2018/19 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.

This year, after hearing the views of over 2,000 members of the public, your elected Police and Crime Commissioner, Julia Mulligan, decided to increase the amount of precept for the police by an average of £11.50, or about £1 a month.

This will raise an additional £1.9m next year, which will be put into a ‘Policing Priorities Fund’ to enhance the services important to you. These include:

Improving the response to 101 and 999 calls
Investing in services for victims of crime
Keeping police officer and PCSO recruitment plans on track

However, even with this extra money, the police need to make savings of about £10m over the next few years, so investment in new technology and ways of working will need to continue.

Your contribution through your council tax 2018/19

Property Band	2017/18	2018/19	Increase per year	Increase per week
A	£ 147.55	£155.21	£ 7.67	15 pence
B	£ 172.14	£181.02	£ 8.94	17 pence
C	£ 196.73	£206.95	£ 10.22	20 pence
D	£ 221.32	£232.82	£ 11.50	22 pence
E	£ 270.50	£284.56	£ 14.06	27 pence
F	£ 319.68	£336.30	£ 16.61	32 pence
G	£ 368.87	£388.03	£ 19.17	37 pence
H	£ 442.64	£465.64	£ 23.00	44 pence

Funding for the police

	2017/08	2018/19
Funding from Government	£75.7m	£75.7m
Council tax precept – your contribution	£66.0m	£69.8m
Specific grants	£3.0m	£2.9m
Fees, Charges and Partnerships	£10.0m	£8.7m
Total funding	£154.7m	£157.1m

Police budget breakdown

	2017/08	2018/19
Police officers	£72.8m	£75.6m
Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)	£6.7m	£6.6m
Police staff	£38.7m	£35.3m
Policing priorities fund	£0.0	£1.9m
Buildings and transport	£7.1m	£6.7m
Supplies and services	£22.8m	£21.2m
Other spend *	£6.6m	£9.8m
Total spending plan	£154.7m	£157.1m

* This includes Community Safety Funding and Commissioned Services, Police Officer Medical and Injury Pensions, Cost of Capital and Use of Reserves.

How the money will be spent

This year the Government gave Police and Crime Commissioners the option to increase funding by a maximum of £12 per year, per average household (a ‘band D’ home), or just over 5% here in North Yorkshire.

After consulting with more that 2,000 people, Julia decided on an £11.50 increase.

The results also showed that the public is very supportive of North Yorkshire Police and are prepared to pay more for the vital services they provide.

However, Julia must balance this against what is affordable as she also believes that it’s important for everyone to know what this extra money will deliver.

Maintaining visible policing

North Yorkshire Police plans to recruit more Police Officers and Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), to a maximum of 1,400 officers and 200 PCSOs, the highest numbers since 2012. This money will help keep these plans on track.

Improving 101 and 999

Over the past 12 months North Yorkshire Police has received many more calls into the Force Control Room.

As a consequence, people have had to wait too long although the time taken for officers to respond to incidents has continued to be good.

Now, more staff will be recruited to take calls, reducing waiting times and improving the service.

Investment in victim services

Over the past five years, Julia has dramatically improved victim services, especially for those suffering domestic and sexual abuse. New counselling and telephone support has also been introduced, along with mental health crisis services.

The additional funding will mean new, specialist support for victims of child sexual abuse and people who go missing from home.

A more efficient police service

North Yorkshire Police still have to make about £10m of savings over the coming years as wage bills are increasing, inflation is higher and bureaucracy is still too burdensome.

As a result, the progress made transforming the service will need to continue, including new technology, greater collaboration and more.

Julia believes that the public should not pay more, when it is still possible to improve efficiency, and expects to see real progress on making savings before this time next year.

Download your local council precept leaflet

Precept consultation

Policing is continuing to evolve in North Yorkshire as it responds to the changing nature of crime and demands on our police service.

We now have a greater focus on complex crimes like sexual abuse and fraud whilst continuing to tackle problems such as burglary and road safety which remain police priorities.

Despite these challenges, I am also pleased to say that North Yorkshire remains the safest place in England.

I want to thank those of you who shared your views and helped set the priorities for the police force which formed the basis of our Police and Crime Plan 2017 – 2021, a document that helps me to ensure the Chief Constable delivers on what matters to you.

Another part of my role is to set the police precept, the amount you pay for policing in your council tax.

Before I can set the precept, it’s important that I understand what you think, so please complete my survey and tell me your views.

There are three options I would like to hear your views on, these are:

Freeze the precept – do not pay more than you pay now
This would mean a cut to the police budget.
Increase the precept by 1.99%
This is an extra £4.40 per year (8p per week) for a Band D property.
This would raise around £1.3 million for next year and subsequent years.
Increase the precept by more than 1.99%
This would raise more money.
This would mean spending at least £700,000 on a referendum on the proposals.

How is North Yorkshire Police funded?

About 53 per cent of funding comes from the Government while the remaining 47 per cent is raised locally, mainly through the ‘police precept’ – the amount you pay for local policing in your council tax.

Our government funding is expected to reduce in 2018/19 and continue to reduce in 2019/20.

Over the past seven years, our central funding has been reduced from £87 million in 2010/2011 to a forecast £67 million in 2018/19. If you take into account the effect of inflation, this equates to nearly £40 million in real terms.

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 certain types of crime are putting increasing pressure on the police, especially neighbourhood policing. These include services to protect the most vulnerable people in our society, particularly our children, people at risk of domestic abuse and hate crime.

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

This would raise just over £1.3 million for next year and – importantly – subsequent years.

However, it would mean the average household paying 8p a week, which is £4.40 a year, 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?

Property Band	2017/18	2018/19	Increase per Annum	Increase per Week
	£	£	£	pence
A	147.55	150.48	2.93	6
B	172.14	175.56	3.42	7
C	196.73	200.64	3.91	8
D	221.32	225.72	4.40	8
E	270.50	275.88	5.38	10
F	319.68	326.04	6.36	12
G	368.86	376.20	7.34	14
H	442.64	451.44	8.80	17

Have your say

Your views are important so please let me know what you think by:

Completing the online survey
Sending an email to pcc@northyorkshire-pcc.gov.uk
Calling my office on 01423 569 562
Send me a letter:
Julia Mulligan
Office of the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner for North Yorkshire and York
FREEPOST RTCL-AGAE-TRTS
Harrogate Police Station
Beckwith Head Rd
Harrogate
HG3 1FR

Thank you for your time

Survey closes at midnight on Sunday 28 January 2018

Download the 2018/19 precept consultation leaflet

Your Commissioner - Your Voice