Council tax to rise to pay for 3.5% police force funding increase

Council tax bills are set to rise to pay for a 3.5% real terms increase in funding for police forces next year, the government has announced.

Council taxpayers in England and Wales will be asked to collectively pay an extra £329.8m to help pay for the funding increase, policing minister Dame Diana Johnson told MPs in a written statement.

The 2025-26 police force settlement will amount to £17.4bn, an increase of up to £986.9m on the current year.

Police and crime commissioners will be expected to make full use of their ability to raise the council tax precept to deliver the full increase in police budgets.

This will add £14 a year to the tax bill for the average Band D house, Dame Diana said.

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She added increasing the cost of council tax to fund the increase "strikes the balance between protecting taxpayers and providing funding for police forces".

Sir Keir Starmer's spokesman said it is up to councils to decide if they raise taxes or not.

The additional funding will cover the costs of the pay rises given to officers by the government earlier this year, as well as the increase in employers' national insurance contributions brought in by the budget.

It will also pay for recruitment to help meet the government's neighbourhood policing promises.

There will be a £1bn increase to £19.5bn for the total amount going into policing, which is an overall 3% real terms rise.

Weeks after Labour won the election, Chancellor Rachel Reeves agreed a 4.75% pay increase for police officers.

In the October budget, she announced the amount employers contribute to national insurance would increase from 13.8% to 15% from April 2015.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said in November police forces would be "compensated" for the increase.

She also announced an extra £500m of additional funding will be given to neighbourhood policing, with that funding included in the funding increase.

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Dame Diana said: "Of the £986.9m of additional funding for police forces, I can confirm that £657.1m of this is an increase to government grants, which includes an increase in the core grants of £339m to ensure police forces are fully equipped to deliver our safer streets mission.

"This also includes £230.3m to compensate territorial forces for the costs of the change to the employer national insurance contributions from 2025-26, and an additional £100m to kickstart the first phase of 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles.

"This will provide policing with the funding required to tackle crime and keep communities safe."

(c) Sky News 2024: Council tax to rise to pay for 3.5% police force funding increase