POLICE cash from Government will be slashed by £6million next year.
It was confirmed on Wednesday (December 17) there would be a 5.1 per cent reduction in the settlement received by West Mercia, taking their grant down to just over £110million in 2015/16.
A total of £300million has been taken from police forces across England and Wales next year with around a tenth of that being diverted towards the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
Bill Longmore, Police and Crime Commissioner, said he was disappointed with the confirmation and called for a review into how the funding is calculated.
“I’m naturally disappointed to see more money being taken away from policing, but particularly so with the amount being diverted to the IPCC.
“The IPCC had a considerable rise in budget last year and yet this year another £30million is being taken directly away from front-line policing to fund them.
“That money is desperately valuable to West Mercia and other neighbouring forces in the West Midlands, to make sure they have sufficient numbers of officers and staff to police each area properly. We do not want to see a situation where any force cannot operate effectively.”
“I think there is a clear case for a review of the police funding formula. Some forces are particularly badly hit by the current arrangement.”
West Mercia police was unable to provide a comment by the time the Standard went to press.
