PCC hits out against “deeply flawed” police funding policy as Durham loses out again.

Inadequate government funding to meet policing demand across County Durham and Darlington is once again going to hit the force hard, warns Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen.

The County Durham and Darlington PCC has written to Home Secretary James Cleverly and MP Chris Philp, Minister for Crime, Policing and Fire, expressing her bitter disappointment at the government’s provisional police settlement which equates to a six per cent increase in cash terms.

This, the Commissioner says, will severely inhibit the force from making the full raft of improvements expected by the public and does nothing to mitigate cuts to the capital budget, high inflation and increased costs that are rocking police forces nationally.

The PCC warns many forces are already overspending their overtime budgets and cancelling officer rest days to meet demand which will ‘inevitably’ impact their wellbeing.

And she reiterates the failures of the current police funding mechanism which sees forces with lower tax bases like Durham receiving a lower increase in overall spending power – despite enduring above average crime demand.

Commissioner Allen said: “This six per cent increase will do nothing to support growth and is merely there to fund the majority of the seven per cent pay award for officers and staff, announced in 2023.

“Under the present regime, wealthy forces are getting wealthier and forces with a lower tax base like Durham are getting poorer. There is absolutely no correlation to demand between forces. We need to see an equitable approach to funding, which requires a radical change in policy from the Government.

“There is a stark difference between recorded crime changes in Durham over the last 12 years when compared to similar forces, yet we have seen substantially less additional funding than our colleagues. We also remain the only force in this group to have seen officer numbers go backwards (by 144 officers) compared to others that have hundreds more than they did in 2010.”

“The public rightly expect a higher level of service delivery for a higher precept, but the truth is this precept is simply papering over the cracks of a completely broken grant system.

“I’ve been fighting this battle for a long time, but it is apparent that the government is failing to listen to its own independent advisors. The recent Police Foundation review of policing highlighted how forces with low precept yields are disadvantaged through the national funding regime while the National Audit Office review concluded that the current funding system is not sufficient to deal with growing demand.

“The government has repeatedly indicated that the funding formula review is being looked at, yet we still await the consultation on the principles of a new system. This isn’t an issue that is going to go away, and I will continue to do everything in my power to secure Durham the resources of which it plainly is entitled.”

The Commissioner said the proposed six per cent increase assumed that PCCs would increase their precept by the maximum allowed.

She said in the absence of adequate grant funding this would make a tough budget even tougher, and that she was reluctant to pass the full financial penalty to local taxpayers.

Many PCCs, she argued, were funding their capital programmes from debt which is “unsustainable” and will require significant revenue savings to offset the resulting debt charges.

“I understand the difficulties in agreeing capital funding however I cannot emphasise enough the challenges faced by a lack of capital funding,” she warned.

The PCC has invited the Ministers to respond to her points or discuss them further in a meeting with officials.