Staffordshire Police Federation secretary Glyn Pattinson says the provisional police funding settlement for 2022/23 does not go far enough.
Glyn welcomed the extra money announced by Home Secretary Priti Patel, but said the Force was still likely to have make difficult decisions as it would not be enough to undo the cuts of the last decade and meet the present-day demands.
Ms Patel has published details of the provisional settlement. Policing will receive an extra £1.1 billion next year, which represents a seven per cent increase on last year’s figures.
The money Staffordshire Police receives from the Government will rise from £211.2 million in 2020/21 to £221.1m in 2021/22 and then to £232.9m in 2022/23.
Glyn said: “While we welcome this announcement, it just doesn’t go far enough. We’ve had a decade of cuts to policing, and this money won’t take us back to pre-austerity levels.
“We’ve lost stations and offices, and much of the infrastructure that goes into supporting officers in their work. The uplift in officers is, of course, welcomed but we have had to come from a standstill to suddenly be able to properly recruit, train and support an influx of new recruits.
“And, all the while, demand on police officers continues to grow. They’re being asked to tackle emerging crimes like cybercrime, and to act as the service of last resort because of the lack of funding in other areas.
“Our members will continue to work tirelessly for our communities, but they’re being hampered in their work by the under-investment of the last decade.”
Ms Patel said that the additional £1.1bn will help support the delivery of the Beating Crime Plan, which set out the Government’s mission to deliver fewer victims, safer neighbourhoods, and a more secure country.
In particular, the plan focuses on driving down homicide, serious violence and neighbourhood crime – to ensure that everyone can benefit from the security that a safe home, street and country provides.
She said: “Crimes including theft, burglary and knife crime are down, we’ve got an additional 11,053 police officers on our streets, and we’ve shut down 1,500 drugs lines which exploit the young and the vulnerable.
“But we must go further and faster to make our communities even safer, so today I am giving our excellent police forces and law enforcement agencies more funding to do just that, in line with our Beating Crime Plan.
“Reducing crime is a top priority for this Government and I will continue working with police leaders to ensure this unprecedented investment results in less crime and fewer victims.”
