Police Budget 2026/27 Consultation
As your elected Police and Crime Commissioner, I am responsible for balancing the books of Norfolk Constabulary. In doing this I want to ensure that the police are supported to do their job effectively and that people living, working or spending their leisure time in Norfolk have the police service they need.
This financial year (2025/26), £201.3 million (88.1%) is being spent on officers and staff, with the remaining £21.6 million (11.9%) spent on everything else, including maintaining buildings, vehicles, fuel, equipment, computers and training. This supports every aspect of policing, from the visible front lines of neighbourhood policing teams to the many roles and operations behind the scenes that make possible those investigations into complex case areas, like County Lines drug crime and online fraud.
Police and Crime Commissioner Sarah Taylor
All of these areas need robust funding. At the same time, the demands on police time and resources continue to grow. There has been a welcome increase in the reporting of violence against women and girls that is helping us to get to grips with this critical area. The collection and processing of complex digital evidence is costly and difficult, and the ongoing challenges of addressing rural crime in the more sparsely populated parts of Norfolk are significant. On top of this, Crown Court backlogs create a huge and enduring need for the Constabulary to support victims.
The law allows PCCs to raise the policing element of council tax to meet increased demands and costs, up to a maximum amount, before a local referendum is required. Last year, the increase was £14 (£13.95) per year for a Band D property. If the same increase were to be used for 2026/27, this would leave the Constabulary with a shortfall of £1.9 million against the police’s current spending plans.
What I am asking
Would you pay an increase of £13.95 (which equates to 27 pence a week) to meet inflation-related cost pressures, nationally agreed salary increases, pension liabilities and the requirement to recruit and train new officers. This would still require the Constabulary to make savings in order to balance the books.
Before you make that decision, please also take the time to read the information provided in the messages below.
The consultation closes at 5pm on Friday 5 December 2025.
Printed copies of the survey and consultation documents are also available and can be requested by contacting the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Norfolk (OPCCN) in the following ways:
Post: OPCCN, Jubilee House, Building 7, Falconers Chase, Wymondham, Norfolk, NR18 0WW
Telephone: 01953 424455
Email: opccn@norfolk.police.uk
Earlier this year I launched my Police and Crime Plan, which was built on my consultations with residents and businesses across Norfolk. With the Constabulary, I am working to deliver the things that people asked me to prioritise, including a much stronger focus on prevention to tackle anti-social behaviour, drugs and knife crime, and more support for victims who have been let down by the court system.
The outcome of this consultation on council tax precept setting will have a direct impact on the extent to which these priorities can be delivered over the coming year.
Policing continues to operate in a complex and demanding environment. Over the summer, we experienced a significant rise in protest activity, which placed additional pressure on our resources and highlighted the evolving nature of public safety challenges. Alongside this, crime is becoming increasingly sophisticated, significant case backlogs remain in the criminal justice system while the scrutiny of policing standards and culture remains high.
Norfolk's Chief Constable Paul Sanford
In my fifth year as Chief Constable for Norfolk, my commitment to delivering exceptional policing in the county is as strong as ever. While much has changed in society and in policing, our core mission remains unchanged: to keep our communities safe and feeling safe.
We know that successful policing starts with getting the basics right - answering calls promptly, attending incidents swiftly, and investigating crime thoroughly. We continue to focus our resources on these core services.
- We maintain one of the highest crime detection rates in the country.
- Norfolk continues to have one of the lowest burglary rates nationwide.
- In the last three years, crime had reduced by 15%.
- In the last 12 months, we’ve answered 999 calls in just over 7 seconds, on average.
Officers and staff across the organisation are determined to provide the best service possible and we want to set these standards even higher. However, doing so doesn’t come without challenges.
Demand is rising - the number of 999 and 101 calls to our control room between 1 November 2024 and 31 October 2025, compared to the previous 12 months, has increased by 3.2% - that’s an additional 7814 calls. Population growth over the past decade has also led to a reduction in officer numbers per head of population, impacting our ability to respond.
For 2025/26, central government funding increased by just over 6%. However, the majority of this was to fund nationally mandated pay, pension and national insurance increases, which are beyond our control. Like many public services, we continue to face inflationary pressures, with rising costs for energy, fuel, and essential supplies.
The increase in funding was therefore inadequate and has meant the constabulary has not received any extra funding for investment. In fact, the constabulary has had to make deeper cuts to service. This, coupled with additional demand and external pressures, has meant the constabulary had to make an additional circa £4.5 million of savings in 2025/26 to balance the budget.
Our 2026/27 settlement will not be known until December but the indications from the Spending Review announced in June are that there will be significant challenges to police funding for the next three years.
We remain committed to using our resources as effectively as possible. This includes embracing new technologies and working closely with partners to redirect demand where it can be better addressed - such as in health and social care.
With 90% of our budget tied up in pay and long-term contracts, identifying further savings without impacting service delivery is increasingly difficult. Through our annual planning process, we’ve identified that we will need to make more than £3 million in additional savings in 2026/27 but to maintain the high standards the public of Norfolk rightly expect and deserve, we are seeking additional support through an increase in the policing precept.
Thank you for your continued support. Together, we will ensure Norfolk remains one of the safest counties in the country.