The latest figure that the Police and Crime Commissioner, Bill Longmore, is considering as acceptable for the precept will mean a rise of just under 2%. Mr Longmore is considering a 1.99% increase to the police’s share of council tax bills in 2016/17. This is to cover the shortfall in government funding while also protecting the numbers of police officers in West Mercia for the future.

A 1.99% precept increase would add around 1p a day (or £3.70 a year) to the police’s share of council tax bills for a band D home.

A public consultation around the precept has been ongoing since late November, and will continue until January 18th. The PCC has spent a significant amount of time scrutinising and analysing a range of information – a lot of the finer financial detail only came through from the government just before Christmas. Mr Longmore added that this is not a final decision. He said: “This is by no means a final decision, but I wanted to let people know what I was thinking, and why. It isn’t a straight forward situation, and I want to make sure people have all the information they need to take part in the consultation. I will consider all the feedback I get from the public, when I have to make my final decision about the precept.”

Mr Longmore added: “George Osborne told us all that police funding would be protected in real terms, but it’s become clear that the government won’t be footing the bill. We now know that West Mercia’s formula grant funding from central government will be reduced next year by £0.6m. If police funding is indeed going to be protected and keep up with inflation, the government is relying on local taxpayers to plug the gap.”

“A lot of work has gone into getting the force here back up to strength over the last few years, in terms of numbers of officers and staff. Over my term of office, we have managed to find millions of pounds in efficiency savings, whilst actually putting an extra 74 police officers on the streets. I’m very proud of that, but I am equally wary that situation should not be a short term improvement. We are now up to what I consider to be full strength in terms of officers, and I want that to be sustained for the foreseeable future.”

Beyond the reduction in central funding from the government this year, police forces nationwide are expecting additional pressure on their resources as the Home Office wants to expand capacity for firearms officers, tackling cyber crime, and protecting vulnerable people. The government is also expected to review how it calculates formula funding next year, with no indications yet of how it may impact on individual forces.

At the start of 2016/17, West Mercia is projected to hold reserves of £57.5m. However, plans are already in place to reduce this to £25.7m by 2020. This use of reserves is to support the budget, invest in projects to deliver future savings, invest in priority crime areas, and support the financing of a capital programme. It is all part of the continued and necessary modernisation of policing, and includes completely new IT systems, a new operational control centre, and the retention of police officers.

If the precept were to be frozen in 2016/17, it would reduce reserves by a further £6m by 2020.

The PCC’s consultation continues until midday on January 18th. People can get in touch by any of the following options:

Fill out the survey form via the PCC website - www.westmercia.police.uk

Send an email to [email protected]

Write to the Office of the PCC, PO BOX 487, Shrewsbury, SY2 6WB