Kent’s Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott has had his budget proposal approved by the Kent and Medway Police and Crime Panel

Following a public consultation, he proposed an increase in the police precept to protect the current level of police provision. It will mean an additional £15 a year for a Band D property, which is equivalent to £1.25 a month or just over 4 pence a day. This will help raise a total of £12.3m, but even with this increase and an increase of Government funds of £12.9m, Kent Police will have a shortfall of around £2.9 million. 

Prior to presenting the precept proposal to the Panel the PCC asked residents for their views. In total nearly 87% said they would either be happy to pay an extra £15 (for a Band D property) or they were not happy but understood it was necessary to sufficiently fund Kent Police. When broken down, 41% said they were happy to pay an additional £15 and 46% that they were not happy about the increase but accepted it was needed to fund the Force. 13% said they were not happy and would accept a significant reduction in service.  

As part of this year’s survey the PCC also sought participants’ views on how much the Force should be funded by the County’s residents. Currently 57% of funding comes from the Government and 43% from the council tax precept and locally generated income. In 2010, the figures were 72% and 28%, respectively.  

Only 13% who took part in the survey agreed the balance between central and local funding is fair.  

Today councillors unanimously approved the budget proposal. 

Matthew Scott says, 

 “This is never an easy request to make, but policing continues to face significant financial pressure.  Although there has been an increase in the core grant funding from the government this is still not enough, even with this and an increase to the council tax precept, we will still have to make savings of around £2.9 million. The government has agreed to give Kent Police an additional £12.9m but police officer and staff pay alone continues to rise and will this year the increase will cost over £27m.

The increased precept will help us reduce the need to make even further cuts. But central government still fails to adequately fund policing in the county and that burden is placed on the residents of Kent.

The data from my survey clearly shows that residents believe that central funding should be more than it is. It shows strong and consistent support for changes to the way Kent Police is funded, particularly in relation to the balance between central and local funding. A large majority of respondents felt that central government should provide a higher proportion of police funding, and most were supportive of me lobbying for funding reform. 

Overall, the findings demonstrate that most residents recognise the financial challenges facing Kent Police and are supportive of fairer funding, additional central investment, and measures to maintain policing. 

Despite these challenges I am pleased that we have seen further reductions in crime with numbers down by 10.6% in the last 4 years. I will continue to work with the Chief Constable to make sure your money is spent well.” 

Source: Kent Police & Crime Commissioner