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Hello
At today’s Police and Crime Panel meeting, I gave a presentation on the financial position of Sussex Police including the operational challenges facing the force in the coming years. Unfortunately, having received a lower government grant than we require this year, I can only meet these challenges with an increase in the police precept.
Prior to presenting the proposal, my office worked closely with members of the Police and Crime Panel’s Precept Working Group which considered detailed financial and operational information presented by Sussex Police.
The Working Group also looked at key areas in which the Chief Constable needs further investment in order to sustain and maintain current progress and performance and we shared the impact of: rising pension costs; National Insurance and energy costs; the overall increased public demand on the force; and the resourcing challenges of investigating complex and serious crime.
Having carefully considered all these factors and following extensive public feedback, I proposed a £14 precept increase - equivalent to 27p per week/£1.17 per month, per household, for an average Band D property.
Today’s Panel meeting was webcast live from East Sussex County Hall in Lewes and you can watch panel members scrutinise and, at the end, support my proposal.
Despite Sussex being one of the lowest government-funded police forces in England and Wales and, with residents fortunately paying one of the lowest precept amounts in the country even after today’s agreed increase, our beautiful county thankfully remains one of the safest.
Throughout the year, my office has hosted various engagement sessions, focus groups and surveys to fully understand what is most important to the people of Sussex. It was clear from responses that residents do not want to see a decline in the number of police officers and they want to see continued improvements to neighbourhood policing.
Whilst we still have to find £5million savings for the coming year, today’s increase in police precept will help Sussex Police maintain a headcount of 3,226 officers – which is significantly more officers than when I first came into office.
I would like to extend my grateful thanks to the residents and local representatives I’ve spoken to throughout the year and to everyone who took part in online feedback.
You can watch today’s Police & Crime Panel meeting on their webcasting platform.
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