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Help us to shape our budget for 2013/14 Consultation 13 th December 2012. Keith Thompson Treasurer. Policing priorities 2012/13. Tackling anti-social behaviour in partnership Reducing the impact of alcohol abuse on people and communities Protecting vulnerable people from harm.
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Help us to shape our budget for 2013/14 Consultation 13th December 2012 Keith Thompson Treasurer
Policing priorities 2012/13 • Tackling anti-social behaviour in partnership • Reducing the impact of alcohol abuse on people and communities • Protecting vulnerable people from harm
Police & Crime Commissioner’s priorities • To reduce the impact of Domestic Abuse, particularly violence against women and girls • To reduce the impact of Hate Crime • To improve engagement with local communities across the Constabulary area
Where does the money come from? Budget is financed from a variety of sources In 2012/13 as follows: £m • Formula Grant 42.445 37% • Police Grant 44.266 39% • Council Tax 29.476 24% • Total 116.187 100% Formula Grant includes National Non-Domestic Rates and Revenue Support Grant
2013/14 Budget Considerations • Policing priorities • The Chief Constable has identified possible reductions amounting to £0.87m • Commissioner’s Office savings • A further £0.5m is required to balance the budget based on current assumptions • The capital programme for 2013/14 and 2014/15 seeks approval for major new works totalling £19m • The Commissioner has agreed to avoid using general reserves to balance the budget • Government’s Council Tax expectations and Localism Act implications • Council Tax options are limited • Prospective future loss of damping grant • The budget plans have been risk assessed • Consultation
2013/14 budget deliberations • If the Council Tax is set at 0% increase, further savings of £0.25m will be required in 2013/14 and 2014/15 and £0.50m every year thereafter. • A 0% increase will attract a 1% grant from Central Government for the next two years. • An increase of 2% , in line with our planning assumptions would add £0.5m to our budget base in 13/14 and every year thereafter. • A 2% increase would cost the average household £3.07 per annum, or a little under 6p per week.
Key Assumptions in Medium Term Financial Plan • Further grant losses in all years of this MTFP period • Broadly maintain existing overall workforce numbers through workforce modernisation • Precept rise of 2% per annum for the next two years. • 1% pay rises in September 2013 and 2014 • Police Officer increment freeze to end in March 2014 • National cost pressures e.g. fuel, IT • Savings expected from vacancy management, National Winsor Review 2, procurement and workforce modernisation
Key Assumptions in Medium Term Financial Plan • 2012/13 budget spend on track • 2013/14 deficit £1.3m • 2014/15 deficit £3.5m • 2015/16 deficit £2.8m
Settlement for 2012/13 • This is the third year of the period covered by the 2011/12 – 2014/15 Comprehensive Spending Review • The reduction in Central Government Grant over the CSR period amounts to 20% in real terms equivalent to £18.75m
Restrictions on Council Tax Increases The Localism Act 2011includes provisions to give residents the power to instigate local referenda to veto excessive Council Tax increases. The Government has provisionally indicated that referenda will be required if local authorities set Council Tax increases compared with 2012/13 that exceed 2%.
Precept implications • Durham’s current Band D Council Tax is £153.41 and is 8.2% lower than the average for English non-metropolitan Police and Crime Commissioner areas • Council Tax Freeze Grant was made available for the last two years to those authorities setting a 0% increase. Year one grant payable until 2014/15 and worth £0.727m per year. Year two grant was payable for 2012/13 only and is worth £0.877m • The offer for 2013/14, is worth £0.25m in 2013/14 and 2014/15 only.
What happens next? • The provisional grant settlement is expected from Government next week. • Work is underway with the Force to identify further savings to bridge the £500k budget gap • Having considered the savings options and the views from consultation, the PCC hopes to be able to set the precept, subject to the Police and Crime Panel’s deliberations in January 2013.