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Tuesday, 21 December 2010

Cumbria Constabulary/Cumbria Police Authority - Budget Cuts

Cumbria Police Authority and Constabulary face budget cuts of £18.6million following an announcement by the Government last week on the details of the grant settlement.

The Constabulary received precise figures for the grant settlement for the next two years (2011/12 and 2012/13) with a further two years worth of indicative figures provided (2013/14 and 2014/15). This still creates a level of uncertainty from 2013/14 until detailed budget figures become available.

The Constabulary has been working on a programme of work to reduce costs with some work completed, other work in progress and more cuts to be identified.

Chief Constable Craig Mackey said: “This is a challenging settlement for Cumbria. The Constabulary will have to operate with a substantially reduced budget over the next four years.

“The Constabulary will have to reduce its budget by £18.6million over the next four years. This is a 20% budget cut in real terms which effectively means that the overall organisation needs to shrink by a fifth. The scale of a budget cut of this size is much larger than simply reducing support functions in fact the total cost of running all support functions (for example: Finance and Resources, Personnel and Development, ICT, Legal, Marketing and Comms) doesn’t meet the required budget cut.

“The Police Authority and the Constabulary have been undertaking detailed preparation in recent months so that we can meet these challenges. It is without question the shape and structure of Cumbria Constabulary will have to change significantly, however, our priority remains keeping Cumbria a safe place to live, work and visit.

“Cumbria Constabulary is firmly committed to maintaining visible policing in local communities. However, the total number of police officers will fall to 1,150 by September 2011. This will be a reduction of 100 officers from our position in 2009/10. Some officers will be moved from support functions to frontline policing. We have reduced the number of senior and middle management roles. The overall reduction in the number of officers will be achieved through natural wastage.

“The Constabulary is constantly reviewing the way it works and there are some changes to working practices that are freeing up officer time that will significantly help bridge the changes. These include; the re-structuring of the way that the Constabulary deals with urgent and community calls, increasing the use of mobile working where officers can benefit from direct access to computer systems while in the community, streamlining management structures and reducing bureaucracy by removing processes such as completing a paper audit when undertaking stops and searches.

“We have listened to the feedback that we receive about PCSO's and the impact that they have on your community. For the next two years the numbers of PCSO's in our communities will remain at 105.

“The police staff establishment will drop to 600 by March 2012 - a reduction of 235 posts from March 2010. Work has been taking place for some time to identify how we can reduce the number of police staff posts, with 20 redundancies having already taken place. There are a number of consultations currently underway with staff and there will be a further 140 posts lost in 2011/12 (based on the equivalent of an average salary). The Constabulary, where possible, works with staff to progress voluntary redundancy. At risk staff have also been re-deployed into compatible essential roles that have become available following the external recruitment freeze. However, re-deployment is not always possible and compulsory redundancy will continue to be used.

“The total savings forecast as required for 2011/12 are £7.5 million and, given the work that has already been identified, we expect to be able to balance the budget by a combination of budget cuts and by recycling the savings made in this financial year (2010/11). For the following three years we have also, to date, identified significant savings but will need to find a further £13.1 million, after adjusting for the use of savings from 2010/11.

“Work has already started to identify these savings in the following ways: a review of the estate and front counter services is taking place and will explore opportunities to work with partner agencies; our vehicle budget will reduce by 30%; our ICT budget and Programme Management Unit costs will reduce by £2.75million and we will look at reducing management tiers and directorates across all support departments.

“These are without doubt challenging times but we are firmly committed to providing the communities of Cumbria with an affordable and realistic policing service. It is by working together that the Constabulary, partners and local communities can ensure that crime and disorder remains at the low levels we have experienced in recent years.”

Police Authority Chair Ray Cole said: “Cumbria Police Authority along with all police authorities have received a difficult grant settlement and now must face the harsh reality of agreeing with the Constabulary a balanced budget for 2011/12 and following years.

“Cumbria is a safe place to live with crime at some of the lowest levels in the UK and we must ensure that this continues, despite the reduction in staff and officers. It is encouraging to see the work that the Constabulary is undertaking to minimise the impact of these losses by restructuring and maximising the use of technology.”

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