Police funding 2021/22

Overview

Dear Greater Manchester residents and businesses,

Since we came into office, we have made a number of important decisions and investments in Greater Manchester Police in order to keep people safe. We couldn’t have done all of this without the help of local council taxpayers.

When we entered office in 2017, the Deputy Mayor and I made a commitment to end the cuts to frontline officer numbers.

There are now 667 more police officers in GMP than there were in 2017 and numbers will increase again this year.

This investment in our Force also meant that last year we were able to commit to having a named, contactable PC and PCSO for every ward in Greater Manchester. You are now able to contact them directly through GMP’s website.

Funding for the police comes both directly from a central Government grant and also from the police precept. About 25 percent of the funding for GMP comes from the police precept, one of the lowest proportions in the country.  This means that here in Greater Manchester we are heavily reliant on Government funding to protect the police on our streets who help keep our communities safe.

However, between 2011-19, the Government cut the grant they provide to Greater Manchester Police in real terms by £215million, which has resulted in 2,000 fewer police officers, 1,000 fewer support staff and devastating cuts to other essential resources. This has come at the same time when the police are having to deal with ever increasing serious and complex crimes, such as cybercrime, terrorism, child sexual exploitation, human trafficking and enforcing Covid-related restrictions. By cutting the grant funding they provided in eight of the last ten years, the Government has shifted the burden onto local residents, forcing us to ask local people to consider making an even greater contribution to the cost of policing Greater Manchester.

The 2021/22 provisional settlement for Police was received from the Government on 17^th December 2020.  This included an increase in the Police Core Grant of 5% to continue to recruit additional officers.  The Government has given Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) the ability to raise the police element of council tax (the precept) by up to £1.25 a month (£15 a year for an average Band D property and £11.66 a year for an average Band B property) which is what is being proposed in this consultation. The current PCC precept for a Band D property is £208.30 which would increase next year to £223.30 a year and a Band B property will go up from £162.01 to £173.67. 

The Government has committed to recruit 20,000 police officers nationally over three years - an estimated 1,156 for Greater Manchester. Of the 667 additional officers recruited in recent years, they have gone into our communities, a dedicated transport unit was launched late last year with 50 police officers, and new detectives have been recruited to deal with the most serious crimes. The new officers recruited as part of the national programme was expected to be 8,000 nationally in 2021/22, but the Government has now confirmed it will be 6,000 of which Greater Manchester’s share will be 325.  This will only begin to reverse the big decrease since 2011, but it will not fully make up the shortfall.

As well as increasing police officer numbers, public funding has allowed us to invest in:

• 40 additional call handlers to improve the non-emergency 101 service
• Interactive Voice Response (IVR) automated telephony system technology, which will direct those who call 101 to the person best placed to be able to meet their needs more effectively
• our frontline officers through clothing, footwear, training and equipment, including mobile applications allowing them to spend more time dealing with the public and resolving incidents

If this proposed modest increase in the police precept is supported by you and agreed by the Greater Manchester Police and Crime Panel, we and GMP can work together to deliver:

• a new approach to safeguarding with 150 officers to keep our most vulnerable victims safe
• a new city centre team concentrating on violence reduction
• a pilot programme to ensure that a crisis worker responds alongside a police officer to reports of rape and serious sexual offences
• mentoring for young people involved with or at risk of becoming involved in gang activity
• continuing to fund a mental health tactical advice service
• and road safety initiatives including piloting community-led Speedwatch schemes

The last few years have been challenging for GMP in the face of severe cuts and dealing with so many major issues as well as day-to-day community policing. I want the public to feel that they have confidence in the work of GMP and the dedicated officers who are out and about keeping us all safe day-in, day-out. With your support, we can do that.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester and Bev Hughes, Deputy Mayor for Policing, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire

What happens next

The feedback that has been collected during this consultation will be used to inform the Mayor and Deputy Mayor's decision about how much the public should contribute to police funding in 2021/22.