Retaining police officer and staff numbers while seeking to find almost £14m in savings will be “increasingly difficult” according to Merseyside Police’s chief constable.
Serena Kennedy admitted that the £13.7m in expected savings needed to be found by the force in the years up to 2027 will place additional pressure on officer numbers moving forward.
CC Kennedy made the remarks as Emily Spurrell, Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC), signed off on the force’s budget for 2022/23.
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Budget support reserves will be used to bridge the gap of £2.2m for the next financial year as Ms Spurrell said financial support from the UK Government had “not covered the bases” despite requests for further support and warned that Merseyside Police was “not out of the woods yet” in terms of difficulties ahead.
Despite almost £3m in savings being made by CC Kennedy, none of which were made through any staff losses, the precept taxpayers face will increase by £10 on a Band D equivalent property.
John Riley, PCC chief finance officer, said the increase in precept would be over a period of three years, with a hope it could be reduced in 2025/26 and 2026/27 to an increase of around 2%.
Keith Dickinson, Merseyside Police director of resources, said the force would continue to be prudent and seek to provide value for money.
Ms Spurrell said the budget for next year would help protect police officers, staff and police community support officers (PCSOs) moving forward.
She expressed her frustration at having to raise the precept but was “grateful people can see the value of a well funded police force.”
In terms of police officer numbers, CC Kennedy said the national Operation Uplift scheme to recruit more officers had been “very positive” and allowed her to put more officers into frontline policing where they are “visible to our communities.”
She added that a programme was underway to fill Merseyside’s quota of PCSOs to 237.
Ms Spurrell said that despite expectations of more than 660 new officers being in post a year ahead of schedule, Merseyside Police would still be 456 down on level in 2010/11.
Looking ahead to the force’s medium term strategy, Mr Riley said based on current assumptions, the budget gaps would be around £13.7m up to 2027 and represented “significant savings challenges.”
Mr Riley added that while additional funding is expected in the next two years, reserves would be utilised and savings would have to be identified going forward.
Risks included pay awards as the Chancellor ends the public sector pay freeze from this year.
CC Kennedy said a pay increase of more than three per cent would “create real challenges from a budget perspective” and she recognised that, whilst no pay award had yet been agreed nationally, an increase of three per cent or less would have a detrimental impact on officers and staff as it would be less that the national rate of inflation. The PCC said officers were “well overdue” for a pay rise.
In closing the meeting, Ms Spurrell said she would continue to make representations to ministers and Government for additional financial support for the force.
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