Police funding for Hampshire is set to rise by £26.1m as part of the Government’s proposed settlement for 2020/21, which will see an overall increase of £1.1b across the policing system – the biggest increase in funding to forces since 2010.
The total of £15.2 billion includes £700m for the recruitment of 6,000 additional officers by the end of March 2021; representing an almost 10% increase on the core grant provided to forces last year and is part of the Government’s commitment to recruit 20,000 additional officers over the next three years.
With around a third of funding for policing coming from a share of council tax, known as the police precept, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) in England will have the flexibility to increase local funding by increasing the precept by up to £10 for a typical Band D property. This funding increase assumes full use of this flexibility.
Damian said:
"I know what a high priority policing is for East Hants residents. Our local police do an outstanding job keeping us safe, and this extra funding is very good news. The Hampshire Constabulary and the Commissioner have really prioritised front-line policing and precept funding from 2019/20 had already enabled recruitment of more officers. Now it will be possible to boost recruitment and training further.”
More funding is also proposed for national priorities such as counter-terrorism policing, which will increase by £90 million in 2020/21 to £906 million, and a £150 million investment to build capabilities to tackle serious and organised crime at national, regional and local levels.
This funding is separate from the funding for PCCs and for counter-terrorism policing and is funded from the national priorities pot.
The Government is also allocating £33m of new money to combat serious violent crime, including new funding dedicated to the fight against county lines drug trafficking.
