How an increase in your council tax bills would help pay for extra police in Cleveland

The independent Cleveland Police and Crime Panel is supporting police and crime commissioner Steve Turner’s proposal to raise the policing precept by 3.76% from April.

Mr Turner’s office says it would work out at an £10 a year for households in a Band D property and will support the improvement of Cleveland Police including the recruitment of additional officers.

The precept accounts for over a quarter (26%) of the income received by the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) with the rest coming from central government grants.

Together, Cleveland are set to receive an additional £6.8m in funding for 2022-23 with a significant portion allowing the force to exceed its recruitment targets.

Extra funds will also cover unavoidable increases to police pay, national insurance contributions and other non-pay related inflation costs.

Mr Turner said: “As we prepare to welcome a new Chief Constable to Cleveland, it’s important they have the financial backing they need to drive the force forward and make the area safer.

“With Cleveland Police set to receive almost half a billion pounds over the next three years and equipped with 250 additional police officers, the force is in a prime position to continue their journey of improvement.”

Officer numbers in Cleveland are expected to reach a seven year high of over 1,460 by March 2023, an increase of over 250 since April 2019.

In a 12-week consultation on next year’s police budget just over 71% of people said they would be willing to pay more for policing in Cleveland.

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