Commissioner hails small victory after government sees sense on police funding

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner has thanked the public, media and politicians from around the West Midlands for their support in convincing the government to back down and change their preferred formula for how police forces will be funded in future.

Following a large campaign and much pressure the Home Office’s new preferred formula has had elements changed that would have disadvantaged forces such as the West Midlands and could have resulted in a huge loss of funding.

The new Home Office formula, instead of disadvantaging West Midlands Police, if delivered will see the proportion of funding that the force receives increase from 6.11% to 6.63%.

The Commissioner is now calling on the government to ensure that the formula is implemented fairly and that the Comprehensive Spending Review does not remove any of the potential gains in funding.

West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson said,

“This is a victory for common sense. I would like to thank the media and politicians from across the political spectrum for joining me in a cross-party campaign to make sure that West Midlands Police gets a fair deal.

“The news is welcome but the fight is not over. I will press the government to make sure that this change is actually implemented fairly in full as soon as possible and not delayed. West Midlands Police has faced double the cuts of other forces over the last five years and I’m determined to make sure that we are not disproportionately hit again.

“I won’t be satisfied until we have actually received the money and will keep pressing until it is actually implemented.

“Today is a good day for West Midlands Police, but if the Comprehensive Spending Review delivers 40% cuts to policing this will be more than wiped out and we will be in a dire position again. The government need to consider how much money police forces require to keep people safe rather than administer arbitrary cuts.

“West Midlands Police has the second lowest council tax take in the country which means we are more reliant on government funding.  The government needs to look at this area and the lack of flexibility of it in future.

“There are still outstanding issues with the formula and we look forward to working with the government to improve it in the future.”