Policing boss takes Home Office to court over ‘unfair’ funding based on pubs per square mile

Marc Jones,Lincolnshire's police and crime commissioner,says his force's funding model is 'unfair,ineffective and ill-suited to address the challenges they face in maintaining public safety and security'

Credit: Tim Scrivener/Alamy Stock Photo

A Conservative policing chief is taking the Home Office to court over its “unfair” and “outdated” funding formula for forces which is based on pubs per square mile and discriminates against rural areas.

Marc Jones,Lincolnshire’s police and crime commissioner,has issued proceedings against the Home Office to force it to introduce a “fairer” formula to end discrepancies that mean some metropolitan forces get 60 per cent more government cash per head than rural constabularies.

He said the formula relied on population statistics from 2013 and metrics such as pubs per square mile rather than more realistic criteria such as the length of the road network that officers had to police.

In a letter to James Cleverly,the Home Secretary,and Chris Philp,policing minister,seen by The Telegraph,Mr Jones said: “The Formula relies entirely on historical allocations and data sets,failing (either adequately or at all) to account for contemporary police needs,demographic shifts and evolving crime patterns.

“Not only has the data used for the current iterations not been updated in over 10 years,the factors for allocation themselves have not been refreshed.

“Consequently,Lincolnshire Police Force is operating under a funding model that is unfair,ineffective and ill-suited to address the challenges they face in maintaining public safety and security.

“The outdated formula,and the continued reliance on decade-old factual inputs which do not reflect current circumstances,hampers the ability of Lincolnshire Police to effectively deploy resources where they are most needed,hindering efforts to address emerging threats and prevent crime.”

Mr Jones said: 'I simply cannot continue to sit back and watch Lincolnshire unfairly disadvantaged'

Mr Jones,a former head of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC),sent the letter on April 26,before Rishi Sunak called the snap election.

He has been closely involved in drawing up a widely-supported new formula but is understood to have become frustrated at the delay in introducing it.

His letter makes clear that if the Home Office does not apply the new formula for the next spending review at the end of 2024,Mr Jones will seek a judicial review.

Home Office data shows that up to 80 per cent of the funding of urban police forces such as West Midlands,Merseyside,Greater Manchester,South and West Yorkshire,and Metropolitan Police comes from the Government.

By contrast,only half or under of the funding for rural forces such as Surrey,Dorset,North Yorkshire,North Wales,and Gloucestershire comes from the Government,meaning that local council taxpayers have to make up the difference which can amount to millions of pounds.

Mr Jones said: “Lincolnshire Police has been struggling under the pressure of historic underfunding for years and though prudent financial management has softened the blow I simply cannot continue to sit back and watch Lincolnshire unfairly disadvantaged.

“A new funding formula is desperately needed. The current one is old,uses outdated methods and statistics and penalises the communities of Lincolnshire. It is urgent for the new Government to address this as a matter of urgency when they take office.”