public services in London.

“Ministers are refusing to fully refund City Hall and the Met for the money we’ve spent tackling the pandemic and the income we’ve lost as a result. It is absolutely vital that the Government provides more funding for public services hit by the cost of the pandemic.”