West Yorkshire Police funding rises - but its council tax payers who are footing the bill

Total funding for the four Yorkshire forces will rise from £984m in 2018/19 to £1051m in 2019/20 - an increase of nearly seven per cent. according to the Halifax Courier's sister newspaper The Yorkshire Post.

Nearly a third of the rise (32 per cent) will be paid for by local taxpayers with council tax funding £328.5m of the increase- the rest will be provided by the Government.

The amount raised by the council tax precept has increased by 14 per cent since 2018/19 when it stood at £286.4m.

To fund that, taxpayers in West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the Humberside Police force area all saw bills increase by the equivalent of £24 per year for a Band D property.

Police and crime commissioners across Yorkshire have been responding to the figures expressing their disappointment with the Government, stating the funding burden has been passed to council taxpayers.

West Yorkshire Police will receive total funding of £446.7m funding for 2019/20 - an increase from the £418.1m the force received in the previous 12 months.

Of the £446.7m, £324.7m will come from the Government and £122m from the precept.

West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Mark Burns-Williamson said: "As this Home Office report indicates, the Government part of police funding, which makes up around 70 per cent of our budget, has remained largely flat with the majority of the new funding burden being picked up by local council taxpayers through the police precept."