Increases in council tax for Dorset's police and fire services will add an additional £20 to annual bills for the average Band D property.

Dorset Police has agreed an increase of just under 4% – lower than inflation increases – to its share of the council tax bill as of April 2023, equating to an extra £15 a year for Band D properties. 

Despite the increase, the force says it will still be difficult to meet its targets – facing not only inflationary costs, but the second lowest government payment in the country.

Police and Crime Commissioner for Dorset, David Sidwick, said it remains unfair that while council taxpayers elsewhere in the country pay 20% of their police budget, Dorset Council taxpayers are having to find more than 50%.

He says the national police funding formula pays little attention to the seasonal influx of visitors to the county, or its rurality, although said he was hopeful that a coming government review of the formula would recognise the need to make changes.

Dorset's outgoing Chief Constable, Scott Chilton, who leaves for the top job in Hampshire at the end of March, said that had councillors not accepted the increase, it could have resulted in cuts to staffing, including the loss of some uniformed posts.

But he said the increase would mean services being maintained and the force being able to recruit an additional 15 officers above the national 'uplift' figures – staff which would be directed to the areas of most need.

He told a Police and Crime Panel meeting that, even with the agreed increase and £4million of savings already identified, there was still the need to find further savings of at least £3.3million in the coming financial year.

The meeting heard that energy costs and contracted finance agreements were adding £2.5million a year to Dorset Police's bills, with another £5.5million in pay awards – both areas out of the control of the force's finance team.

Mr Chilton said that, despite the restricted budget, the force was bucking the national trend with its success in tackling overall crime and anti-social behaviour, with Dorset's crime rate now the 6th lowest in the country, up from its previous position of 10th.

He said "significant inroads" had been made against drug dealing and, where staff were concentrating on anti-social behaviour in some communities, it was being rewarded with better figures. 

Further investment was also being planned for rural policing.

Mr Chilton revealed that, among the cost-savings already identified, was a temporary pause in recruiting police civilian staff with the force was also looking at extending the operational life of some of its capital assets.

It is also considering ways of using technology to make it more cost-effective, including to the 101 phone service.

'Funding will be spent wisely and well'

The unanimous agreement from the panel to increase Dorset Police precept comes after an online public survey with 1,553 respondents, 74% agreeing that Dorset Police required additional funding and 60% supporting the proposal to raise the precept.

Mr Sidwick said: "I want to thank each of the 1,553 people who responded to share their thoughts on police funding and precept."

"Last year, I gave you my assurance that the precept funding would be spent under the prism of the 'Make Every Penny Count' priority of my Police and Crime Plan and that is exactly what has happened.

"Over the last year, I have overseen an increase in investment into strengthening neighbourhood policing, I have seen Dorset Police overachieve on its recruitment targets and introduce new ground-breaking policing operations such as Op Viper and Op Scorpion to tackle county lines and drug crime.

"I have ensured that investment has been made in tackling anti-social behaviour through Op Relentless and through my own Op Relentless Community Fund, and I have made available more vital resources for tackling rural crime across our county.

"I have made no secret of my frustration that Dorset Police is one of the lowest funded forces in the country and I am absolutely intent on changing that. 

"I will continue to lobby government to make the changes to the funding formula because I want a 'fair share' for Dorset. Nothing would make me happier than not to have to rely on funding the service via precept contributions – but until we get a fair share of the funding, I am reliant on the support of the residents and homeowners in Dorset.

"I give you my assurance that this year's precept funding will be spent wisely and well and to the advantage of the residents and communities of Dorset, and in the pursuit of making our county the safest in England and Wales."

Fire service also increase council tax precept

An additional £5 council tax increase for Band D properties has been agreed for Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Services. 

It brings the precept for the service from £79.43 a year to £84.43 per year for band D properties.

The meeting heard that, despite the budget agreement, the service's budget could be blown off course by a number of unknown factors, including a lack of information on Home Office grants towards pensions, typically worth £2.7million per year, and uncertainty over pay awards.

Chief officer Ben Ansell told the meeting that the service had budgeted for 2% pay awards for this year and next, but those agreed so far were running at more than double that, already adding an extra £1.65million to costs this year.

He said that a statement from the London service that it would offer inflation level increases of 11% to its firefighters had been "unhelpful" and would put pressure on other fire authorities to match that amount in nationally agreed pay negotiations.

He said that if the pay dispute did result in strike action, it would incur extra costs for the service to bring in emergency back up.

Dorset Cllr Byron Quayle, who chairs the service's finance committee, said councillors had no alternative but to accept the budget and continue to press for extra funding for fire and rescue services through local MPs.

The meeting heard that, if a larger than anticipated pay award was agreed, the service would have to turn to its reserve funding to meet the extra expenditure.

About 80% of the fire service's costs relate to spending on staff, with about 75% of its total funding coming from the council tax precept and the remainder mainly from government grants.

The agreed precept amount will give the service revenue funding of £66.7million for the coming financial year.

The service also has a capital budget, which includes £8million set aside for a revamp of the existing training centre in Swindon, and a new-build training centre behind Weymouth fire station, which has yet to receive planning permission.