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Mayor seeks views on annual police precept consultation

MAYOR SEEKS VIEWS ON ANNUAL POLICE PRECEPT CONSULTATION

Published 24 January 2025 at 11:06am

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard has launched his first consultation to set the police precept since he took on Police and Crime Commissioner responsibilities, with investment in neighbourhood policing with greater police visibility including in rural communities, responding to crime and anti-social behaviour quicker, and improving road and transport safety his top priorities. 

He has also pledged to protect police resources, maximising officers and services, establish a new Community Confidence Board to improve trust and confidence in policing, continue the work of the Violence Reduction Unit with a particular focus on deterring young people away from knife crime, and continue to prevent and tackle child sexual exploitation and pursue perpetrators of current and historic child sexual exploitation (CSE). 

This will build on significant improvement in South Yorkshire Police’s performance over the last year, including: 

•    3% reduction in crime – 5,000 fewer offences in the county.  
•    Reductions in neighbourhood crime, including a 7% reduction in burglary.  
•    24% reduction in most serious violence – this includes offences of grievous bodily harm or worse. 
•    Significant improvements in the time it takes to answer and respond to 999 calls, with over 90% of calls being answered in under 10 seconds. 
•    Over 5,000 contacts a month are now made through an online portal launched last April, providing a new way for contacting the police to report a crime. 

The Mayor has the responsibility for setting the policing budget. Nearly three-quarters of the funding for South Yorkshire Police is provided by the government in the form of a grant. The remaining funding has to be raised locally through the police precept – the policing element of council tax bills, which makes up 26.5 percent of the policing budget. 

This year the government have said they expect the police precept to be increased by up to £14 a year for a Band D property. Raising the precept by the maximum available amount will mean that Band D properties will be paying just 27 pence per week more. However, most of the properties in South Yorkshire (57%) are in Band A and this would be equivalent to 18 pence per week. South Yorkshire’s precept is currently one of the lowest out of 43 forces in England and Wales.  

The Mayor is proposing to use the maximum increase to ensure that South Yorkshire Police have the resources they need to keep the region safe and deliver their priorities. He is now seeking the views of taxpayers. 

South Yorkshire’s Mayor Oliver Coppard said: “South Yorkshire Police rely on the money raised through the precept to fund the work that they do. After 14 years of police budgets being squeezed by the last government, the money we raise locally to pay for policing is more important than ever. 

“I am proud of the work South Yorkshire Police do every day to keep us safe. But of course, there is always more we can do. I want to see South Yorkshire Police continue to prioritise knife crime, and I want our roads to become much, much safer, to do more to tackle antisocial behaviour and neighbourhood crime, and when crime does happen, to respond more quickly. I want people to have more confidence in policing across South Yorkshire. 

“I’m determined to keep our communities safe; to do everything I can to give the police the capacity, the resources and the support they need to do their job, and to truly respond to the challenges we face.      

“As South Yorkshire’s Mayor, it is ultimately my job to set the police precept, to balance the needs of the police with what people in South Yorkshire can afford. But, before setting the level of the precept for the next twelve months, I want to know what people across South Yorkshire think, so I’d appreciate people taking a few minutes to fill in the consultation.” 

The police precept consultation lists the following priorities a modest increase of £14 for a Band D property will fund: 

1.    Continue investment in neighbourhood policing and police visibility in our communities, including in our rural communities. 
2.    Prioritise the voices of our communities by establishing a new Community Confidence Board to understand and address the issues that impact on trust and confidence in policing and the wider criminal justice system. 
3.    Respond quickly to crime and antisocial behaviour by investing in systems that allow people to speak to South Yorkshire Police quickly in an emergency, maintaining our excellent service on 999 calls and making sure that officers and staff responding to incidents have the information they need to keep both us and them safe. 
4.    Protect police resources, maximising officers and services.
5.    Continue investment in training and support for police officers and staff to ensure we have the capacity and skills we need across the police force. 
6.    Continue to support the work of the Violence Reduction Unit, bringing together partners to prevent violence and to invest in diversion schemes to prevent young people from getting involved in crime, especially knife crime. 
7.    Continue to prevent and tackle current child sexual exploitation and pursue perpetrators of CSE (both current and historic), giving victims justice. 
8.    Improve travel and transport safety, with the aim of having no deaths on our road network, taking a problem-solving approach through a refreshed Safer Roads Partnership, targeted patrols responding to issues on the public transport network and continue to tackle issues relating to off-road bikes. 

The consultation will run until noon on 3rd February. 

If you want to get involved and give your views on the police precept consultation, you can take part here: https://forms.office.com/e/71LQhxePkz

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Last Updated: 24/01/2025

Published In: Mayor , Policing and Reform , Featured