Police chiefs to lobby new government for change

Tim Smith said he thought the formula for police funding was "outdated"

Kent's Chief Constable says he, and other police chiefs, will be lobbying the new government after July 4 to change the way policing is funded.

Tim Smith said he thought the formula for police funding was "outdated" and needed to change.

"In effect it just means I don’t get enough money to pay the police officers and staff that I have," he said.

The Home Office has been contacted for a comment.

Mr Smith told BBC Radio Kent that one of the first conversations he had with the county's police and crime commissioner Matthew Scott after he was re-elected was about budgets.

The Chief Constable previously said his biggest challenge was that the force had been "feeling the pinch" financially.

"I think we may have to save as much as £30m over the next four years," he said back in December 2022.

"That's a significant amount of money, so I've got to work very hard with my senior leaders to work out how can we continue to deliver all these services to the level that we want and the public deserve, while also making those savings."

He said that some police chiefs had been lobbying the government for "some time", but would start again following the general election.