News
Council tax to increase across Greater Manchester to fund ‘improvements in policing’
Mayor Andy Burnham's proposals have been "unanimously agreed" on by a cross-party Panel this week.
Emily Sergeant -
1st February 2024 
Plans to increase council tax across Greater Manchester to fund “continued improvements in policing” have been approved.
It comes after the Greater Manchester Police, Fire and Crime Panel – which is made up of elected representatives from across all 10 of Greater Manchester’s local Councils, as well as independent members – met earlier this week (Tuesday 30 January) to vote on Mayor Andy Burnham‘s proposal to increase the police precept for 2024/25.
The Panel’s role is to “scrutinise” the Mayor and the Deputy Mayor, who both have Police and Crime Commissioner responsibilities – including setting the police precept, which is the part of council tax which funds police.
The decision to hike council tax was “unanimously agreed” on by the Panel.
This means that the precept will increase by 84p per month for a Band B property, or £1.08 per month for a Band D property.
When looking at the increases annually, for example, the police precept for a Band D property will increase by £13, from £243.30 to £256.30, next year, and then for a Band B property, it will go up by £10.11, from £189.23 to £199.34.
Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) insists that, even with this agreed increase for 2024/25, the Greater Manchester police precept will still remain “one of the lowest” in England.
The increase to the police precept will look to make sure that all the recent improvements in Greater Manchester Police (GMP) continue, GMCA added.
Greater Manchester residents will be contributing to the funding of things like a further 30 police officers into frontline policing roles in 2024/25, and improvements to response times for emergency and non-emergency incidents with the increase to their council tax.
Continued investment in neighbourhood policing and crime prevention teams to further reduce neighbourhood crimes is also included.
On top of this, the police precept increase will also fund increased capacity to prosecute offenders, with a particular focus on increasing arrests for sex offenders, and ensuring justice for any vulnerable victims.
Overall, GMCA says the increase will fund “continued progress to the fastest-improving police force in the country”.
Speaking following the Panel’s approval of his proposals this week, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said: “The Government’s decision to cut police funding in real terms for 2024/25 has forced us into a difficult decision at the local level.
“We are proud of the progress that GMP has made in recent years, and are simply not prepared to put this at risk by leaving the force with large a gap in its budget for the coming year.
Read more:
- Council Tax in Manchester could be raised to support the city’s ‘poorest households’
- £50m funding awarded to build thousands more ‘genuinely affordable’ homes in Manchester
- Andy Burnham declares 2024 as the year Greater Manchester ‘gets serious about housing’
“We are grateful to the cross-party Police, Crime and Fire Panel for unanimously supporting our decision and will make sure that, in the coming 12 months, GMP continues to deliver real results for our residents.”
Featured Image – gov.uk
