Police Commissioner Labels Lincolnshire Funding Increase “Very Disappointing”

The government’s recent funding announcement for Lincolnshire Police has been characterized as “very disappointing” by the county’s police and crime commissioner. The force has been allocated £173.2m for 2025, representing an £8.9m increase from the current year. More than half of this increase will be sourced from Home Office grants, while £4.1m will come from anticipated rises in council tax bills, which are expected to increase by an average of £14. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper stated that the government was providing forces with “a substantial increase,” but police and crime commissioner Marc Jones contended that the Lincolnshire force is the worst funded in the country and projects a £57m deficit over the next four years. The overall rise in funding for the force, combining Home Office grants and council tax contributions, amounts to a 5.5% increase compared to the current financial year. This percentage increase is the joint lowest in England, alongside Nottinghamshire. Mr Jones commented: “There is still a lot of detail to work through and we are currently crunching the numbers so we can get a full picture of what the announcement means for Lincolnshire Police.” He added, “What is clear at this stage is that, despite already being the lowest funded force in the country, Lincolnshire has received the smallest increase in funding in England and that is very disappointing.” He further stated that he is collaborating with Chief Constable Paul Gibson to encourage the government “to understand the magnitude of the challenge facing the county.” In her announcement of the provisional settlement of £17.4bn for forces across England and Wales for the 2025-26 period, Ms Cooper affirmed that the government was “providing a significant and much-needed increase in funding to help forces protect the public and keep our streets safe.” This settlement incorporates an additional £230m designated to cover increases in employer National Insurance contributions, along with £100m allocated for the recruitment of an extra 13,000 neighbourhood officers, community support officers, and special constables. Nevertheless, Chief Constable Paul Sanford of the National Police Chiefs’ Council indicated that the settlement poses significant challenges for policing, as forces are projected to encounter an estimated £1.3bn financial shortfall over the next two years, a situation he stated “will inevitability lead to cuts across forces.”