To consider a report from the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire regarding the proposed Policing Precept 2024/25.

A report was presented to enable the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Panel, to review and make recommendations regarding the Police and Crime Commissioner’s proposed Police Precept for 2024/25.  The Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire (the Commissioner) had proposed an increase in the Police Precept of £12.96 for Band D properties for 2024/25.  Details of the proposal were attached to the Report at Appendix A and Annexes A, B and C, pages 55 to 76 of the Agenda refer.

It was noted that under Schedule 5 of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 the Lincolnshire Police and Crime Panel (the Panel) must review the Commissioner’s proposed Police Precept and report on it.   The guidelines for this process were detailed within Appendix B to the report, pages 77 to 80 of the Agenda refers.

The Commissioner invited Julie Flint, the PCC’s Chief Finance Officer to deliver a presentation which would underpin the Commissioner’s Precept Proposal. 

The slides were divided under five main headings:

·         Police Grant Settlement

·         Expenditure Plans & Funding

·         Future Funding Landscape

·         Risk Management

·         Impact on Precept

It was advised that the Police Grant Settlement was confirmed in January 2024 and that Lincolnshire continued to receive a small proportion (less than 1%) of the overall funding that was available from the Government for policing.  This was a 0.83% share of the £9.1bn that was available nationally, equating to £75.9 million for Lincolnshire.

In addition, the overall grant funding coming in to Lincolnshire for 2024/25 was £89.8m which was an increase of £7.9 million from the previous Financial Year.  The Core Police Grant has increased by £4.3m for 2024/25 largely as a result of the Pay Award Grant, the Pension top-up grant had been increased by £2.4m which factored in the increase in pension contributions, a ringfenced allocation in connection with the Police Uplift Programme (PUP) has increased £1.2m which was a specific grant for maintaining the 1186 target for officer numbers, and the Government confirmed precept flexibility of up to £13 pa for a Band D property.

On expenditure plans and funding the Panel was shown a graph that outlined the provisional expenditure plans for Lincolnshire, which showed that the majority of the spend (45.5%) went on police officers, and the next biggest item (26.4%) was for police staff & PCSOs, then other costs including custody, fleet, premises, and regional collaboration at 24.1%, capital financing at 3.2% and the office of the Police & Crime Commissioner (0.8%).  The overall spending shown was £175.7 million currently planned.

Expenditure increases in 2024/25 were shown to include:

·         Pay Award (Sept 23) 7% for Police Officers and Staff - £7.8m

·         Police Officer Employers pension contribution increase (31% to 35.3%) – £2.2m

·         ICT services – cost pressures - £2m; service developments - £0.7m

·         Utilities increase - £0.15m

·         Fleet Management – Fuel, maintenance costs, contract increases £0.343m

·         External Training Courses £0.1m

Under funding, the Panel was shown the provisional funding based on the £12.96 precept.  A graph shown to the Panel detailed how 52.5% of funding was received via government grants, 42.5% through council tax and 5% was contribution from reserves and other income.

The Panel was advised that total Police and Crime Commissioner Income for 2024/25 of £174m was forecast to reduce for 2025/26 due to a draw down on reserves to balance the budget.

There was uncertainty on the Governments spending plans beyond the next Financial Year.  A graph shown to the Panel from the Independent Office for Budget Responsibility demonstrated the aggregate spending across services in which policing was included in the ‘Other’ category with a reduction of 2.3% per annuum in terms of average annuum real growth between 2025/26 and 2028/29.  In terms of public spending over the medium term, this indicated there was limited prospect of funding increasing in relation to current government spending proposals. Lincolnshire still received the lowest funding per head of population of all police areas. 

On risk and mitigation, it was explained that the numbers provided to the Panel were still provisional due to the timing of the meeting and that a significant amount of work had been undertaken on the police funding formula review and a future announcement for consultation was awaited.

To address risks, the Panel was advised that the focus was being kept on productivity and efficiency through investment, and through lobbying to influence grant distribution and the funding formula review to maximise funding opportunities.

The headlines from the public consultation on council tax undertaken between the 1^st November and 6^th December 2023 showed strong support for increased funding for Lincolnshire. 3,434 responses were received in total, with 81% of respondents believing that funding for Lincolnshire Police should be increased, and 54% of respondents were prepared to pay at least 5% more.

On the impact on the precept, the Panel was shown in monetary terms the impact for all council tax bands.  It was shown that the precept increase of £12.96 to a Band D property equated to 25p per week and an additional £3.5m income.

The Commissioner invited Questions from Panel Members. A copy of the questions and responses are attached at Appendix B to the minutes.

The Commissioner’s proposed increase was proposed and seconded for approval and upon being put to the vote, the vote for approval was carried.

Vote:           10 In favour            0 Against              1 Abstention 

RESOLVED:

1.  That the Police and Crime Commissioner for Lincolnshire’s proposal to increase the Policing Precept by £12.96 for 2024/25 be approved;

2.  That the Panel Chairman and the Democratic Services Manager be requested to arrange for the formal acceptance letter to be sent to the Commissioner.