County Residents Asked to Comment on Council Tax Hike For More Police

Published on: 15 Jan, 2021
Updated on: 17 Jan, 2021

David Munro, Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner, is asking residents to pay more in council tax this year to boost numbers of police and support staff.

He proposes a 5.5% increase in the policing precept, about £1.25 a month, £15 a year, across all tax bands.

The proposed rise in force numbers, and their next allocation of the 20,000 police paid for by Westminster, would add 150 officers and staff over the year. The PCC wants people to fill in a short online survey at: http://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/SurreyPCCprecept/

The commissioner sets the overall budget for police and determines the precept, the portion of council tax that pays for policing, which is itself boosted by a grant from central government.

Surrey Police and Crime Commissioner David Munro

In December, the Home Office gave England’s PCCs the flexibility to increase the policing element by about 5.5% across all bands.

The combination of last year’s precept plus the initial share of the national officer uplift meant Surrey Police were able to add 250 officers and staff during 2020/21.

Despite the pandemic, the force is “well on track” to fill those posts by the end of this financial year and the PCC wants to add a further 150 during 2021/22.

The government’s ring-fenced funding provides for an extra 73 officers in the second tranche of the national increase. The PCC’s proposed 5.5% rise would pay for 10 more officers and 67 staff roles, including:

• A new team focused on reducing the most serious road accidents;
• A dedicated rural crime team;
• More staff focused on assisting local investigations, allowing officers to stay more visible in communities
• Research analysts and trained intelligence-gathering on criminal gangs, targeting those causing the most harm;
• More police staff engaging with the public and improving digital contact and the 101 service with them; and
• Additional funding to key support services for victims, in particular, domestic violence, stalking and child abuse.

Mr Munro said: “We are all living through an incredibly difficult time so deciding what I think the public should pay for their policing in Surrey over the next year is one of the hardest tasks I have faced.

“Over the past year, our police officers and staff have faced unprecedented challenges in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, putting themselves and their loved ones at risk to keep us safe. I believe the role they play in our communities during these uncertain days is more important than ever.

“Residents across the county have consistently told me they really value their police teams and would like to see more of them in our communities.

“This remains a key priority for me and after years of government cuts to our police service, we have a real opportunity to continue the significant strides we have made in the past few years in recruiting those badly needed extra numbers to the frontline.

“That is why I am proposing the 5.5% increase to bolster officer and staff numbers in those crucial roles needed to increase visibility, improve our public contact and provide essential operational support to our frontline officers.

“It is always difficult to ask the public to pay more money, particularly in these troubled times.

“That is why it is really important to me to get the views and opinions of residents so I would ask everyone to take a minute to fill out our survey and let me know their thoughts.”

The consultation closes at 9.00am on Friday, February 5. If you want to read more about the PCC’s proposal click here: https://www.surrey-pcc.gov.uk/get-involved/council-tax-consultation-2021-22/

Mr Munro, the Surrey Police chief officer team and borough commanders, will be holding online public engagement events in every borough over the next five weeks to hear people’s views.

You can sign up to your local event by clicking here: https://www.surrey.police.uk/news/surrey/news/2021/01/2021-policing-your-community/

Guildford Labour said: “We agree Surrey’s police are chronically underfunded and back them 100%. Since the Conservative/Lib Dem coalition came to power, funding for the police has fallen by almost 20%, a scandalous amount.

“But these cuts were just part of the coalition’s assault on the public sector, including shocking cuts to benefits, justice adult education.

“Mr Munro’s logic is that council taxpayers should pick up the tab for central government’s cuts. What next? Will the government cut education budgets and then invite parents to pay for schools directly?”

Borough Cllr James Walsh (Lab, Stoke), added: “We’ve had a Tory government for more than 10 years now and they’ve systemically stripped money and resources for the services we all need, but particularly those impacting the less well-off.

“The Prime Minister and his Conservative colleagues don’t like making tough decisions about funding and prefer to blame councils for underfunding of the police and the defenestration of other services.”

Lib Dem county Cllr Fiona White (Guildford West) said: “I understand the pressure on police budgets. Like local government, they have been a victim of the government’s failure to fund services properly. But I think this a bad time to increase the policing precept by any more than is absolutely necessary.

“The pandemic means many people’s household budgets have been significantly stretched and an increase will cause problems for those households. If the PCC thinks the increase is absolutely necessary, he must justify it in detail but even then, I would question whether there are circumstances that would justify such a rise.”

Fiona Davidson, R4GV group chair, said: “The areas the PCC is proposing to use additional funding on are worthy. But this is a difficult time to be raising a tax not directly related to the ability to pay.

“Guildford’s council tax is already rising by 2.9% this year. The PCC’s proposal would add an additional £15 per year to the Band D charge (the maximum allowed) and would take the police precept from 13% of council tax to just over 14%.

“By comparison, Guildford Borough Council receives only 9% of the council tax charge.

“The central government has already pledged extra police officers and there are many other deserving causes for council tax funding, so we don’t think it’s the right time for this proposal.

“But we will be interested to learn the results of the exercise and we encourage all residents to participate in what is a very simple and straightforward survey.”

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