Bedfordshire Police gets 'above average' funding from Government - but needs £1.5million more just 'to stand still'

Bedfordshire Police has been awarded an above average government funding settlement, but it is still waiting to discover how much it will receive in special grants.

The force’s chief constable said these special grants help the force to fight gun and gang crime.

During the latest police and crime commissioner (PCC) & chief constable accountability meeting (December 18) the PCC, Festus Akinbusoye, said the force has had a settlement increase of seven per cent for 2024/25. The chief constable said the national average was six per cent.

“So that’s quite a positive sign,” the PCC said. “It doesn’t mean that the funding formula has been resolved, it just means that we’ve got a good increase in our budget.”

“Where does this settlement from last week leave the police force in terms of its finances, delivering on our agreed policing priorities, and what residents say they actually want from their police force,” he asked the chief constable.

Chief constable Trevor Rodenhurst, replied: “The funding settlement in its totality is not yet complete because we haven’t had notification of things like our special grants.

“Even on the assumption, commissioner, that you were to increase the precept by a maximum of £13… based on that we still have a financial gap to stand still for next year.

“It’s probably slightly less of a gap than it could have been if that settlement was less favourable, but nevertheless it’s still in the magnitude of around £1.5 million that needs to be found so that we can stand still.

“We will wait for the outcome of the special grants because they’re in the region of £9 million. We have not had the notification of what we will get, so this could become a more challenging situation.”

The PCC said: “I’m hopeful that we can keep a good chunk of that for the next financial year.

“Otherwise what would be the implications of that, potentially, for the force,” he asked.

The chief constable replied: “The special grants enable us to put an enhanced capability in place to tackle the challenges from gun crime and gang crime.

“It also enables us to put an enhancement in place in relation to serious organised crime. So it’s really important for this force to maintain those capabilities.”