It isn’t every day you receive a letter from Norfolk Police’s Chief Constable warning of cuts to frontline policing. But that’s what happened to me and the message was stark - because of the government’s 2025/26 Police Funding Settlement Norfolk Police will be required to make approximately £4 million of savings in the next financial year. That’s even if the Police and Crime Commissioner increases the precept to the maximum available level.
As the letter went on to highlight, the reason for this situation is that the settlement provides little more than the funding required to cover the additional costs of last year’s police pay award and higher National Insurance contributions imposed by the Budget.
What will the real world impact be? Well, Norfolk Police has warned staffing cuts could lead to the loss of highly skilled and experienced police staff to be replaced with trainee police officers. That could potentially weaken the force’s ability to maintain and improve on current performance levels.
Norfolk Police has made significant strides in public safety over the past year, with a 11% decrease in crime and a leading national position in solving cases. The county’s charging rate stands at 12%, exceeding the national average. Shoplifting has increased in recent year - encouragingly nearly half of shoplifting cases in Norfolk are resolved, with a third resulting in charges.
Additionally, while the government has announced new funding for neighbourhood policing, Norfolk has only been allocated £1.1 million – which equates to having an additional four officers on duty at any one time for the whole of the County. With its large rural area covering 2000 square miles, this is risible.
After the increase in police numbers in Norfolk of 269 officers under the last government and the success in fighting crime, I am concerned at the potential impacts of the police settlement. So I’ve written to the Home Secretary calling on her to recognise the needs of rural forces. If the government is serious about fighting crime then it is incumbent on the Home Office to provide Norfolk police with the necessary resources which reflect the operational realities of rural forces and flexibility so they can continue their success in fighting crime.
As well as policing, I have been focused on potential changes to local government. Before Christmas the government scrapped Norfolk’s £600 million devolution deal negotiated with the last government. Instead, it is now pushing – some might say rushing - ahead with plans for a Norfolk and Suffolk combined deal with a Mayor covering the two counties. These reforms could see King’s Lynn and West Norfolk borough council, other lower tier authorities and Norfolk County Council replaced by one or more unitary authorities in Norfolk. Elections due in May could be postponed by the government as well.
There is a lot of uncertainty over these plans and understandably council officers will be worried about the impact on them. Sadly the government doesn’t seem to have taken that into account as they push these plans forward.
In the House of Commons last week, I urged the local government minister to ensure the public has a say on any changes and to recognise the importance of ensuring the new councils are not remote from residents. He confirmed there would be some flexibility in the policy that any new council should have a minimum population of 500,000.
It is important any new arrangements reflect the needs of our area and I’ll keep working with existing councils and other MPs to make sure that is the case.
