1. How is my money spent?

Your money, along with the government grant, is spent on the pay and pension contributions of police officers and police staff (many in operational roles). It is also spent on buildings, vehicles, IT systems, communication equipment and forensic tools which are required by a modern police force.

2. Why does my council tax keep going up by more than inflation?

There are three reasons. Firstly, about three quarters of the budget is spent on pay and related costs, and these have consistently increased by more than inflation over many years.

Secondly, until this year the cost of pension payments fell directly on the police budget, and this grew as more retired officers drew pensions for longer.

Finally, the government grant which supports local policing has not kept pace with increasing costs, so that the contribution by local taxpayers has doubled over the last ten years.

3. Why do we pay more in Staffordshire for our police than other counties/forces do?

The simple reason is to do with the way the government grant is distributed. For example, in the West Midlands they spend £193 per head of population on policing, whereas in Staffordshire we spend only £156 per head. Because West Midlands get so much more grant than we do, their precept (council tax) is only £83 while ours is £145.

4. Can't Staffordshire Police just make more savings?

We have made savings of over £20million in the last seven years, and continue to target savings of around £2.5million each year. As the government (and the public) would not let us reduce the number of police officers who make up some 60 per cent of our budget, achieving much more is extremely difficult if not impossible. It is also highly inefficient at times when, because of the restrictions mentioned on police officer numbers, we have to use them to do jobs which can often be done more effectively and efficiently by appropriately trained police staff (civilians).

6. How is the council tax demand (precept) worked out?

The final bill is worked out by the charging authority which is usually the district or borough council. The only exception to this is Stoke-on-Trent where they have combined two levels of local government into one known as a unitary authority (the city council).

The charging authority adds up the demands from the county (where applicable), the police and fire and rescue to arrive at a total which is based on the council tax band of each property.

The police share of this is arrived at by working out what we can afford to spend, taking away any direct income (such as the government grant), to arrive at the amount which has to be raised locally. This is divided by the ‘taxbase’ (the number of band D equivalent properties) to arrive at a figure for band D. This is then converted into a figure for each type of property.

When the government imposes limits (caps) on the council tax we have to work backwards, making cuts to fit the budget to what is available. 

7. Are we going to be paying more next year?

Yes. How much will depend on any ‘capping limits’ set by the government, although at the same time they are asking us to strengthen neighbourhood policing and protective services.