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Kent to make £9m budget savings

Kent Police is to cut the wages of new senior officers as part of plans to cut £9m from the budget.
Published - 12/02/2020 By - Chris Smith

Kent revealed it is hiring senior officers at a lower rate than their predecessors which will help save £2.7m.

Chief Constable Alan Pughsley has revealed plans to improve procurement and cut the costs of back office functions such as IT to meet a £9m savings target.

The force is increasing its precept for the next financial year by £10 for an average Band D property’s council tax bill to £203.15.

He revealed the force has had to identify more than £110m of savings since 2010.

The cuts come despite the force recruiting 142 PCSOs and support staff as well as 181 frontline officers – of which 147 are part of the government’s uplift programme.

Chief Constable Alan Pughsley said: ‘By the end of the next financial year Kent Police will have 3,813 police officers, which is the most in our history and is being achieved through increased funding provided by both the government and the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner.

‘We will also be recruiting an additional 36 Police Community Support Officers to build on the 300 we already have, as well as an extra 106 members of staff in roles including Community Liaison Officers, digital forensic officers and other vital staff to support operational policing.”

CC Pughsley explained how the savings had been made: “We still had to identify around £9m worth of savings by the end of March 2020. About a third of these savings have been achieved naturally through the retirement of long-serving police officers who had reached a higher salary band than those replacing them.

‘The police service nationally has faced unprecedented financial challenges in recent years, with Kent Police alone having to identify more than £110m worth of savings since 2010. It has therefore been essential for us to find more innovative and cost-effective ways of working while also protecting frontline services. We have managed to do just that and are now well-placed to continue to provide a first class service to the people of Kent in the years to come.”

The force’s Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott, said: “‘This means the Chief Constable is going to have more of the resources he needs to bring burglars, robbers and violent criminals to justice. There will be more resources going into schools to work with children, parents and teachers, and we are maintaining our commitment to visible community policing.

“It is not within my gift to tell the Chief Constable how these new resources are deployed but I do expect them to support the priorities in my Police and Crime Plan. And what he has indicated to me is that they will go towards visibility, vulnerability and public contact.”

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