Savings of almost £14m need to be found by Merseyside Police in the next five years in a bid to maintain service levels.
The force’s proposed budget, which will be considered by Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Emily Spurrell on Tuesday, proposes more than £2m in savings to be made in the next financial year.
As a result, the precept paid by taxpayers to the PCC will increase by £10 on a Band D equivalent property.
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The report said that the PCC “after giving careful consideration to the options available to her regarding the precept, proposes to increase the precept to the referendum threshold.
“This increase equates to an increase of £6.67 pa for Band A properties (i.e. 13p per week) the majority of Council Tax payers on Merseyside.”
The increase in precept has been backed by Chief Constable Serena Kennedy, the Police and Crime Panel and the general public, according to the report.
The document details however, that despite maximising the precept, and the Chief Constable identifying savings, there is still an estimated budget deficit of £2.253m for 2022/23.
Over the medium term up to 2027, further savings of £13.733m will need to be made over in order to balance the budget and maintain current service levels.
To bridge the budget deficit and balance the budget the PCC plans to utilise the Budget Support Reserve.
The report said: “However, this has the effect of pushing the saving requirement into future years, but importantly does provide the PCC and Chief Constable with more time to identify and implement the necessary savings plans.”
Cashable efficiency savings of £100m are expected by the UK Government to be delivered from Force budgets by 2024/25, of which £80m has been reflected within the 2022/23 settlement.
It added that the financial position will provide “significant challenges” for the PCC and the Chief Constable to continue to balance the budget over the medium term without impacting on policing, as “less reserves will be available, and is likely to result in decivilianisation of police staff posts in the future due to requirement to maintain Police Officer numbers as a consequence of ‘Operation Uplift’.”
Almost £2m in savings from 2021/22 will be achieved, according to the report, while more than £11m was spent on the force’s estate including completion of the new Headquarters, Rose Hill and commencement of the delayed refurbishment work on the St Anne’s Street facility.
It is expected that under Operation Uplift - the Government’s programme to recruit more police officers, Merseyside Police will have 660 new officers in post by March of this year, a full year ahead of schedule.
The report details how the UK Government has “not provided any additional grant funding to fund pay and price inflation or to fund the new employers Health and Social Care Levy, despite assurance that this would be provided.
“These commitments are expected to be met through efficiencies by the Force and the PCC maximising the precept.”
The 660 new officers is “still below the 1,121 full time equivalents lost during austerity by the Force,” according to the budget document.
It added: “The PCC continues to challenge the Chief Constable to make cashable savings and efficiencies and ensure that the Force continues to provide value for money.”
The budget will be discussed at the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner at the Mather Avenue Training Centre on Tuesday February 22.
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