Today (Wednesday 22 January) the government has announced the
biggest increase in funding for the police system in a decade.
The amount of funding available to the policing system for 2020
to 2021 will increase by more than £1.1 billion, totalling £15.2
billion, if Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) take full
advantage of flexibility to set the police precept.
This represents an almost 10% increase on the core (resource)
grant provided to forces last year, enabling the police to cut
crime and deliver on the people’s priorities.
It builds on a number of existing government commitments to bear
down on the criminals who seek to do our communities and our
country harm. It will enable forces to recruit 6,000 of the
20,000 additional police officers by the end of March 2021.
It will provide £150 million in funding to fight organised crime
and continue to crack down on online child abuse. Tackling
serious violence will be also backed with £39 million, which
includes £20 million for county lines drug dealing, which is
seeing abhorrent gangs terrorising our towns.
As announced by the Home Secretary on Tuesday 21 January, funding
for counter-terrorism policing will total £906 million in 2020 to
2021, a year-on-year increase of £90 million.
Home Secretary said:
This government is delivering on the people’s priorities by
giving policing the biggest funding increase in a decade.
It will mean more officers tackling the crime blighting our
streets, so people can feel safe in their communities.
The police must now make full use of this significant
investment to deliver for the public.
PCCs will have access to:
- £8,702 million in government grants, which is £667 million
more than the previous year
- flexibility to increase local funding in England by setting
the council tax referendum limit to £10 for a typical (Band D)
property.
- if all PCCs in England maximise this flexibility and ask
average households to contribute less than 20 pence per week,
this would generate around £248 million in additional funding for
forces in England next year.
The settlement includes the £750 million announced by the
Chancellor last year to enable forces to meet their officer
recruitment targets.
The bulk will go directly to PCCs (£700 million). The remainder
will be spent nationally on capabilities and infrastructure to
support the recruitment drive.
This includes investments to improve the recruitment process
including training and specialist schemes to ensure the right
officers end up in the right roles.
