2017/18 Police precept

North Yorkshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner is responsible for setting the local police ‘precept’ – the amount people pay through their council tax for policing.

Some 55 per cent of North Yorkshire Police’s funding comes from the Government. But the remaining 45 per cent is raised locally and is paid for by residents through their council tax.

Your contribution through your council tax 2017/18

Property Band	2016/17	2017/18	Increase per year	Increase per week
A	£   144.67	£  147.55	£         2.88	6 pence
B	£   168.78	£  172.14	£         3.36	6 pence
C	£   192.89	£  196.73	£         3.84	7 pence
D	£   217.00	£  221.32	£         4.32	8 pence
E	£   256.22	£  270.50	£         5.28	10 pence
F	£   313.44	£  319.68	£         6.24	12 pence
G	£   361.67	£  368.87	£         7.20	14 pence
H	£   434.00	£  442.64	£         8.64	17 pence

Income available to the Police and Crime Commissioner

Income available to the PCC	2016-17 £m	2017-18 £m
Government Grant	68.7	67.8
Council Tax Grants	7.9	7.9
Council Tax Requirement – your contribution	63.6	66.0
Total	140.2	141.7
Other Income  – Specific Grants	2.9	3.0
Other Income  – Fees, Charges and Partnerships	7.0	10.0
Reserves Movements	3.2	5.5
Total Funding Available	153.2	160.2

How the money is spent

The Funding is spent on the following:	2016/17 £m	2017/18 £m
Office of the PCC	0.9	0.9
Corporate Services	26.6	28.6
Capital Financing	4.3	4.4
Expenditure by the Police Force:
Employees	104.7	107.5
Supplies and Services	10.4	12.3
Injury and Medical Pensions	3.2	3.2
Transport	2.2	1.8
Other Costs	1.0	1.5
Budget allocated to the Police Force	121.4	126.2
Gross Expenditure	153.2	160.2

 

Precept consultation

Thank you to all who have participated in the consultation on setting the police precept for 2017/18. The consultation closed at midnight on 11 January 2017.

People were asked to chose their preference from the following three options:

1. Freeze the precept. Meaning no more to pay locally, but harder for the police to deliver services and balance the books.
2. Increase the precept by 1.99 per cent in order to raise just over £1.2 million for next year and subsequent years, but avoid a costly local referendum. This would mean the average household paying 8p a week more.
3. Put the precept up by more than 1.99 per cent which could raise more money, but will mean at least £700,000 spent on a referendum on the proposals.

The full results of the consultation will be published shortly. The results collated up until 6 January 2017 showed that seven out of ten people were willing to pay more this year for policing.

Download the precept consultation leaflet

How is North Yorkshire Police funded?

About 55 per cent of funding comes from the Government while the remaining 45 per cent is raised locally, mainly through the ‘police precept’ – the amount you pay for local policing in your council tax.

Our government funding will reduce in 2017/18 and will continue to do so in both 2018/19 and 2019/20.

Over the past seven years, our central funding has been cut from £87 million in 2010/2011 to £68 million in 2017/18. If you take into account the effect of inflation, the cut is bigger still, amounting to £30 million in real terms, or 32 per cent of central funding.

Looking ahead, we also have increases in national insurance, pay and pensions, which mean we will still need to save £3.0 million for the year. This would rise to £4.3 million if the precept was frozen.

What would happen if we froze the precept?

If we froze the precept, taking account of increasing costs previously mentioned and inflation, this would effectively mean a cut to North Yorkshire Police’s budget.

This would come at a time when some types of crime are putting increasing pressure on the police. These include services to protect the most vulnerable people in our society, particularly our children, people at risk of domestic abuse and hate crime.

However, the Chief Constable and I will continue to preserve frontline neighbourhood policing, which we know is so valued by the public.

What would happen if we increase the amount we pay by 1.99 per cent?

This would raise just over £1.2 million for next year and – importantly – subsequent years.

However, it would mean the average household paying 8p a week more.

Can we increase our contribution by more than two per cent?

Yes. But the Government will only allow that if we carry out a local referendum which could cost at least £700,000.

What do I pay now and what would an increase of 1.99% mean to me?

Council Tax Band costs
		1.99% increase
Property Band	2016/17	2017/18	Increase per Annum	Increase per Week
	£	£	£	pence
A	£  144.67	£  147.55	£ 2.88	6p
B	£  168.78	£  172.14	£ 3.36	6p
C	£  192.89	£  196.73	£ 3.84	7p
D	£  217.00	£  221.32	£ 4.32	8p
E	£  265.22	£  270.50	£ 5.28	10p
F	£  313.44	£  319.68	£ 6.24	12p
G	£  361.67	£  368.86	£ 7.20	14p
H	£  434.00	£  442.64	£ 8.64	17p

Police Precept Consultation Results 2017/18

These results are taken from Decision Notice 01/2017: 2017/18 Precept Proposal

The consultation aimed to understand the public’s view on the amount they should pay in their council tax toward running North Yorkshire Police in 2017/18. The options being consulted on included: to freeze the amount paid, increase the amount paid by 1.99%, or to increase the amount paid by more than 1.99%.

Overall 1610 people responded to the survey. This included a representative survey of 803 individuals from across the county, screened to ensure they were council tax payers, who were interviewed by an independent research organisation. This randomly contacted a representative number of people by gender and age in each district or borough. The final number of people contacted in each area was:

The other respondents answered an open survey which was publicised on the Police and Crime Commissioner’s website and social media, and via leaflets located in libraries and other locations in communities. The public could respond via post, phone, email or online.

The results show that a clear majority favour a 1.99% increase in the policing precept as can be seen below. As the charts show, the results from the open survey and the representative sample provide similar results.