Greater Manchester communities to benefit from more police officers after an increase in council tax

Police

Greater Manchester is set to receive more than 300 new police officers following the decision to increase the council tax precept.

Proposals to increase the policing element of the council tax have been backed by the Police and Crime Panel, and follows a public consultation, where 59% of people who had their say backed the increase of £24 per year for a Band D household, taking the annual bill from £174.30 to £198.30.

The money will mean Greater Manchester Police will be able to recruit 320 additional police officers, increasing total officer numbers to 6,570 – still some way from the 8,219 officers in 2010.

Around 80% of GMP’s budget comes a central government grant, but this funding has been cut by £250m since 2010, resulting in the loss of 2,000 police officers and 1,000 police staff. This is against a backdrop of increasing crime and complex demand such as cybercrime, child sexual exploitation and human trafficking.

In December, the Government badged a £15m increase in the police grant as investment in local policing, when in reality it will merely cover the police pension shortfall.

Chief Constable Ian Hopkins said: “We have been working hard to transform the way we deliver policing, and this will continue. The additional officers will be able to help us continue our commitment to neighbourhood policing and create a proactive team that can be sent to crime hotspots. It moves us some way towards the 7,000 officers I believe we need to police Greater Manchester.

“I am grateful to the Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester and the Police and Crime Panel for approving this increase. I know people are facing difficult times but together we can make our communities safer.

“Recruiting these new officers will be a challenge and people won’t see an immediate increase as our new recruits will spend 20 weeks at the training centre and then 10 weeks with a tutor before they can patrol alone.

“We have been listening to people about the problems they are facing in communities which is why the officers will be used to boost policing in neighbourhoods and create a proactive team who will work across Greater Manchester supporting community operations.”

Speaking at a recent Police and Crime Panel meeting, Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester Bev Hughes said: “I want to thank Panel members for supporting this proposal, and also to the communities of Greater Manchester for backing their local police service. I also want to be clear that this has been a difficult decision to make.

“However, in light of the Government’s continued failure to fund Greater Manchester Police fairly, we have been left with very little choice to ask residents to pay a little more to ensure we can keep our communities safe.”

The Mayor of Greater Manchester is responsible for setting the budget for policing, the fire service and other mayoral functions, which local people contribute to through a part of their council tax bills called the mayoral ‘precept’.

These plans will go to a special meeting of Greater Manchester Combined Authority on 15 February.