Bedfordshire council tax payers likely to see maximum increase in next year's police slice
Bedfordshire’s council tax payers are likely to see the maximum increase in police precept next year, the police and crime commissioner (PCC) has said.
The government assumes that all PCCs will go for the maximum when it allocates its police funding, he added.
Just a day after the results of the public perception of safety and trust in policing in Bedfordshire poll was published, commissioner John Tizard said residents will be questioned again, this time on the policing precept.
The precept is the part of the council tax bill that helps to fund the local force, and many PCCs see a consultation on increasing the precept as essential for transparency and accountability, but it is not a binding requirement.
When asked why this survey wasn’t combined with the recent polling, the PCC said: “[The poll] was jointly commissioned by myself and the chief constable.
“The survey for the precept is the police and crime commissioner alone.
“We also started this process well before we knew where we might be with the precept.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) pointed out that the PCC must have been expecting to increase the precept by the maximum amount when planning the polling.
“I have very little choice, the PCC replied.
“Because the government assumes in their funding allocation that not only I put the precept up by the maximum amount, but every police and crime commissioner or mayor across the country does.
“And I suspect that’s what’s going to happen.
“So I will be consulting on a £14 increase [Band D], I say that £14 at the moment because we haven’t had the police financial settlement and we’ll get that, we’re told, on December 16
“I think it might be closer to Christmas Eve, but that will tell us precisely what the cap limit is going to be.
“It’s about 5 per cent in round terms.
“But we will have a survey, and I hope we get considerably more responses this year,” he said.