Chief Constable's cash warning

6:09pm Wednesday 19th December 2007

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SURREY'S police chief says the long-term future of the force is under threat because of a cash shortfall.

Chief Constable Bob Quick said "years of perverse funding" had left them more than £5 million out of pocket.

Surrey Police are facing a shortfall of £5.3 million over the next three years with an initial funding gap of £3.1 million in the next financial year. The Government has pledged £99.3 million in 2008-09, an increase of £2.4 million on last year's grant, which will be cancelled out by inflation.

In an interview with Life Mr Quick said: "I think in the long term the performance of the force is at risk and our ability to sustain the higher levels of protection is under threat because of years of perverse funding.

"There is a cap on the council tax and there are virtually no avenues to increase our funding. What we can do is strive to increase our efficiency but we have already been graded as excellent in that area."

Surrey Police were jointly ranked as the top police force in the country in October. The Government's Police Performance Assessment graded Surrey as excellent or good in six areas, including tackling crime, serious crime and public protection and efficiency.

Mr Quick said: "There's a paradox. On the surface, against crude Government indicators, we appear to be doing really well but under the surface, when one considers our public protection duties, we are not funded properly to meet those objectives. We are constantly having to draw money from front-line services."

Mr Quick warned cuts could be made to police support services to help balance the books. Financial and HR departments could be among those forced to make sacrifices to save front-line resources. He said Surrey was in a unique position because 47% of crime was committed by people from outside the county.

He said: "Although we are the top performing force with a low crime rate we are close to the point where most of our crime will be committed by people who do not come from Surrey and that requires a different police response and tackling crime from offenders who live outside the county is more expensive.

"In the short term we think we can bridge the gap and keep our heads above water by making significant changes to our structure and support services but that will impact the morale and the stability of the force and it takes our eye off the ball as we spend more time trying to stay solvent."

Elastic about to snap, says MP

REIGATE MP Crispin Blunt described the financial crisis facing Surrey Police as like elastic which is about to snap.

Mr Blunt made the comments following a briefing by Surrey police chiefs to the county's MPs about Government funding of the force. Chief Constable Bob Quick and Surrey Police Authority chairman Jim Smith met politicians about measures being considered to manage the shortfall of £5.3 million over the next three years.

Mr Blunt said: "Every year there is a change in the formula and in real terms Surrey has had a cut in its funding equal to inflation. In previous years that money has been replaced out of the council tax and they have had to spend nearly the full capping limit.

"After ten years of this the Surrey council tax payer is paying 48% of the force's budget, when it used to be 14%. If you add in the non-domestic rate you will find that the Home Office is only providing a third of the money for our police force.

"Our job as MPs is to try and stop the Government constantly changing the formula and taking money away from Surrey.

"They do not seem to care about the people of Surrey at all - they see them as a milk cow. Surrey is a net exporter of £5.1 billion a year in taxes to the rest of the country.

"The formula for the police is absurd. Surrey is next to London and guess where 40% of the crime comes from?

"But if you move Surrey away from London to the middle of Wales, under the current formula, Surrey Police would still get the same budget.

"I have led previous delegations of Surrey MPs to see ministers and we will protest again because at some point the elastic snaps and its the view of the Chief Constable that the time is very close."

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