Cumbria Police prepare for potential budget cuts

Police in Cumbria are conducting a series of reviews and scoping exercises to ensure they are prepared for any potential budget cuts in the future.

The Government’s emergency budget statement on 22 June indicated that average cuts in public sector spending would be 25 per cent over the next four years.

To ensure the Constabulary is prepared in advance, senior members of staff from the Constabulary’s business and support services (such as personnel, finance, IT, estates and admin support) are drafting reports that will identify how they could save 25 per cent, and what impact this would have on the services they provide.

In a bid to protect frontline services, the business and support teams will also undertake a second scoping exercise that will identify how they could save 40 per cent of their budget. This will help senior police officers identify how they can make overall savings of 25 per cent while minimising the impact on frontline policing.

Chief Constable Craig Mackey said: “These are without doubt challenging times for the Constabulary. The proposed budget cuts that Directors are being asked to make are about supporting the frontline of policing within Cumbria. However, the scale of cuts that are currently being discussed nationally is so significant that “protecting the frontline” cannot mean “maintaining the front line at current levels”. In this context, protection is more about minimising the impacts and ensuring all other avenues for efficiencies are explored, before reaching the point where frontline resources are reduced.

“We will not know for certain what our budget will be until the end of the year. On 20 October the Comprehensive Spending Review will be announced, which will confirm the overall budget for the Home Office and then in early December they will confirm to the Constabulary its income grant for the financial year starting 1 April 2011.

“Police officers and staff have always excelled at planning for the future, and by reviewing our current structure and investigating how we can make savings, we will be in the best possible position to ensure that any budget cuts have minimal impact to policing in Cumbria.”