2012/13 Hampshire Police Authority Council Tax Precept (0%)

Frequently Asked Questions

February 2012

What is the budget for Hampshire Police Authority in 2012/13?

The total budget figure in 2012/13 is £305.6 million, compared to £314.1 million in 2011/12, a decrease of £8.5 million (2.7%).

What does this mean for the Council Tax level?

The police element of the Council Tax will be frozen (no increase).  The Band D council tax rate will remain at £146.25 for 2012/13. The Authority will receive a one-off grant from Government of £3 million which is equivalent to a 3% Council Tax increase. The grant is for 2012/13 only. This will require additional savings to be found or a more significant council tax increase to be approved in 2013/14, when the one-off grant ceases.

What is the level of the Government grants?

The funding announcement in December 2010 meant that the Government general grant paid to Hampshire Police Authority has been reduced by 6.7

per cent for 2012/13 as a part of a 20 per cent cut in real terms over the four year Spending Review period 2011/15. The specific grants we receive from the Government for Neighbourhood Policing and Counter Terrorism will be at similar levels to last year. In Hampshire and the Isle of Wight this means the Police Authority grant has been reduced by £14 million for 2012/13.

Although the reduction of Government grant for 2012/13 is £14 million, inflation and other budget pressures mean that £20 million of savings need to be found to balance the budget.

Where will the £20 million savings come from?

The majority of these savings will be delivered by making efficiency improvements that allow us to reduce the number of employees needed to deliver excellent services. No reductions will be made to frontline personnel.

The funding reductions will be focused on non-frontline units such as corporate support and intelligence. There will be some changes in the way that some frontline services are delivered, which involve re-locating safer neighbourhood teams but they will remain within the local community.

We have a successful history of working with other forces to deliver services more efficiently and make savings. Through these close relationships we intend to identify even more opportunities to do this and continue to respond to your needs.

We have used this opportunity to adapt and restructure the way the force operates and the Authority is aiming to deliver £50 million savings over the four year Comprehensive Spending Review period.

Has Hampshire Police Authority reduced their own budget?

Hampshire Police Authority has also reduced their own budget for the second year running.  The budget is now set a £1.468 million, a reduction of £50,000 on 2011/12 (3.29%).

Will the frontline be cut?

The budget protects ‘ring-fenced’ frontline posts which include response officers, safer neighbourhood teams and local crime management through to March 2013. The aim is to protect frontline personnel numbers right through the Spending Review grant reduction period.

How will the budget be spent?

The majority of budget will again be spent on employees in order to continue to deliver excellent service. Service levels for answering phone calls, responding to emergency calls and meeting members of the public will remain the same.

The budget includes growth of £0.6 million for additional mobile information devices that will allow frontline personnel to undertake more work in the community and reduce the need to return to police stations. An extra £0.6 million is included to pay for the cost of paying police officers on-call allowance. £0.4 million is included to increase the Economic Crime Investigation Team who investigate financial crime with a view to seizing assets from organised crime groups. The additional resource is expected to self finance, but there is a time delay between seizing assets and receiving the proceeds through the courts, hence, a need for initial funding. £0.3 million is included to continue to support partnership work in community safety. £0.2m is included due to the increasing demand for information from mobile phone companies, which the Constabulary has to pay these companies for.

What about reserves?

In 2011/12 the budget included a £4 million contribution from reserves, paid for by previous underspends, to balance the budget while transformational change was planned and implemented. As change has been delivered during 2011/12, sustainable savings have been accrued as a result. These savings will result in an underspend for 2011/12 which can be contributed to reserves to pay for further costs of change. The 2012/13 budget also includes a planned contribution to reserves of £2 million which will help to assist further changes aimed at delivering the savings necessary by 2014/15.

How will this budget affect future years beyond 2012/13?

This budget includes £20 million of savings.  £16 million of sustainable savings were made in 2011/12. Therefore, £36 million of savings will be made by 2012/13. The level of future council tax increases and potential further Government funding reductions will have a significant influence on the total amount of savings that are necessary to balance the budget by the end of the Spending Review period of 2014/15. The calculations show an expected range of £44 million to £54 million will be needed. Transformational change is being delivered and further opportunities for savings that do not adversely impact on frontline services will be targeted with a view to achieving savings of at least £50 million in the Comprehensive Spending Review period.