South Yorkshire Police precept to rise by £10 per year to fund more officers and meet rising costs

The proposed 4.69 per cent rise means a £10 per year increase for a Band D property, or 19p per week.

Dr Alan Billings, South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, says the increase is necessary to increase the number of police officers as set out by the government, and meet rising costs.

Dr Billings says he has “little room for manoeuvre” in setting the force’s budget for the year, as the government have said that forces must increase police numbers, as per their election promise to fund 20,000 officers nationwide.

Just over 30 per cent of the force’s budget is expected to come from council tax, and the other 70 per cent comes from a “settlement”, or government funding.

The core grant for South Yorkshire amounts to £233.8m, a cash increase of 5.8 per cent, which covers the current cost of the additional police officer uplift, national insurance increase, and contribution towards pay inflation.

South Yorkshire Police also have a number of “legacy costs” to budget for, which is estimated to reach £121m by 2026/27, of which £18m will be paid by the force.

The legacy costs cover civil claims against SYP as a result of the Hillsborough football disaster, civil claims against SYP as a result of non-recent child sexual exploitation (CSE) in Rotherham, and the National Crime Agency’s on-going investigations into non-recent CSE.

Dr Billings added that rising costs need to be met, such as increases in heating and lighting bills, and a pay rise for officers and staff, and has forecast an extra 220 officers by March 2023.

“As it is sometime since the police had a pay rise, and with the cost of living rising, this could add substantially to the cost of policing next year.

“So the very thing that impacts on people’s cost of living, making them hesitant about supporting an increase in the police precept – inflation – is the very thing that makes some precept increase necessary,” added Dr Billings.

“The police have to keep abreast of technological change, otherwise the criminals will be ahead of them – and that would be disastrous. But technology can be expensive. Also this year, the government has said we must increase police officer numbers to meet their national target of an extra 20,000 by 2023-24.

“We have to do things more efficiently and switch the money saved towards paying for some of those additional costs. Getting value for money is always important for public services but especially when money is tight for us all.

Dr Billings added that he usually had the option to set a lower precept and ask the police to lower their budget, meaning SYP would take on fewer officers than planned.

“But this year I have little room for manoeuvre. The government have said that we must increase police numbers – there is no discretion – and much of the increased grant is tied to that,” added Dr Billings.

“The government knows the grant will not cover the full cost of these extra officers, especially in future years, which is why they are ‘allowing’ me to raise the precept by up to £10 on a Band D property.

“If I don’t do this, we have no hope at all of producing a balanced budget – without using more reserves.

“And that is one of the most difficult decisions of all to make because the reserves are rather like the saving accounts you and I may have. Once we have dipped into them, they are gone, and you are just that little bit more insecure.

“And all the time there are the on-going costs of paying for past mistakes – civil claims from victims of both the Hillsborough football disaster of 1989, and child sexual exploitation in Rotherham between 1997 and 2013. And there is the cost of the National Crime Agency investigation into those non-recent CSE cases which is set to continue until 2027.”