New neighbourhood police officers pledged by the government could be employed and then sacked in a year's time due to funding shortages, a senior councillor has warned. 

At yesterday's Leicestershire Police and Crime panel meeting (5 February), police and crime commissioner Rupert Matthews (Con) said he had met policing minister Diane Johnson on Monday but left feeling 'slightly concerned.' 

As part of the home offices' £200million funding pledge to put more community officers on the streets, a £3million grant will be received by the Leicestershire force in the coming financial year. 

Mr Matthews said: "While it was a very interesting discussion, we failed to achieve anything very much. 

"The slightly concerning thing I took from it, was some of you may have read we have an extra £3million for neighbourhood policing coming in this year. 

"I did make the point that if we were going to be expected to take on extra staff in order to deliver on the promises made by the national government and to make the most of that £3million we would have extra staff on our books at the end of the coming financial year and yet the minister was not able and willing to give a commitment that they would fund those salaries next financial year.  

"So, while I would be able to tell the panel, 'It's great we have £3million and here is how we are going to spend it to the betterment of all the people that we represent' we are still looking at the finer detail of how that money can be spent. I wanted to highlight that if we do take on extra staff, come the end of the financial year we might still be paying their salary even if central government does not continue with the grant." 

Deborah Taylor (Con) who is acting leader of Leicestershire County Council and chairs the police and crime panel, said the situation was really concerning. 

She said: "They are basically expecting you to employ everyone and sack them in a year's time." 

Councillor Taylor said the panel, which scrutinises the work of the police and crime commissioner's office, would need some more detail before any further decisions were made as it would be a risk to commit when funding may not be there in the future. 

Mr Matthews said times have been tough for Leicestershire policing and that despite promises the national insurance uplift coming in soon, was not covered fully by the government and there is a £750,000 shortfall. 

He said: "I think it's fair to say the past two or three years have not been particularly easy. 

"Overall, it has been necessary to make £14million of savings and again this year it has been necessary to make multi-million-pound savings to get in on budget. 

He continued: "The central government continues to put new duties onto my office and to Mr Nixon's [chief constable] police force which again add to our costs, but the central government does not give us the money that we need to do so."  



Chief constable Rob Nixon will be retiring in the coming weeks (Photo: LLR Police)

Outgoing chief constable Rob Nixon, who retires in the coming weeks, gave a summary of financial matters and said this year had been the most difficult in recent years. 

The Leicestershire force has had to make significant staffing cuts in the past year, but the chief constable said innovation including AI could deliver cost savings. 

He said: "In our major crime space, if we have a homicide, historically we would go out and collect lots of video footage and someone would sit and be physically going through it. Now we've got the ability to look at it, put in some probes and it will automatically look across all the different footage, bring that together and you can get right to the hub of it a lot quicker."  

The panel approved a new increased precept of £14 for its policing services, which will be added annually to the bill of Rutland and Leicestershire taxpayers – bringing the new levy to £300.23 for a band D property. 

Some councillors on the panel voiced their concerns at the increase.  Councillor Taylor said: "We're in exactly the same place as we were a year ago.  I don't think anyone is happy here – it's going to affect us all."