Sussex Police to raise its portion of the average council tax bill by £13 in 2024/25

The change will take a Band D bill to £252.91 for the year.

This will be on top of the £81.54 rise imposed by West Sussex County Council – taking its share of the bill to £1,714.95 – and increases from the various district and borough councils.

The news was shared during a performance and accountability meeting chaired by Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne on Friday (February 16).

Deputy chief constable Dave McLaren told the meeting that the money would help with the financial challenges faced by the force, which faces a deficit of £20m over the next three to four years.

DCC McLaren said ‘significant savings’ had been found for the coming 12 months, which allowed Sussex Police to balance its budget.

He added: “There is much more work in the pipeline.

“It’s never easy taking money out of your revenue budget especially – but we’ve made good progress so far and I’m confident we will continue to make those strides over the next few years whilst crucially continuing to deliver [an] improved service to the public.”

DCC McLaren said the force faced some ‘significant financial challenges’ over the next two or three years.

But he highlight a number of areas in which work has been carried out and improvements made – they included rural crime, tackling serious organised crime, and the way in which data and new technologies are used to improve the way officers are called on to cover incidents.

He added: “We find ourselves in the position of on one hand we’ve clearly got savings and efficiencies to make but on the other hand we really want to improve the service that we provide to the public.

“So additional funding certainly helps us to strike a balance in that space.”