More police to be recruited in Bedfordshire after huge funding boost - but residents will bear the brunt

As part of the the Government's 2020/21 settlement of £1.1billion of all forces, Bedfordshire Police will enjoy an increase of around £9million to its budget for 2020/21 – to £121.9million.

But what that means is the force still has to raise ANOTHER £9million for Bedfordshire Police - and that's where you and I come in.

Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner Kathryn Holloway said: “Today’s funding settlement is welcome but still requires me to raise the police precept by the maximum allowed without a referendum, of £10 a year for a Band D home - or 84p per month - in order to achieve another £9million for Bedfordshire Police.

"This will allow me to recruit 156 more police constables this year, of whom 36 are our share of the national uplift in 2020/21 and 100 are needed to replace leavers but which also allows me to fund 20 additional PCs.

“There had been rumours that the core grant from Government was going to stand still. If this had been the case I would have had to find some £6million of savings so the extra investment is a relief. It allows me to meet the pressures of pay, pensions, insurance and other rising costs and still deliver the recruitment that both I and central Government had promised.

“I’m also expecting further good news on funding imminently as both the current Policing Minister, Kit Malthouse, and former Minister, Nick Hurd, have pledged in writing to provide me with a second special grant this year, to pay for the specialist response of Bedfordshire Police to gang, gun and knife crime in the county, known as Boson."

Chief Constable Garry Forsyth also welcomed the news, saying: “Today’s announcement is long overdue for policing. It has been our case, for some time, that Bedfordshire Police is not properly funded to meet the complex crime challenges we face.

"While we continue to lobby for changes to the wider funding formula to ensure we are adequately resourced to meet those challenges and be proactive in preventing crime, we hope today’s announcement will mean we are able to properly invest in a new generation of officers our public so desperately want to see.”

Making the settlement announcement, Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “This Government is delivering on the people’s priorities by giving policing the biggest funding increase in a decade.

“The police must now make full use of this significant investment to deliver for the public.”