The community says it's willing to pay more to protect policing

Each year we lose £12 million a year that we are assessed to need for policing Avon Somerset*. This has forced us to become increasingly reliant on council tax. Before setting this year’s policing part of the council tax, the Police Authority commissioned Ipsos Mori to ask residents how much they were prepared to pay for policing. 82% said they wanted to see a council tax level set which would maintain or improve policing services, an increase far above the £161 which was finally set.

If the government grant shortfall were made up, the average cost per household would drop to £140, which would put us much lower than our peer average.

Measure	ASPA Score	MSG Average	+/-% Average
Cost per household	£161	£147	+9.5%

Nationally, the picture alters to 2.5% above average.

Measure	ASPA Score	National Average	+/-% Average
Cost per household	£161	£157	+2.5%

*A funding formula is calculated by the government based upon relative needs within each Police Authority area. Avon and Somerset is identified by this calculation as being under-resourced by nearly £12M a year. The amount we actually receive is scaled back to ensure that all Police Authorities receive a minimum grant increase, this funding system is known as 'damping'. The impact is the largest of any "Shire" Police Authority and by the end of the end of 2010/11 we would have lost nearly £60m due to the funding formula.