Northamptonshire Police, Fire and crime - consultation on council tax precept 2024 - 2025

Posted 4 months ago in Residents' Information

The Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner has today launched his council tax precept survey for police and fire.

The police and fire precepts are the amount that Northamptonshire residents pay towards policing and the fire service through their council tax – together, both precepts amount to around 18% of the council tax a household pays.

Over the last four years, the support given by local people through the precept has enabled both Northamptonshire Police and Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service to invest in how they keep people safe, with more police officers, more firefighters and more resources put into key areas of work.

Now the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner is asking people how much they are prepared to pay to keep resources for the fire service and policing at the current level.

Stephen Mold is recommending an increase in the policing precept of £15 a year for a Band D household, and of £5 a year in the fire precept for 2024/25, which is the amount of funding both services need to sustain both budgets at their current level and meet cost pressures. 

He said: “I know how hard the cost-of-living crisis has been for people, and I don’t propose an increase in the police and fire precepts lightly, so I genuinely want to know how much people are prepared to pay towards their local emergency services.”

The online survey takes around 15 minutes to complete and explains the impact that different council tax precept options would have on the policing and fire budgets.

You can complete the survey here.

The survey closes on 14 January, 2024 and the Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner will then take his recommendations to a meeting of Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Panel in February.