On Monday evening the House of Commons voted for the largest funding boost for the police in a decade. Across England and Wales, the funding available to police forces will increase by more than £1.1 billion next year (2020/21).
The total amount available for Surrey Police’s day to day spending will increase by £15m for 2020/21, to £250.1m. This is an increase of 6.4%.
£112.3m (44.9%) of this is funded by central government, and £137.8m (55.1%) is coming from the police precept element of Council Tax set by Surrey’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). This will be funded by an increase in the precept element of an average Band D Council Tax bill of £10, to £270.57.
This investment will mean more police officers on the street to tackle local burglaries, antisocial behaviour and worrying local incidents of knife crime. Surrey Police’s recruitment target for 2020/21 is 78 additional officers.
As your local MP, my priority is making sure that Elmbridge gets its fair share – so I’ll be meeting with Surrey’s PCC, Chief Constable and the Elmbridge Borough Commander soon to discuss exactly what these numbers mean for the neighbourhoods in our borough.
