Police chief wants to dig into reserves as cuts bite

Humberside Police is facing the deepest funding cuts in its history and expects to lose 139 officers – more than seven per cent of its warranted workforce – next year alone.

The force has identified savings worth almost £8m but must find another £22m by 2015-16, including £14m in the next two years, according to a medium-term financial strategy to be considered by Humberside Police Authority on Tuesday.

Chief Constable Tim Hollis will ask the authority for the right to use up to £6m of its reserves by April 2013 to help bridge the gap.

“This is a reasonable approach which should keep the authority in a sound financial position,” states a report to the authority. “It would still leave the authority with a significant level of reserves available... it also provides a buffer against any significant imposed spending restrictions that may emerge in the immediate future.”

But the report adds that the force may have to use more of the authority’s reserves in future if it cannot make the savings quickly enough.

The authority will be asked to freeze its council tax precept for next year – maintaining the cost of policing at £166.47 for council tax payers living in a Band D property.

Members will hear that the authority expects to recover 85 per cent of the £5.5m it lost in the Icelandic banking crisis of 2008.

The Yorkshire Post revealed last month that the region’s chief constables were preparing to slash thousands of jobs to deal with a funding deficit of almost £200m. Grants to police forces will be cut by 20 per cent in real terms by 2014-15 and more than two-thirds of the savings must be found by 2012-13 – the year of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations and the London Olympics.

Further funding pressures may emerge from a nationwide review of police pay and conditions, due later this year.