Lincolnshire Police has been thrown a financial lifeline after an appeal by the Police and Crime Commissioner to bust the Council Tax increase limit failed.
Marc Jones wrote to the Policing Minister Sarah Jones to ask if Lincolnshire could break the £15 a year limit for an increase in Council Tax precept.
But he was told last week that he couldn’t do that – although the government has allocated emergency funding (see below).
“Given the overwhelming support of the people of Lincolnshire for increased funding for their police force to maintain policing services as much as possible, I would be prepared to raise the Council Tax by more than £15,” says a report by Mr Jones to the Police and Crime Panel due to meet on Friday (Feb 6).
“I would not be prepared to undertake a costly local referendum; it would not be a good use of resources and would lead to uncertainty at a time when decisive action is required. I received a response form the Minister on January 28 declining my request,” the report says.
His proposal now is to increase the precept by £14.94 for 2026/27. It means residents in a Band D home will pay £333.09 a year for policing in the county. The increase provides an additional £4.5m over last year.
The budget of the chief constable includes £86.9m for police salaries. It also had a funding gap of more than £16m by 2029/30.
Plans for the service for the next financial year include PCSOs and specialist staff alongside enhancing the speed and quality of response to calls to assistance from the public.
“Boost capability to focus on road safety, travelling criminality and rural crime, keeping all of our communities feeling and being safer,” the report adds.
The report also showed statistics for November showed the county’s force was in seventh place nationally for call answering, with 96.3 per cent of 999 calls answered within ten seconds.
Emergency fund stops cuts
Months of worry over potential police job losses have been eased with extra government funding that will prevent devastating cuts.
The Lincolnshire force will receive the £12m of emergency help – known as ‘exceptional financial support’ – for each of the next three years, as well as an increased annual budget.
As many as 400 officers and staff could have been axed, writes local democracy reporter Jamie Waller.
Now the force hopes the funding will provide stability for years as police numbers are rebuilt.
Lincolnshire Police’s annual funding (outside of the emergency support) will be £100.1m for 2026/27, up from £95.6m this year.
The emergency support has been agreed for the coming financial year, and has provisionally confirmed for the next two.
The force has warned for years that it is the worst-funded in the country, with Lincolnshire MPs sharing fears last year that it could be the first to effectively declare bankruptcy.
Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones said: “Today marks a real milestone for Lincolnshire. Not only will the money make a difference to front line services, it is a recognition that the funding formula has penalised our county unfairly.
“It will take some time for the force to recruit back up to the levels of officers needed to provide the level of service our residents deserve so there is a need for some patience.”
Chief Constable Paul Gibson described it as “a very good day for Lincolnshire Police and Lincolnshire communities.”
“To have this level of funding for this amount of time is unprecedented for the force and will allow us to build back to peak numbers, and means we will be able to properly strategically plan for the future.
“Three years of stability for the force is welcome news and a welcome relief – for our own staff who are dedicated to serving communities in this county, not to mention the further job security now on offer, and also good news for the people we serve who can now be more certain that Lincolnshire Police will be there for them if they need it.”
He said the force still remains underfunded compared to other forces, and there would be a budget gap once the four-year support runs out.
The force is currently open to applications to join and the closing date is March 29. Details can be found on the Lincolnshire police website www.lincs.police.uk
It had to cancel the intake last March because of financial pressures.
A recent visit from the National Child Protections Inspection for the county raise ‘two accelerated causes of concern’.
The report said the force didn’t effectively investigate when children are at risk of, or have been harmed by, criminal or sexual exploitation.
It also said there were not enough trained officers to investigate abuse and exploitation effectively.
“Immediate action has been taken to address the issues specified,” said a report to the county council.
