Humberside Police Authority yesterday (16th February 2010) agreed the budget for policing the area served by the Humberside Police in 2010-11 and in doing so kept the increase in the police part of the council tax to just 2.5%.

When considering the budget, the Authority was keen to protect the significant reductions in crime and disorder that have been achieved over the last five years along with the number of offenders brought to justice. Members were also determined to maintain or improve visibility of frontline staff in neighbourhoods. However, they also recognised the equal challenge of responding to threat of serious and organised crime by providing the Chief Constable with the resources to help keep local people safe. 

The budget for 2010-11 was therefore set at £184.593M. The policing precept, the element of the locally raised council tax that goes towards policing, was increased by 2.5% which means that an average household (Band D) will pay £166.47 a year for policing, an increase of £4.06, which is less than 8 pence a week. 

Like all public sector organisations, Humberside Police Authority will face some demanding financial decisions over the next three to five years as funding becomes even tighter. With foresight, last March the Police Authority required the Chief Constable to achieve £15M in efficiency savings and therefore prepare the organisation to be in a strong position to meet the future challenges.

Chair of the Authority, Alene Branton MBE, explained: 

“We have already asked the Chief Constable to deliver some significant savings over the next five years while maintaining frontline policing services, which is what really matters to local people. Protecting previous years’ investment was a driving factor in our considerations, but we also wanted to keep any increases to the taxpayer as low as we could.

“We feel that we have found the right balance. The Chief Constable’s work in response to the Authority’s direction has helped us to set a budget that will preserve local policing services and help to keep people safe from harm by disrupting serious and organized crime.”

It was stressed at the meeting that the Force is continuing to strengthen neighbourhood policing, and is working on a programme to eliminate waste and duplication from all business areas. Every opportunity to increase police visibility will be taken, including the use of specialist police staff in positions where it is not necessary to have a fully warranted police officer.

Further opportunities for collaboration with other forces and joint working with partner agencies are also being explored for future potential, to make further efficiency savings.

Ms Branton concluded by saying:

“The Authority and the Force remain in a relatively strong financial position thanks to prudent financial management over the years. Importantly for local people, we have also managed to continue our support of PCSOs (Police Community Support Officers) who have proved so popular with local people.  We know how important it is to people to have a local policing team and we will do everything we can to preserve the current position.”