FOI Request
In the leaflet Council Tax Information 2019/20 from Hartlepool Borough Council, it states that 88.2% of the PCC’s funding is allocated to the Police Force.
1. What percentage of this 88.2% is used for police pensions.
2. What percentage of the 88.2% is used for non front line services
3. What is the cash value of the 88.2%
FOI Response
I can confirm that the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland does hold some of this information.
Q1. Cleveland Police do not pay for Police Pensions directly out of this money – it is paid from a Police Pension Fund.
However the Police Force do directly pay for a proportion of the pension for officers who are in receipt of an injury/medical pension.
The Force also make an allowance, financially, for any new injury/medical Police Retirements in the new financial year, as when they happen the Force is required to pay a lump sum into the Pension Fund.
For these two elements, the Force have set aside £2,993,000 of their £128,215,000 to meet these costs.
In addition to this the Police, as with all employers, are required to make a contribution to the Pension Fund for each police officer who is in the Police Pension Fund. The level of this contribution is set by the government and from the 1st April 2019 the required level of contribution is 31% of pensionable pay.
It is estimated that this will mean that around £12.8m of the funding available to the Force will need to be paid into the Police Pension Fund in 2019/20.
Q2. The Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner does not hold any recorded information on this matter.
Section 16 of the FOIA requires me to assist you in trying to determine who holds the information you seek. As this question relates to the expenditure of Cleveland Police, I believe the information you seek is held by them.
With your consent, I am happy to transfer this part of the request over to Cleveland Police, or alternatively, you can contact them directly on [email protected].
Q3. The cash value of 88.2% of the police budget for Cleveland is £128,215,000.
Date responded: 26 March 2019