East Yorkshire Council Tax Increase Agreed to Support Policing Budget

The Humberside Police and Crime Panel have unanimously agreed to increase council tax for Policing by £13.99 for 2025/26 for Band D properties.

Humberside Police and Crime Commissioner Jonathan Evison commented 

“It is with reluctance I propose to raise your council tax, especially with living costs remaining high, but I have a responsibility to keep your force efficient and effective and it is overwhelmingly the view of the public for me to maintain officer numbers, leaving me little option but to propose the increase in line with government recommendation. Even with the £13.99 increase, there will still be considerable monies drawn from reserves and the Force needing to make ambitious savings.

In my original statement, I committed to not reducing police officer numbers in the coming year. We have worked hard to drive up officer numbers and I will ensure improved performance in the priority areas you have identified.

It is reassuring to see the results of our precept consultation demonstrating 64.4% of residents who answered saying they would support an increase of £13.99 or more.

I also used the survey as on opportunity to understand the areas of most concern to the public to ensure I continue to maintain the public interests in holding the Chief Constable to account.

The top three priorities for residents were:

• Neighbourhood Policing
• 999 and 101 faster response times
• Serious and organised crime e.g. gangs dealing drugs.

I asked Chief Constable Judi Heaton to give me her plans to continue to improve the service based on a £13.99 precept increase and she has committed to the following:

• Renewed focus on visible policing to further build public confidence and a commitment to maintaining Neighbourhood Police Officer and PCSO numbers at their current levels
• Increase the number of specialists to address fraud offences and provide support and advice alongside online crime prevention tools
• Following a successful pilot in summer 2024 of Operation Coastline, ensure a long-term commitment to having an enhanced police presence in coastal resorts as a response to increased visitor numbers
• Develop an enhanced drone capability which is significant in seeking to improve response to a variety of crimes, including rural, missing people and detection of offenders
• Continue to pursue offenders through Operation Shield in order to disrupt, dismantle and identify suspects involved in a whole host of crimes ensuring we share details with the public of how we spend the money we seize from criminals to support crime prevention activity in the community
• Challenge the force to further streamline day to day processes to create capacity to do more that matters to the public
• Proactively invest in our Automatic Number Plate Recognition technology to ensure enhanced coverage on road in and out of the county, to protect and enable the force to proactively identify travelling criminals into our area, taking action to deter them in the future
• Continue to extend the reach of our highly successful Rural Task Force during busy periods supported by wider specialist resources to ensure our rural areas receive the service they need at times of peak demand.

Recently, the Government announced the Final Police Settlement which I welcomed. This settlement will provide an additional £1.6m of funding, which is equivalent to 0.6% of our total budget. There are also conditions attached to this funding around more Neighbourhood Grants which are yet to be announced.  Even with this additional funding, we would still be required to use £5m from reserves to cover all policing requirements.

The number of police officers remains at its highest since 2008.  We are continuing to see strong performance in crime detection, and we have a continued focus on supporting victims of crime. The Humberside Police Force Control Room is leading the way nationally in responding to the public by phone and online.

Thank you to everyone who completed the survey, as always your feedback is invaluable when identifying key areas of policing over the next 12 months.”