Wiltshire Police and Crime Commissioner left with no choice but to ask for the maximum precept increase which will see a Band D property pay an additional £1.16 a month (£14 per year)
Government settlement leaves funding gap of £11M with no precept increase and a gap of £6.8M with the maximum precept increase of 5.2%
Wiltshire Police had already planned for £1.2M of the funding gap and now faces further transformation of its services through rationalisation of police Estate and Fleet. Additional options look at the reduction in police staff via means such as natural attrition and not recruiting into non operational vacancies
Steps are already being taken to balance the books to ensure Wiltshire Police can continue investment to improve and become ever-more efficient and effective but some tough decisions will have to be taken along the way
Commitment from the Police and Crime Commissioner and Chief Constable: no reduction in Police Officer numbers or estate rationalisation which would affect public accessWiltshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner has said he believes the police funding settlement given to rural forces is short-sighted and places unnecessary pressure on a police force that is improving its service to communities.
PCC Philip Wilkinson has spoken out after draft Budget papers for the 2025/6 financial year have been published today ahead of next week’s Wiltshire Police and Crime Panel meeting to scrutinise the proposals.
News of the police funding settlement – one of the core components of the policing budget - was released just before Christmas.
Mr Wilkinson said: “I have listened over the last few years – and in particular since the survey opened earlier this week – and I know our residents are fed up with having to dip into their pockets to bridge the funding gap, year-after-year, but the Government settlement assumes that all PCCs will do this – and take the maximum increase.
“As the figures show today what is presented as an increase is in reality giving with one hand and taking away with the other. In Wiltshire this means that I am left with no choice but to ask for the increase. If I don’t the gap is far too wide to meet.
“Not increasing the precept means Wiltshire would have to make an additional £9.8M savings - on top of the £1.2M already identified for 2025/26. This would mean drastic cuts and backwards steps in terms of the improvements we are seeing from Wiltshire Police.
“Taking the maximum increase still leaves a huge challenge ahead. Wiltshire Police is now – and there is work already underway to achieve this – facing savings of £5.2M on top of an already identified £1.2M in the next financial year.
“It is a short-sighted settlement but is achievable. The poor settlement from Government is placing further pressure on a Force which is really starting to deliver improvements in vastly better 999 and 101 call response times, improving visibility in communities, improving crime detection across all crime types and increasing justice outcomes.”
Mr Wilkinson’s Use Your Voice: Budget and Precept survey launched earlier this week and he is urging people to make their views known. He has asked people to think about how the increase will further help the Force to improve.
He added: “Wiltshire Police is on an improvement journey but none of this comes without a cost. There has had to be significant investment in Wiltshire Police to ensure our communities not only are safer places to live, work and visit but so residents are also feeling safer too.
“It is now vital we make the right decisions so we can continue with Wiltshire Police’s improvement and transformation journey.
“Even though there are plans to rationalise Estate and our Fleet this means we can invest in areas which will continue to improve the policing service received by all communities.
“Your continued investment through the precept will allow us to continue driving transformation within Wiltshire Police - ensuring it becomes one of the most effective and efficient forces in the country.
“Without this we risk losing momentum - the strides we have made in officer visibility, community engagement and service delivery would be harder to sustain – and this is not acceptable for me or the Chief Constable.”
Fill in the public survey here: Use Your Voice: Precept and Budget survey
