Plans for a 6.7% hike in the police precept were signed off today – but 30 of the 60 PCSOs in Cheshire facing redundancy will still lose their jobs, writes Belinda Ryan.
The annual rise for the police element of the council tax (precept) for a band D property is usually capped at £15.
This year residents will see that increase to £18.30 for a band D – which equates to £1.54 per month – after police and crime commissioner Dan Price asked the Home Office for an exceptional increase to help safeguard PCSO roles at risk.
Today Mr Price told the Cheshire Police and Crime Panel he had received permission from government for an extra increase but not the full amount he had requested, so only 30 PCSO roles would be saved.
This will leave Cheshire with a total of 57 PCSOs from April, as opposed to the current 87.
The commissioner said: “Cheshire was one of only a handful of forces to be granted exceptional precept flexibility of £3.50 above the referendum limit.
“This means the government agreed to let me add £1.20 a month to a band B bill.
“Now this isn’t the full amount that I asked for but it is enough to make a real difference, which I see as great news here in Cheshire.
“Following meetings with the chief constable, it was agreed that this was enough money to save 30 of the 60 PCSO roles that were under threat.”
Mr Price said he referred to band B rather than band D, which is more widely used when referring to precepts, because two thirds of homes in Cheshire are in bands A-C.
Cheshire Police will make £1.32m savings from the 30 PCSO redundancies.
Those PCSO roles will now be replaced in neighbourhoods by a named, warranted police officer released from other teams within the force.
The police commissioner told the panel he had been encouraged by the response to the public consultation on his precept proposals.
More than 6,000 residents participated.
Of those, 73% said they supported an increase in the precept and 57% had selected the option which would have seen a bigger rise to save all 60 under-threat PCSOs.
Cllr Mike Jones (CWAC, Con) said the panel needed to know where the redeployed warranted officers would be taken from “so we can understand the consequences of that”.
The police commissioner agreed to provide the information.
The panel, whose job is to scrutinise the work of the commissioner, rubber-stamped the 6.7% precept increase by seven votes to one.
They also recommended the commissioner provides the panel with regular updates on the changes to neighbourhood policing across the county and that he provides a detailed breakdown of accommodation costs for his office.
Get rid of pcsos, waste of money, where are they anyway, I have never even seen one.
They have no power of arrest, they have to call the police to come and arrest you.
They only have very limited powers, they can issue fines.
We are paying for something that doesn’t really exist
Concur with other comments, the amount of rises this year just on utility bills is astronomical, let alone food and with minimal % increase on working wage or pension, any such increases leave you in a minus position.
Really irks myself when police putting up their part of overall rates to 6.7% – Anyway what is a PCSO or a police person – never see such – only see police cars speeding on the way to their lunch break – (truthful and cynical as it is).
I’m on a pension, over the limit for any help whatsoever and so far projected increases for myself:
water: up £57
garden waste bin up: £5.00
TV licence up: £5.50 (£180 from April – BBC should scrap this charge and get rid of the luvvies)
Household insurance up: £23
Rates: CEC only @ 5% 87.00, or 9.99% £159+ (without Fire, Police and Parish %). My full amount for current year £2038+ (Band C), so that figure will increase exceptionally.
Electricity – (all electric) – constantly goes up Pay between £80-£117 a month just for hot water and cooking
………
Coal (£575 a tonne just to last winter (which it doesn’t)
Wood: £275+ large bag
Dentist (can’t get NHS) – just check up and scrape/polish £150+ twice year – hope I don’t need a filling as that is addiitonally around £200+
Glasses – get free eye test – but have pay full cost for glasses – due this year
Food – WOW what can I say, prices go up daily. Saw today a rump steak in local supermarket at £11.50 (couldn’t believe it)
Agree with JM ,my salary is not going up this year due to difficult trading conditions, but that does not stop my annual bills going up for a rubbish service, this Labour vote for change has been a total lie, work harder to just keep your head above water,while certain parts of our growing society who arrive via boat live for free.
Lets hope we can see more Police Officers on the streets. Can the public be kept informed of the outcomes of this increase in taxation. The increase is well above the rate of inflation. The Public Sector keep demanding more and more from the tax payer.
I look forward to seeing the evidence of a substantial reduction in the recorded crime figures.
The Public Sector forget the compound effect of their annual increases in Council Tax and their various precepts.
It
Not a chance. In the next five years, officer numbers will plummet because of the huge increase in attrition rates as more and more leave without completing 30 years of service.
9.9 % for Council, 6.7 % for Police. We are in for a rough ride this year. Do they think we have all got a magic money tree at the bottom of the garden.