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Merseyside Police Authority agrees challenging budget

Press release

Date: 17th February 2011

For immediate release

Merseyside Police Authority agrees a challenging budget

Merseyside Police Authority today agreed a budget for 2011/12 and a financial strategy to make savings of £61.4m over the next 4 years. This follows severe cuts to Government funding.

Due to strict financial management in 2010/11, the Authority faces this period in a financially strong position which at any other time would have allowed investment into maintaining and improving services.

Instead, the freeze on police officer recruitment will continue, meaning an estimated loss of 380 police officers by the end of the financial year. If suggested options for future cuts go ahead, there will also be a total reduction in police staff of around 163 by the end of the 2011/12 financial year. Potentially, based on best estimates, the loss of officers and staff over the four year period could amount to 880 and 1000 respectively.

Merseyside Police Authority also acknowledged today pressures on the budgets of Local Authorities and the communities of Merseyside and consequently agreed to freeze the policing element of Council Tax for 2011/2012. This means that households in Merseyside will continue to contribute £97 per year at Band A and £146 at Band D for policing through their Council Tax payments.

In return for this, Merseyside Police Authority will receive a Council Tax Freeze Grant from Government, which will bring in the same amount of money as a 2.5% increase; over £1.5m.

Bill Weightman, Chairman of Merseyside Police Authority, said:

'Today's budget is both challenging and painful, particularly considering all we have done in recent years to increase police officer numbers, reduce crime and increase public confidence. We are dealing with the quickest and deepest cuts in living memory so our job now is to protect frontline services as much as possible and keep listening to the people of Merseyside to make sure we've got our priorities right.'

Paul Johnson, Merseyside Police Authority's Chief Executive and Treasurer, said:

'This budget represents the first of 4 years of planned cuts and the beginning of the most significant financial challenge to Merseyside Police Authority in its history. Not only do we have to save £61.4m in four years, but savings are 'front loaded' meaning the bulk of savings, £38.5m, need to be made by the end of 2012/13. Our strategy sets out how Merseyside Police Authority plans to deal with this by continuing to examine a range of options for savings, and by starting with cuts as far away from the frontline as possible. But even with such robust plans in place, these are challenging times indeed.'

Ends

For more information contact:

Jude Hackett Tel: 0151 285 5518

E-mail: jude.hackett@merseysidepoliceauthority.gov.uk

Notes to editors

  1. Merseyside Police Authority has set a budget of £370.4m

  2. The net reduction in general grants from Government in 2011/12 is just over 5% (£14.7M)

  3. There will be a further reduction of 6.7% in next year's (2012/2013) general grant (£18.2M)

  4. The reduction of funding for 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 will not be announced until after the Local Government Resource Review due to be completed by July 2011, but has been estimated at 1.9% and 2% respectively in line with the national reduction.

  5. Despite cuts, there was an 8% reduction in overall crime in Merseyside last year (comparing April to December 2009 and 2010).