Police Authority Sets Budget
Today, West Mercia Police Authority has agreed a budget requirement of £205.6 million for 2011/12 and, in line with government wishes, agreed not to increase the policing element of the council tax.
Sheila Blagg, Chairman of the Police Authority, explained: “We set the budget for the best possible level of service in the context of the assessment of the financial situation over the next four years. Using some of our reserves means that we can achieve a more measured ‘downsizing’, so that the impact on policing services in 2011/12 will be minimised by comparison with many other forces.”
West Mercia will see a 17% reduction in government core grant over the next four years. This has resulted in a £14.7m funding gap in 2011/12 alone, which is being addressed through restricting recruitment, cash savings, a through root and branch review of the force and the use of reserves. However, the Authority has warned it has some difficult decisions to make ahead.
Sheila Blagg said “Reserves can only be used once. That is why we are looking at other ways of working in order to continue to provide high quality services. We are committed to cost savings wherever they can be found and have important collaboration arrangements with other forces (for example we already share air support and motorway patrol). We are also committing ourselves to a significant pooling of resources with Warwickshire to make further efficiencies. We believe Warwickshire having a similar culture and facing similar policing demands to ourselves means that savings can be more quickly realised.”
