Legislation requires the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) agrees their budget, associated precept and basic council tax for the forthcoming year before 1 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 Home Office informed the PCC 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
Available funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) will increase by up to an additional £703 million in 2021/22. This includes local flexibility to increase the Council Tax precept.
This increase is broken down as follows:
- A £415 million increase in Government grant funding to PCCs. Additional funding will support year two of the Police Uplift Programme. £100 million of this funding will be ring-fenced. It will be allocated according to funding formula shares. It 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. This was announced for local council tax support as part of the 2020 Spending Review.
- 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%.
Results of consultation
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%)
Total funding available in 2021/22, in comparison to 2020/21, is forecast to increase by £6.4m.
However, that figure takes into account the additional grant if the force delivers against the Governments police officer recruitment targets.
Funding will support the continued accelerated increase in Police Officer numbers.
It will also make sure that National Targets are delivered a year earlier than expected.
In addition, this would mean that the number of Police Officers in the force will have increased by over 250 FTEs in 3 years. This 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)