Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen is asking residents how much more they are willing to pay to prevent crime and protect their families and communities from harm.
The County Durham and Darlington PCC is preparing to set next year’s budget for the force – one of her pivotal responsibilities as Commissioner – and is seeking the public’s views through a new online survey.
Once again, this year’s budget will be drawn up against a backdrop of spiralling cost pressures such as energy, nationally-set pay awards and inflation.
Meanwhile, a growing divide of wealth between forces – especially those in England compared to Wales – is leaving forces like Durham serving communities of entrenched deprivation behind.
Ensuring the public’s policing service is both efficient and effective is becoming more challenging and the PCC has admitted that difficult decisions need to be made.
This is why she is asking residents how much more they are prepared to contribute to sustain and enhance services throughout 2026/27.
Policing budgets are funded from two main sources, with an approximate split of 70% from central government and 30% from the amount local people pay towards policing through council tax (known as the precept).
Regrettably, forces with low tax bases like Durham have a higher proportion of Band A and B properties and are restricted in the revenue they can generate. This sees them losing out to areas such as North Yorkshire that can earn almost £500k more than Durham for every 1% increase in the precept.
“As it currently stands, PCCs are still being denied the flexibility to set a precept beyond the Government’s maximum limit – despite overwhelming public support (at least locally in Durham) for an increase of £20 or more,” said the PCC. “However, forces across the border into Wales face no such limits and have the freedom to build a service that will protect them against future threats.
“Gwent is a Welsh force of similar size and profile to Durham and Darlington. We would have received around £7m more this year alone to invest in policing if we had had the same freedom to increase the precept as Gwent over the past five years. That would have meant over 100 additional officers on the streets of County Durham and Darlington.”
Despite boosting officer levels this year, the force remains 119 officers short of 2010 levels while comparable forces have either recovered or exceeded their former strength – a situation the Commissioner is fighting vehemently to address.
As the Commissioner points out, some forces now have hundreds more officers than they did in 2010, while at least eight, like Durham, still have fewer. In 2010 Durham had 1,507 police officers. Today has 1,376 - almost 150 fewer than fifteen years ago, despite rising demand and deeper deprivation. By contrast, Gwent Police, serving a similar population, has grown from 1,437 to around 1,549 officers - an increase of 8%. That’s 112 officers more than they did 15 years ago and 173 officers more than Durham.
The position is compounded by an inadequate central grant and the absence of all capital funding for fleet,estate and technological replacements, risking the diversion of resources from the frontline.
Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen said: “There’s no sugar coating it - this year’s precept is critical to maintaining current policing services, preserving capacity and effectiveness and ensuring residents receive the high-quality response needed to keep them safe.
“Notwithstanding the challenges we face being a low tax base area, the percentage of central funding we receive is based on a deplorably inadequate and outdated funding formula – and there appears no urgency to correct it.
“Despite all of this, Durham Constabulary remains one of the highest-performing forces in the country, famed for its innovation and excellence. I want that to continue, but we cannot afford to flounder waiting for the Government to address the inequity – we have to act now.”
Joy Allen is continuing to lobby for an urgent overhaul of the funding formula. She has also written to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, Policing Minister Sarah Jones, the region’s MPs and the Treasury to voice urgent concerns at the growing disparity between English and Welsh forces.
To share your views on the precept visit: https://forms.office.com/e/dWAqyH9b5W. Alternatively, you can email General.EnquiriesPCC@durham-pcc.gov.uk to request a paper copy. All views will be considered before the PCC makes her final recommendations to the Police and Crime Panel.
Ends
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