Lincolnshire Police won’t now axe 200 jobs as threatened, but officers are still raising concerns about the force becoming bankrupt.
Top cops and Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones had said they would reduce the work force unless it got more than the £5m in additional funds received this year from central government, writes local democracy reporter Jamie Waller.
They do say that they’ll be in the same position next year and have used reserves to not axe jobs this time.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked the police how much of reserves it would use, but it hadn’t received an answer by the time The Voice went to press.
When the budget for the 2025/26 financial year was set in March, it included using £10.3m of reserves to balance the books and, at the time, warned it couldn’t use more as it would take the level of reserves below a legal minimum.
Chief Constable Paul Gibson said: “We continue to have productive and positive conversations with the Home Office and look forward to meeting with the new Policing Minister Sarah Jones to discuss our funding situation and the need for long-term stability – a discussion that will hopefully be possible soon.
“As a result of our exploration of an operating model that would have to reduce staff numbers by 20 per cent and officer numbers by around 200 to 1,000 in order to meet our budget gaps, it is evident that this model would not allow the delivery of adequate services to the public of Lincolnshire.
“As such, I have agreed with PCC Marc Jones that we will pause on making any reductions and will use our limited remaining funds to maintain our current levels of service and recruit into roles of essential need, as the service is already strained due to vacancies we have been holding while we await clarity on finances.
“There is more to say to communities in Lincolnshire but, for now, until myself and the PCC have been able to meet with the Policing Minister and other stakeholders to discuss further details, it would be inappropriate for me to comment further.
“I know that the level of policing delivered to people in this county is of the utmost importance to them and I will update with more information as soon as possible.”
Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones said the situation came after ‘generations of underfunding’.
“We have allowed vacancies to remain unfilled and not replaced people who have retired, relocated or left.
“While that has allowed us to make savings, it has become obvious that this has put front-line services under considerable strain. As a result, I have taken the decision to stop further job losses and recruit much-needed staff.
“We could make further staff redundant and oversee a critical decline in services or we could delay certain projects, take money set aside for future years and maintain current levels of staffing.
“Doing the latter makes next year even tougher, but I simply refuse to allow our law enforcement services to wither on the vine.
“It is unacceptable to our residents and it is unacceptable to me.”
“This does not mean our financial worries are not as critical or significant as before, in fact it means the problems only deepen for next year. Getting support from the government is now even more important.”
