No council tax rise to pay for policing with less officers

Notts residents will not face an increase in the amount of council tax paid towards policing this year.

This follows Nottinghamshire Police Authority’s decision to freeze the policing element of the overall council tax bill at the same rate as last year.

This means that people living in a Band D (the average) household will still pay £160.11 for the year and the amount for those living in a Band B property will remain at £124.53.

The authority will, however, be able to apply for a grant to the equivalent of a 2.5% increase in the council tax, worth £1.33m.

Jon Collins, chairman of the police authority, said: “We are aware of the financial pressures facing many households and we did not feel that we should increase that burden. Therefore the rate of council tax paid towards policing will remain at the same level as last year.”

Authority members also approved the budget for policing Nottinghamshire in 2011-12. In doing so, they took into account the need to make savings of approximately £42.3m from the £200m budget over the next four years.

Of this, £23.3m needs to be found before March 2013, while a further £8m must be saved by March 2014 and another £11m by the end of March 2015.

The budget for 2011/12 was set at £197.2m, a reduction of £3.6m on last year’s net budget.

This means that overall amount that needs to be saved by March 2012 is £10.3m and already changes are being seen that are specifically designed to protect police performance yet cut costs.

For example, from April 2011 there will be two operational policing divisions instead of four, removing managerial layers and streamlining local services. “City” Division is unchanged while a new “County” division will police the rest of the county.

Chief Constable Julia Hodson said: “Protecting front line policing services remains our priority, along with reducing crime, keeping the public safe and improving customer satisfaction.

“Crime has fallen consistently across Nottinghamshire over the last few years and we will see another big fall at the end of this financial year. We have done that with fewer people – it can be done and I’m convinced we can continue making the city and county a safer place.

“Job losses are a last resort for us. We have done everything we can to make us more efficient but sadly, the financial challenge we face means people will have to leave the organisation.

“Our budget shows a fall in police staff numbers of 416 by March 2012 and 226 fewer police officers over the same period. However, those figures are based on our staffing numbers in April 2010. Since then we have introduced a recruitment freeze meaning around 220 staff vacancies now unfilled because of people leaving or retiring.

“There is also a recruitment freeze for officers and this, coupled with our decision to implement Regulation A19 – the compulsory retirement of officers with 30 years’ pensionable service – accounts for the reduction in officers."