Council tax bills are set to rise by a total of £330 million across England and Wales next year, in order to provide extra funding for police.
Labour announced an additional £17.4 billion in funding for police for 2025-26, an increase of £986.9 million compared to this year. However, around a third of this funding is dependent on local council tax bills rising.
The increase could see £14 added to annual bills for the average Band D property, depending on decisions made by local authorities.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson told MPs that the settlement strikes ‘the balance between protecting taxpayers and providing funding for police forces.’
She also confirmed that the overall funding boost will help cover costs such as police pay rises, increasing employer national insurance contributions, and additional recruitment.
The total amount going into policing, including the money to forces along with ‘wider system funding’ will be £19.5 billion, a £1 billion increase, representing an overall 3% real terms rise.
Dame Diana said: ‘Of the £986.9 million of additional funding for police forces, I can confirm that £657.1 million of this is an increase to government grants, which includes an increase in the core grants of £339 million to ensure police forces are fully equipped to deliver our safer streets mission.
‘This also includes £230.3 million to compensate territorial forces for the costs of the change to the employer national insurance contributions from 2025-26, and an additional £100 million to kickstart the first phase of 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles.
‘This will provide policing with the funding required to tackle crime and keep communities safe.’
Police and crime commissioners have the ability to increase the precept – their portion of council tax – by up to £14 without triggering a referendum.
‘This could generate up to £329.8 million of additional funding available to police forces compared with 2024-25,’ Dame Diana told MPs.
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