Inequalities in the way we fund police

From: Paul Sherwood, South Kilvington, Thirsk.

THERE is a potential problem in the anticipated £450m of extra funding for police in England and Wales in the next financial year which has been announced by the Home Office.

Allegedly, Police and Crime Commissioners are to be given the power to raise the portion of council tax which goes towards policing by £12 per household annually and this would raise £270m. The Home Office said next year’s extra funding came after Policing Minister Nick Hurd spoke to every force about the issues they face.

Funding for police was protected in 2015, but Police and Crime Commissioners have been expressing concern about increased demands on officers.

This £12 per property is an anomaly, currently a property council tax and the precept to the police is based on the rateable value, the eight bands range from property with a relatively low sales value up to expensive properties. Generally people live in houses that they can afford and, with luck, a council tax band they can also afford.

Therefore is it correct that someone has to pay £12 on a low-value house, with a single occupant, and the same tax is paid by a millionaire with a house full of occupants? Where has the logic or ethics of the band system gone?

This entire Police & Crime Commissioner empire in each local authority area has been a total waste of public money, frittered away on grandiose schemes. North Yorkshire has been a disgrace with ridiculous notions put forward over HQ accommodation. After wasting a colossal financial figure in an evaluation exercise to move the headquarters to a greenfield site that proved unviable, they have now occupied a somewhat unsuitable office in Northallerton. It is reported that this site has appalling road access, not enough parking space and some staff have been relocated to Thirsk as the Northallerton one isn’t big enough.

This is why police funding is inadequate. Nonsensical facilities management and an ever-growing level of highly paid staff in the Harrogate office of the commissioner means it is not getting spent on police operational work. This is where our £12 per household is going to get exploited.