Provisional police grant report: 2023 to 2024 (England and Wales)

Introduction

1.1 This Report is prepared by the Secretary of State for the Home Department (the Home Secretary) under section 46(3) of the Police Act 1996 (the 1996 Act).

1.2 This Report sets out the Home Secretary’s determination for 2023-24, made under section 46(2) of the 1996 Act, of the aggregate amount of grants for police purposes that she proposes to pay under section 46, and the amount of grants she proposes to pay each local policing body^{[footnote 1]} under the same section. The aggregate amount of grants for police purposes comprises the Home Office Police Main Grant, Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) [now Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC)] Formula Funding, Legacy Council Tax Grants, National and International Capital City Grants, Welsh Top-Up Grant, and Precept Grant. This determination has been approved by the Treasury as required by section 46(2) of the 1996 Act.

1.3 The Report also states the considerations which the Home Secretary took into account in making her determination.

1.4 In determining the allocation among local policing bodies of the whole or any part of the aggregate amount of grants for police purposes, the Home Secretary may, under section 46(4) of the 1996 Act, exercise her discretion in applying such formulae or other rules as she considers appropriate.

1.5 The Home Secretary has decided to continue to apply damping in a way that ensures every local policing body receives the same percentage increase in the totality of formula funding. Therefore, the allocations of Police Main Grant and DCLG Formula Funding that were provided to local policing bodies in 2022-23 have been increased in line with the total overall increase of these grant streams in 2023-24. Funding allocations for both financial years are based on the Police Allocation Formula distribution from 2013-14. This Report sets out information on the formula that was applied to the Police Main Grant element of the Police Core Settlement in 2013-14 as well as referencing separate documentation which sets out the method used to allocate 2013-14 DCLG Formula Funding.

1.6 As in each year since 2013-14, DCLG Formula Funding will be paid to local policing bodies by the Home Secretary under section 46 of the Police Act 1996. It is therefore included in this Report. This is as a result of the Government’s decision that local policing bodies should be funded from outside the business rates retention scheme.

1.7 Council Tax Freeze Grant funding relating to the 2011-12, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 schemes and Local Council Tax Support (LCTS) funding previously paid to local policing bodies in England by the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003, will in 2023-24 also be paid to local policing bodies by the Home Secretary under section 46 of the Police Act 1996. It is therefore included in this Report. This is a result of the Government’s ambition to simplify police funding arrangements.

1.8 This Report does not set out the totality of central Government funding to local policing bodies in England and Wales. It does not cover the police grant for the safeguarding of national security made under section 48(1) of the 1996 Act. Neither does it cover grants paid to local policing bodies in Wales by the Welsh Government. This report also does not cover pensions grant funding paid to local policing bodies under section 31 of the Local Government Act 2003 by the Home Office. The Common Council of the City of London (on behalf of the City of London Police) and the Greater London Authority (on behalf of the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime) also have access to Council Tax Freeze Grant funding through the DLUHC Local Government Finance Settlement. This Report does not cover this funding. In addition, pursuant to section 169 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, the Home Secretary hereby determines that £275,000,000 of grant funding will be made available to local policing bodies to support, beyond March 2023, the maintenance and retention of an overall officer headcount comprising of police forces’ agreed Police Uplift baseline plus their allocation of the 20,000 additional police officers recruited through the Police Uplift Programme. The funding allocations for this £275,000,000 are intended to be based on the Police Allocation Formula distribution from 2013-14. Further details, including any conditions to which this grant funding is to be made subject, will be communicated to, and agreed with local policing bodies in due course.

1.9 This Report also does not set out the totality of police funding. Local policing bodies raise a substantial proportion of their funding locally through Council Tax Precept. In addition, the Home Office reallocates funding for national policing priorities. The accompanying Written Ministerial Statement sets out the Government’s plans for the other elements of police funding.

Contents

1. 1. Introduction
2. 2. Aggregate amount of grants
3. 3. Allocation of aggregate amount of grants
4. 4. Considerations taken into account
5. 5. Conclusion
6. Appendix A : Formula applied by the Home Secretary in 2013-14
7. Appendix B: Definition of indicators used to calculate Police Main Grant
8. Appendix C: Scaling factor
9. Appendix D: Area Cost Adjustment factors