Home Office condemned for police funding formula 'shambles'

Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Jim Battle with police officers

Following the news that there have been major errors in the calculation of the proposed revisions to how the government allocates funding to the police, Greater Manchester's Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner Jim Battle said: “The government handling of these proposed changes to the police funding formula has been an absolute shambles since the beginning.

“At the start of this process, Greater Manchester’s Mayor and Police and Crime Commissioner Tony Lloyd said the government should come clean with the figures and say what the implications would be for the police service across the country. Had they taken our advice, they wouldn’t be in the mess they are in now.

“The staggering level of Home Office incompetence contrasts starkly with the specialist skills needed to ensure that the police service in this country is funded fairly and properly. This is all the more urgent as Police and Crime Commissioners up and down the land are currently trying to set local policing budgets in a Home Office-created atmosphere of chaos, confusion and uncertainty.

“The Home Secretary needs to make a clear statement in parliament next week to account for this mess and explain what she’s going to do to sort it out.”