Police and fire precepts could rise again in Staffordshire

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service is predicted to have a funding gap of £3.1 million by March 2024 while Staffordshire Police’s assumed funding gap will equate to £11.3m by 2022/23.

The funding pressures on the police include pay award pressures, precept referendum changes, Regional Organised Crime Unit funding, Public Works Loan Board rate increases and police officer recruitment (entry schemes).

Staffordshire Police Fire and Crime Commissioner Matthew Ellis expects the Government to allow for a £5 increase for fire service precepts.

But the referendum limit on police precepts could drop by two per cent in 2020/21 – making it harder to increase that tax and effectively tightening the force’s purse strings.

In February council chiefs allowed the commissioner to raise the fire precept by £2.20, or 2.99 per cent.

In the same month council bosses allowed the police precept to rise by 12.46 per cent – which would generate an extra £8.3m – following a 6.29 per cent rise last year.

Mr Ellis did not raise taxes during his first four years in office and has publicly claimed he does not believe in it.

But several risks including a rise in employer pensions contributions and reduced Government grants mean the fire service still needs to find more cash – albeit much less than the police.

Fire service budget managers have been subjected to a “Dragon’s Den” style process where they are challenged to make savings of £200,000 per year. However, this was part of an efficiency plan that ends this year.

Management job cuts are also on the cards with a review being carried out to find savings of £300,000.

The fire service’s latest budget document lists increasing council tax next year as an opportunity. It states: “A response to the Government’s technical consultation is being prepared that will request additional flexibility regarding the precept referendum limits and also to suggest a £5 increase option across the fire sector.”

The funding gap analysis includes the assumption that the council tax referendum limit will be reduced to two per cent from 2020/21.

The gap also incorporates the full impact of an increase in employer pension contributions into the Firefighters’ Pension Schemes from 2021/22. Although 90 per cent of the increase in employer contribution into the fire pension schemes has been met by Government for 2019/20 and 2020/21.

Mr Ellis’s office say it’s too early to tell if taxes will rise and these decisions are usually made in December, when they receive the relevant information on the funding settlements for police and fire from the Government for the coming year. It then goes to the Police, Fire and Crime Panel in February to be agreed.

A spokeswoman from the commissioner’s office said: “It would not be correct to say at this time that the precept will be increased for either fire or police.

“The Medium Term Financial Strategy is purely a financial planning document drawn up by officials, which forecasts possibilities. But it is for the commissioner to recommend what he will do regarding precept for fire and police, we will consult publicly on this and then the final decision will be made at the Police, Fire and Crime Panel in the new year.”

By Joe Burn, Local Democracy Reporter