Councillors on Merseyside Police and Crime Panel agreed to Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell’s 2022/23 Budget to increase the police element of council tax by £10 a year (Band D) from 1st April 2022 for Wirral, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Knowsley residents despite cost of living concerns

Councillors on Merseyside Police and Crime Panel agreed to Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell’s 2022/23 Budget to increase the police element of council tax by £10 a year (Band D) from 1st April 2022 for Wirral, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Knowsley residents despite cost of living concerns

Merseyside Police and Panel (3rd February 2022) Left Chief Constable of Merseyside Police Serena Kenny, middle Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside Emily Spurrell

Councillors on Merseyside Police and Crime Panel agreed to Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell’s 2022/23 Budget to increase the police element of council tax by £10 a year (Band D) from 1st April 2022 for Wirral, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Knowsley residents despite cost of living concerns

                                                             

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Merseyside Police and Crime Panel (Knowsley Council) 3rd February 2022 Part 1

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Merseyside Police and Crime Panel (Knowsley Council) 3rd February 2022 Part 2

Left - Chief Constable of Merseyside Police Serena Kennedy, Middle - Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside Emily Spurrell at a meeting of Merseyside Police and Crime Panel (3rd February 2022)
Left – Chief Constable of Merseyside Police Serena Kennedy, Middle – Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside Emily Spurrell at a meeting of the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel (3rd February 2022)

By John Brace (Editor)

First publication date: Wednesday 23rd February 2022, 22:12 (GMT).

On the morning of Thursday 3rd February 2022, in Knowsley Council’s Council Chamber in Huyton, the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel met to consider the Police and Crime Commissioner’s Budget for Merseyside Police and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for the 2022/23 financial year.

Video of the first seventeen minutes of the public meeting can be watched in the YouTube clips above and below that is audio of nearly all the meeting (starting part way through item 3) in two parts.

The Merseyside Police and Crime Panel is composed of councillors appointed by each of the district councils in Merseyside as well as two independent members. The councillors on the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel appointed by each district council (but not all of these councillors were present for this meeting) were as follows:-

Wirral Council – Councillor Les Rowlands (Conservative) and Councillor Adrian Jones (Labour)
Liverpool City Council – Councillor Calvin Smeda (Labour), Councillor Barbara Murray (Labour) and Councillor Kris Brown (Liberal Democrat)
Sefton Council – Councillor John Sayers (Labour)
St Helens Council – Councillor Paul Hooton (Green) and Councillor Bisi Osundeko (Labour)
Knowsley Council – Councillor Jayne Ashton (Labour)

The reason for different areas appointing different numbers of councillors on the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel is to reflect different populations in the different areas that make up Merseyside (Wirral, Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Knowsley).

The procedure for the meeting was that the Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside (who is Emily Spurrell) proposes a draft budget, then those on the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel decide on whether to approve it (or veto it).

The detailed papers for the 2022/23 Budget proposals can be read on Knowsley Council’s website.

The 2022/23 budget for the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside was £1.4 million (although the Police and Crime Commissoiner also directly controls expenditure on the Community Safety Fund, Victim Support Services and the Violence Reduction Partnership which together total an extra £7.124 million). Four new posts have been recently created in the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside which are described as a Scrutiny and Improvement Officer, Digital Communications and Marketing Officer, Domestic Abuse Workplace Co-Ordinator and an Income Generations, Monitoring and Evaluation Officer.

The 2022/23 Revenue Budget for Merseyside Police is nearly £397 million and a capital budget of £32.6 million. This is for 4,138.4 police officer posts (FTE – full time equivalent) – of which around 166 were vacant as of 31st December 2021, but there are plans to recruit to these vacant posts. In addition to these the budget allows for 2,243.0 police staff posts (FTE) of which around 54 were vacant (again there were plans to recruit to these vacant posts) as well as 237 Police Community Support and Traffic Officer posts (FTE) (of which there were 50 vacancies and again plans to recruit to these).

Once the Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell and the Chief Constable Serena Kennedy explained their rationale behind the proposed 2022/23 Budget, the Chair invited councillors to ask questions.

The only councillor present from the Wirral (Councillor Les Rowlands) asked the Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell about the impact of her proposed budget on council tax, whether the £3.2 million in savings was realistic and how the increase related to the three pillars and delivery of the Policing Strategy.

The Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell asked her Chief Finance Officer John Riley to answer on her behalf.

At this point I will declare an interest as the person liable for council tax for this household. The impact on council equates to a rise of 4.41% in the police element of council tax for households in Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton, St Helens and Knowsley. This was the maximum it can be increased without a referendum. The increase by band (per a year) for 2022/23 (which will come into effect on April 1st 2022) is as follows – Band A (£6.67), Band B (£7.78), Band C (£8.89), Band D (£10.00), Band E (£12.22), Band F (£14.44), Band G (£16.67) and Band H (£20.00). The current (2021/22) police element of council tax annually for those living in Merseyside ranges from Band A (£151.31) to Band H (£453.94).

After nearly an hour of questions and comments by councillors on the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel (many about the impact of the proposed council tax rise on the cost of living for Merseyside residents) the Merseyside Police and Crime Panel agreed to the precept proposal (and Budget) but with a recommendation that a letter be written to the Minister of State for Crime and Policing Kit Malthouse (with a copy also sent to Merseyside Members of Parliament) about the burden on local council tax payers and concerns about future central government funding.

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Author: John Brace

New media journalist from Birkenhead, England who writes about Wirral Council. Published and promoted by John Brace, 134 Boundary Road, Bidston, CH43 7PH. Printed by UK Webhosting Ltd t/a Tsohost, 113-114 Buckingham Avenue, Slough, Berkshire, England, SL1 4PF.

2 thoughts on “Councillors on Merseyside Police and Crime Panel agreed to Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell’s 2022/23 Budget to increase the police element of council tax by £10 a year (Band D) from 1st April 2022 for Wirral, Liverpool, St Helens, Sefton and Knowsley residents despite cost of living concerns”

    1. Yes, Merseyside does have a police force (Merseyside Police) but there’s also the British Transport Police (who police the railways and light rail systems), the Mersey Tunnels Police as well as the Liverpool Cathedral constables.

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