Residents will be left "paying more for less" next financial year when it comes to their police services. Those living in the city, county and in Rutland pay tax – known as a precept – to Leicestershire Police to help fund its work. 

The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Police and Crime Panel met last week to sign off on a maximum increase to that precept, but councillors said they were not "happy" about doing so. The decision means the average Band D property will now pay £300.23 for the coming 2025/26 financial year – a £14 rise on the current precept. 

The rise will bring in around £6.5 million for the force over the year. However, some £8.2 million of cuts and efficiencies to the service have also been identified as being necessary, with police and crime commissioner (PCC) Rupert Matthews describing these as "difficult decisions". The efficiencies will include cuts to staffing, with 35 police roles set to be axed. 

Responding to the force's budget for the coming year, chair of the panel and acting leader of Leicestershire County Council Deborah Taylor said: "We're all having to pay more for less. I don't think anyone is happy sitting here agreeing to a £14-a-year rise […] but we are where we are." 

Identified savings and the rise in the precept are still not enough to cover the gap between income and outgoings, however. The force needs to identify another £1.1 million of savings throughout the financial year to balance its budget. 

Rising costs have been attributed to inflationary pressures, underfunded pay awards for staff, and legislative changes such as the new laws around XL Bully dogs increasing workloads. There are also concerns over the cash the force receives from the Government, with Leicestershire the 12th lowest funded per resident of the 43 forces in England and Wales as well as the impact of the changes to employers national insurance contributions announced in the Autumn Budget. 



Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Police and Crime Commissioner Rupert Matthews (Photo: LLR Police)

Addressing councillors, PCC Mr Matthews said: "Central Government, both the previous and this one, continue to put new duties onto [the force] which again add to our costs, but the Central Government doesn't give us the money we need to [deliver them]. I think the most onerous of these in recent years has been the duty to deal with XL bullies and other dangerous dogs, that is running into the hundreds of thousands of pounds every year and the Government has given us nothing towards that." 

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He added: "While our police officers and staff work extremely hard and deserve every penny of the pay increase they received, again it is disappointing that it is the Central Government that decides how much pay increase people should get and who should get it, but at the same time they don't reimburse us in full for the decisions they have made. So we do have a number of issues that mean it has been a difficult year this year." 

In addition to approving the budget for the upcoming year, councillors also said they would write to the Government to raise the concerns around funding for the force.