Greater Manchester leaders back plan asking local people to pay more for policing

Greater Manchester’s Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd

Greater Manchester leaders have backed Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd in asking local people to pay more for policing.

The proposed £5 rise would see the police element of the average council tax bill rise from £157.30 to £162.30.

Greater Manchester Police needs to find savings of £14m this year. This is on top of £180m and 2,000 officers axed since 2010 as a result of government-imposed cuts.

Mr Lloyd said: “The irresponsible actions of this government have left me with no choice but to ask the people of Greater Manchester to contribute a little bit more – just over a penny a day - to help maintain a strong and effective police service. I, of course, recognise that in this era of austerity, local people are facing financial challenges of their own, and it is with great reluctance that I put forward this proposal.

“I’m pleased that council leaders have supported me in this decision. Like policing, local authority budgets are also under pressure. But the reality is that without this increase, more officers will disappear from our streets.”

Mr Lloyd has committed to spend the additional £3.6m raised by the increase in council tax in frontline policing and ensuring the police service reflects the diverse communities it serves. The money raised is the equivalent needed to maintain 70 police officers on our streets.

He said: “For the first time in five years, GMP is now recruiting new officers to shore-up the service, bringing new blood and new ideas.

“This provides an opportunity to increase the diversity of GMP and I’m pleased to see that of the 100 most recent recruits from local communities, more than a third are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds.”

Mr Lloyd presented his report on his proposals to the Police and Crime Panel on Friday (27 January).

The report also highlights the transformation of GMP’s IT systems, the rollout of body-worn video and mobile devices to improve public confidence and visibility of local officers, and projects to tackle complex issues such as female genital mutilation, domestic abuse and reoffending.

Mr Lloyd will formally set his budget in February.