Wednesday, October 08, 2014

Leicestershire Police, Change Programme, Why Change? funding gap of £15.4m

By March 2014 Leicestershire Police projects a funding gap of £15.4m, Our current budget is £172.6m.

Over 80% of our costs are spent on our people. The force has shown by HMIC Value for Money
profiles to be relatively lean in both non-staff related expenditure, such as transport and supplies,
and support functions. Despite this the Force continues to identify and implement cost reduction
in these areas.

In approaching our future challenges we have utilised the same approach as many of our partners.
Placing the citizen at the heart of our service we have looked at the demand which comes into the
organisation, using an end-to-end approach, seeking to identify both how we reduce this and manage
it more efficiently. We have sought and found evidence based on proposals to do this.

We have looked at how we can redesign our services to continue to meet the needs of the communities of Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland through more efficient and effective services.

We recognise that our communities are changing. The once clear community boundary between the
City and County is becoming increasingly blurred. The community footprint is changing and we must be flexible and respond to this.

We recognise that one size does not fit all. The policing area we serve is very diverse with its urban and rural mix, social demographics and cultural differences, partnership landscape, safeguarding elements such as vulnerable families as well as crime and calls for service. Our new model has taken
all of this into consideration.

Structural change is an essential part of the new model which retains local policing at its heart focusing on community issues and victims needs.