West Midlands Police to increase council tax by maximum amount

The West Midlands Police and Crime Panel has signed off on plans to increase the force's precept by £15 a year for a Band D property to £177.55.

The rise – which was put forward by the region's Labour Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson, is the maximum allowed under law and will apply to council tax bills from April.

It comes after the Home Office announced a £35.9m boost for West Midlands Police as part of its 2021-22 funding package – the largest increase to a police budget outside of London.

In a public consultation last year 89 per cent of more than 500 respondents said that they would be happy to pay an increase in council tax to ensure that more policing could be provided in their communities.

Mr Jamieson said the rise meant people in the region would still pay less that neighbouring forces, and that increasing the precept would enable West Midlands Police to "continue to recruit new police officers and allow the force to grow".

He added: "Whilst the budget will remain under serious pressure, this approval means that we are able to provide some of the additional resources in communities that the public want.

“I would much rather that the government had fully funded this increase, rather than essentially mandating a council tax increase and pushing the burden onto local taxpayers."

“However, I am pleased that my public consultation concluded that the overwhelming majority of local people were happy to pay that little bit more in their policing precept to support our police service.”

Jay Singh-Sohal, the Conservative candidate for PCC, said the West Midlands was "at the top of the league table" for precept increases, having raised it by the maximum amount every year since 2012.

He added: "Yet at the same time crime continues to rise, police stations continue to close while the Labour PCCs growing office is taking ever-more money away from frontline policing.

"If elected I will deliver a robust approach to tackle crime and not more politics, bureaucracy and excuses.”

The West Midlands Police precept is the second lowest in the country and remains at least £60 less than neighbouring forces. Warwickshire Police currently has a council tax precept of £239.22 per year.

A similar sized force, Greater Manchester Police, had a precept of £208.30 in 2020-21.

Other forces have laid out plans to increase council tax, including North Yorkshire Police, where an increase of £5.29 for band D taxpayers has been proposed.