Last week the Policing Minister, Nick Herbert MP, wrote to Police Authorities to announce an in-year reduction in the level of funding for police authorities of 1.5%. In Surrey’s case, this amounts to a reduction of £1.6m in the policing budget for the year.

Commenting on the announcement, Peter Williams, Chairman of Surrey Police Authority, said:

“The Government’s announcement of a reduction in the policing budget is not that surprising given the pressing need to reduce public spending and reduce the nation’s budget deficit. However, the timing of the reduction, when we are two months into the financial year, makes the job of managing the reduced budget rather more difficult.

“The Authority will be working closely with Surrey Police over the next few weeks to give careful consideration to the changes that we will need to put in place to cope with this in-year funding reduction, without affecting Surrey’s front line policing capacity.

“Last year, in anticipation of leaner times ahead, we began a programme of radical changes, reducing senior officer numbers; moving to a simpler management structure; and replacing our most expensive and little-used police buildings with more accessible and cost-effective alternatives. Not only are these changes helping to manage the financial pressure we face – we are using some of the savings to recruit up to 200 additional constables by 2012. We are grateful to the Force for the excellent job that they are doing in getting to grips with these challenging new circumstances.

“Our long-term budget projections suggest that the financial position is likely to get tighter still over the next two years, particularly if we are unable to compensate for cuts in our Government funding by increasing what we raise through Council Tax, as the Coalition Government’s initial plans propose.

“This underlines just how important it is that we continue our re-organisation in order to put as much of the resources that we possibly can into excellent front-line policing for the people of Surrey.”