THE POLICE and Crime Commissioner’s 2023/24 budget has been unanimously approved by the West Midlands Police and Crime Panel.
Commissioner Simon Foster is responsible for setting the budget for West Midlands Police, including setting the local ‘police precept’, the part of council tax that goes to the police.
However the overwhelming majority of West Midlands Police’s budget comes from central government.
The amount West Midlands Police can raise per Band D household is £202.55.
This follows a request from the PCC to increase the policing precept by £1.25 a month per household (for a band D property).
With this increase the Commissioner says West Midlands Police will still have the second lowest policing precept in the country.
Mr Foster said: “Passing this budget means we are able to continue to put more neighbourhood police officers into our communities.
“People told me that they wanted preventative, proactive, problem solving and visible police officers out on the streets, keeping people, their families and communities, safe and secure. This budget will contribute to that.
“The harsh reality is that the government has provided us with a stark choice. Increase the Council Tax police precept or face yet further cuts to policing, that would see us lose the equivalent of 260 frontline officers.
“By 2024, in the West Midlands, we will still have 1,000 fewer police officers than we had in 2010 – whilst at the same time, there are police forces in other parts of the country that now have more police officers, than they have ever previously had in their history.”
