Cost For Policing To Rise

You will be paying more for Policing from April.

Approval has been given for Crime Commissioners in Leicestershire and Northamptonshire to increase the amount by the maximum allowed without the need for a referendum.

It means residents in Band D properties will pay £14 more a year, taking the police precept charge in council tax bills to just over £300.

Police and Crime Panels in both counties approved the increase.

Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthew says the current financial landscape is ‘really tough’ and despite making savings of £23.3m over the last three years, the force still wrestling with a budget deficit.

A survey is Leicestershire found  76% of respondents were supportive of paying at least £14 to maintain service levels of policing in the county.

Mr Matthews told a meeting of the Crime Panel he had no choice but to put forward the rise, with increases in national insurance payments and additional pressures on the force not being fully funded by government:

Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner Danielle Stone said: “People have told me clearly that they want to feel safer, that they want a police service that engages with them, listens to the issues that matter most to them and takes action to prevent and investigate crime.

“This budget will mean that the Chief Constable can make those improvements and we can build stronger partnerships with other agencies so that we are putting prevention at the top of the agenda and working together to create safer neighbourhoods.

“I will also continue to invest, through my Office, in projects that support families and young people, in projects that prevent crime and anti-social behaviour and in providing the right support for victims and witnesses of crime.”