May 29, 2019 7.50 am This story is over 58 months old

Lincolnshire Police to recruit 30 new officers after funding boost

It will also mean more PCSOs
Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Lincolnshire Police will be able to boost their ranks with an extra 30 new officers this Autumn after additional funding of £1.8 million was secured.

PCC Marc Jones applied to the Home Office for the additional funding, which he will make available to the Chief Constable to spend this year and in 2020.

The £1.8 million extra funding is on top of additional Council Tax receipts of £400,000. With some £370,000 added from the reserves, it means an extra £2.57 million can be pumped into the policing budget in 2019.

This means the total budget available for policing and victims services has grown from £117 million in 2016/17 to £128 million in 2019.

The extra money will be used to support a number of initiatives, including the recruitment of 30 new officers and a greater than anticipated number of PCSOs.

This will come as a welcome boost after Lincolnshire Police revealed in February 2019 the the force would be making staffing cuts across the board. The force previously said £3.2 million must be shaved from costs in the financial year to March 2020.

Other spending plans include boosting the digital forensics unit and ARC team by two and four extra posts respectively.

Further investments will also be made to increase the force’s ability to protect children and vulnerable adults, as well as the ongoing wellbeing programme.

Lincolnshire Police and Crime Commissioner Marc Jones. Photo: The Lincolnite

PCC Marc Jones said: “There is no doubt that Lincolnshire still faces some long term financial challenges and costs have risen too, leaving a significant gap between current spending and the available budget which we continue to work on.

“The extra money will enable me to fund vital front line officers as well as some innovative and effective projects that will cut offending, keep communities safer, reduce the number of victims and improve the effectiveness of the force.

“But we cannot rest on our laurels. I will be spending the coming months working hard to persuade those in Westminster that a new funding formula is necessary to ensure Lincolnshire gets its fair share of income in the years ahead.”

Lincolnshire Police Chief Constable Bill Skelly. Photo: Steve Smailes for The Lincolnite

Chief Constable Bill Skelly said: “I am delighted that as a result of this extra funding we will be able to recruit 30 officers later this year.

“This is above what we were expecting and allows us to strengthen the officer numbers, as the types of crime in our county become more complex and challenging.

“Our original financial position earlier this year meant that we had to make some savings, and these processes are now complete.”