In recognition of Lincolnshire’s unique financial predicament, the Government provided a one-off special grant of £3.4 million in 2007/08 to Lincolnshire Police to help balance the budget in that year. Without increased funding the Force has predicted deficits of £7m in 2008, £12m in 2009 and rising to £14 million by 2010.
To have a chance of balancing the budget in 2010/11, we would have to reduce the number of police officers in Lincolnshire Police by 275. Alternatively we would have to reduce police staff (civilian employees) by 364 employees and take operational police officers from their duties and place them into these support roles. However, Police Officers cannot be made redundant and the redundancy payments needed for civilians (£5.2 million) would leave an even greater budget deficit. We would also have to close at least 6 police stations within the county. We believe reducing policing in this way is simply not an acceptable level of public service.
Lincolnshire’s current level of funding makes it the lowest spending force per head of population in the country with an £11m gap between Lincolnshire and the next lowest spending force. If we could bridge this gap, we could provide additional officers and a significantly better service, but we cannot even maintain existing staffing and service levels without additional funding.
There are three ways in which this can happen; two of which are in the Government’s hands and the last is within the power of the Police Authority.
We have met with Lincolnshire’s MPs to secure their support and we continue to argue for increased central funding. However, in order to be prepared in the event that additional funding does not come from Government, we want to start the debate on what you would support in terms of your council tax.
Should sufficient additional funding be secured, either from the Government or from council tax, the Authority will invest in all of the following areas. If only a proportion of this funding is secured, the Authority would like to know which areas are the most important to you. Please tick which areas you would support investment in.
Additional Officers and PCSOs: Investment in additional Neighbourhood Beat and Response Officers and additional PCSOs who will assist in addressing local priorities, providing reassurance and responding to community needs and calls for assistance.
Protecting the Public: Investment in protecting the public including development of departments dealing with investigations into rape, domestic violence, missing persons, paedophilia and child abuse.
Serious and Organised Crime: Investment in our response to serious and organised crime such as fraud and drug trafficking which impacts across force borders and within Lincolnshire.
Major Crime: Development of our response to major crime such as murder, manslaughter and kidnap cases.
Forensics: Investment in forensics including a DNA facility.
Volume Crime: Investment in the provision of dedicated staff on each division to tackle crimes that occur in the community such as street robbery, burglary, criminal damage, shop lifting and car crime.
Other Areas: (please state below)
Your council tax goes towards funding the County Council, the District Council, the Parish Council and the Police Authority. The Police Authority receives around 10% of the total bill.
Option 1 - To bridge the deficits of £7, £12 and £14 million in the next 3-years without additional Government funding and to keep Lincolnshire Police as it is today without reduced police officer or staff numbers, the council tax increases needed are shown below. 85% of households are in the lower bands of A to D and therefore would pay up to an additional £1.14 per week or £59.28 per year.
Option 2 - To improve and invest in the service areas outlined in Q1, the council tax increases required with no additional Government funding are shown below. 85% of households in the lower bands A to D would pay up to an additional £2 per week or £104 per year.
If the Authority is not successful in securing additional funding from Government, which of the following options would you support?
Option 1 – A Council Tax increase that would maintain the current level of service
Option 2 – A Council Tax increase that would improve services and recruit more police officers and staff
Neither of the above
Please outline the reasons for your response to question 2.
The following questions are used for monitoring purposes. You do not have to answer them, but the information would be most helpful if you could provide it.
Please indicate if you are (you may tick more than one if appropriate):
A Lincolnshire resident
A Police Officer or member of staff
A member of staff at a partner organisation (such as the County or District Council)
A Parish, County or District Councillor
A Neighbourhood Watch Coordinator
A member of an Independent Advisory Group
Thank you for completing this survey. Once collated, answers to your questions and the results of the questionnaire will be available on this website or upon request.
