Lincolnshire Police funding to be reviewed, says minister

Lincolnshire's Chief Constable Neil Rhodes (left) pressed Policing Minister Damien Green (right) to fund the force "properly"

The policing minister has said the government would be reviewing the funding formula that determines how much money Lincolnshire Police gets.

The force is cutting £19.8m by 2015 and in January the government cut a further £1m from its budget.

The chief constable said Lincolnshire Police should be funded "properly".

Police and Criminal Justice Minister Damien Green, who visited Lincoln on Thursday, said he was hoping to find a formula "that's fair to all".

Alan Hardwick, Lincolnshire's Police and Crime Commissioner, said the current funding system unfairly discriminates against the county.

'Money shrinking'

The force claimed it has made considerable progress by reducing the number of police officers by 106 and outsourcing back office functions to private company G4S.

Lincolnshire's Chief Constable Neil Rhodes, said: "The pot of money for policing is shrinking... and my mission is that Lincolnshire gets a fair share of that."

Mr Green, who visited the Ermine estate in Lincoln, said: "You've got 43 different forces ranging from relatively small forces like Lincolnshire to the Metropolitan Police... so having a funding formula that's fair to all is difficult.

"We are looking at the formula and hopefully we will come out with something that's fair to all at the end of it."

In the short term, there was no immediate promise of extra cash to Lincolnshire.