Increase in council tax for GMP funds is proposed by mayor

The Greater Manchester police precept public consultation was launched on Monday and looks to give GMP more investment after years of cuts to its funding.

Between 2011-2019, GMP lost £215 million in funding from the government, resulting 2,000 less police officers and 1,000 less support staff.

Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham said: "I hope the public will agree with me in this consultation process to support our police by giving them more funding so they can truly transform into the service we want them to be and keep our communities safe."

Deputy mayor for Greater Manchester Beverley Hughes said: "We want the public to have confidence in GMP again and with the help of local taxpayers through the police precept, I know we can do that."

The increase would see people in a Band B property having their precept increased by £7.77 or those in Band D having their police precept raised by £10, bringing the total police precepts to £117.55 and £218.3 respectively.

The proposed increase in the precept will look to fund the transformation of the GMP contact centre, provide 438 new officers, allow for Operation Avro to continue and set up a community messaging system for neighbourhood officers and residents to communicate through.

Part of the move to increase funding is to continue the momentum GMP has had since new chief constable Stephen Watson joined the force in May 2021.

Since CC Watson took office, the average answer time for a 999 call has reduced by nine seconds, there has been a 55 per cent reduction in the waiting list for incidents to be dealt with and 92 per cent of burglaries are attended.

There has also been an investment in over 160 new cars and driver training capacity so officers can respond to incidents more quickly.

Mr Burnham said: "We now have a new Chief Constable with a new improvement plan, and we should show our confidence in that plan."