Lincolnshire Police force rules out emergency tax amid financial woes

Lincolnshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has ruled out implementing an emergency council tax increase next year despite the force’s financial woes.

Forces can raise their share of the council tax – known as the police precept – by around £14 per year for Band D homes.

However, they can hold a public vote to seek approval for greater increases.

Conservative PCC Marc Jones has ruled out doing this, despite the force facing bankruptcy without government help.

“Referendums are designed to fail – they’re political stunts which are impossible to win,” he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

“It would cost around £1.5million, and the legislation means you can’t explain what you would spend the extra money on in the question.

“Even if people support the idea of paying more to stop police job cuts, no one would vote for it. It’s not an option.”

The only time a referendum of this kind has been used, by Bedfordshire Police in 2015, failed by 70 per cent to 30 per cent.

However, Mr Jones was clear that council tax will need to go up next year due to the force’s perilous financial position.

“If the public wants to maintain services, there will have to be a recognition that costs have gone up,” he said.

“No one wants to pay more – as a taxpayer I personally don’t want to pay more – but it amounts to a few pence a week.”

Consultation on how much this should be will begin in the next few weeks.

The force announced last week it would spend its remaining savings rather than shrink the force by 200 officers and 200 staff.

However, it has warned that even more severe cuts will be needed unless emergency help is provided by the government.

If it can’t set a balanced budget for the 2026/27 financial year, it will have to effectively declare itself bankrupt – the first time this has ever happened to a police force.