Vow to cut West Mercia Police reserve funds by £20 million
West Mercia Police has lived beyond its means for too long and changes need to be made, its Police and Crime Commisioner said.
John Campion has vowed to cut police reserves funds by about £20 million in the next two years.
The reserve funds currently sit at around £35 million, with Mr Campion aiming to get that down to £13 million by 2019/20.
“West Mercia Police has lived beyond its means for many years now, reliant on healthy reserves and continued underspends to subsidise a budget that is not sustainable in the long term," he said.
"I have made a commitment to delivering a balanced budget in the coming years and that includes my promise to lower the reserves to £21 million by the end of 2018/19 and down to £13 million by 2019/20.
“The money that will come from the reserves will be used to support each year’s budget, fund one-off pressures, further implement the force’s transformation programme and support much needed investment such as land, buildings, ICT systems and vehicles.
"Investing in these areas will form part of my pledge to give police officers and staff up-to-date and fit-for-purpose facilities that will enable them to provide a modern, efficient and effective policing service.”
Mr Campion's comments come as the home office published full details of police reserves running up to March 2017.
They said that they hoped the release would provide a central and transparent database, where members of the public can go to see how their local PCC is managing their funding.
Mr Campion said he welcomed the added transparency.
“Since coming into post I have stood by my election pledge, which was that I would always make sure public money is used as effectively and efficiently as possible before asking our communities to contribute any more," he said.
In March 2017, the police collectively held over £1.6 billion in usable resource reserves, which compares to £1.4 billion in 2011.
Nick Hurd, minister for policing and the fire service, said: "Police reserves are an important tool for police leaders to fund projects and manage financial risk, but we also need to ensure there is real transparency about how they, as taxpayers’ money, are being used to improve the service delivered to the public.
"I’ve asked PCCs to set out their reasons for holding funds in reserve, so that the public can have a clearer picture of how their money is being spent on policing."
