Greater Manchester’s Police, Fire and Crime Panel has unanimously agreed to increase the police precept for 2024/25, to support continued improvements.
Made up of elected representatives of all of the councils in Greater Manchester, the Police, Fire and Crime Panel scrutinises the Mayor and Deputy Mayor over their Police and Crime Commissioner Responsibilities. These responsibilities include setting the police precept, which determines the amount of council tax that will go towards funding the police.
With the increase, a Band B property will increase by 84p per month, or £1.08p per month for a Band D property. For those Band B properties, the precept will come to £199.34 next year, however, Greater Manchester will utilise one of the lowest police precepts in the country.
This increase will be combined with the central government policing grant to support improvements across Greater Manchester Police, with these including:
- Thirty more police officers going into frontline policing roles in 2024/25
- Continuing progress as the fastest-improving police force in the country
- Improving emergency and non-emergency response times
- Continuing to invest in neighbourhood policing and crime prevention teams
- Further efforts to lock up more criminals and provide better services for victims and witnesses
- Additional capacity to prosecute offenders, focusing on increased arrest numbers for sex offenders and justice for vulnerable victims.
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said:
“The Government’s decision to cut police funding in real terms for 2024/25 has forced us into a difficult decision at the local level.
“We are proud of the progress that GMP has made in recent years and are simply not prepared to put this at risk by leaving the force with large a gap in its budget for the coming year.
“We are grateful to the cross-party Police, Crime and Fire Panel for unanimously supporting our decision and will make sure that, in the coming 12 months, GMP continues to deliver real results for our residents.”
Greater Manchester Police was named the fastest-improving force in the country following a report by His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services. This improvement has seen improvements such as faster answering speeds for 999 and 101 calls and a 12.5% reduction in knife crime.
Chair of the Greater Manchester Police, Fire and Crime Panel, Cllr Janet Emsley, said:
“Today the Police, Fire and Crime Panel agreed to the Mayor’s proposal to increase the police precept. Our priority is keeping people and communities safe, and this starts with ensuring GMP has the resources it needs to do its job properly.”
Alongside the police precept, Mayor Andy Burnham has already set out his proposals for the Mayoral and fire service precepts. These will be discussed at a budget-setting meeting on the 9th of February 2024.
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