The Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland Police and Crime Panel met on Monday to discuss the Police and Crime Commissioner's annual report, an update from the Police and Crime Commissioner, and public disorder. Councillors were also scheduled to discuss updates on panel membership, Section 106 agreements¹, and the police funding formula.

Police Funding Formula

The panel was scheduled to discuss issues with the current police funding formula and its impact on Leicestershire Police. A report in the Public Reports Pack noted that the Police Allocation Formula (PAF) is the method the Home Office uses to decide how much central government money each of the 43 forces in England and Wales receives each year.

The formula uses a combination of socio-economic and demographic indicators to estimate the workload of each police force, including:

• Population size and density
• Urbanisation
• Socio-economic deprivation
• Daytime net inflow of people
• Number of bars per hectare

The report stated that the formula was introduced in 2006 and relies on data as old as the 2001 Census, and that it is considered outdated and difficult to understand or justify.

The panel was asked to support the Police and Crime Commissioner in lobbying the government for a fundamental review of the police funding formula. The report noted that Leicestershire Police receive 56% of its funding from central government and the remaining 44% from local precept². It also stated that Leicestershire Police is the 7th lowest funded force per capita at £207, and that if Leicestershire Police funding per capita was in line with the funding per capita for England and Wales, Leicestershire Police would receive an additional £50m.

Police and Crime Commissioner's Annual Report 2024/25

The panel was scheduled to discuss the Police and Crime Commissioner's annual report for 2024/25. The Draft Annual Report outlined the exercise of the body's functions in each financial year, and the progress which has been made in the financial year in meeting the police and crime objectives in the body's police and crime plan.

The report included a foreword from the Police and Crime Commissioner, key achievements, and information on communications and engagement, commissioning and partnerships, finance, and scrutiny, assurance and statutory duties.

Key achievements listed in the report included:

• 11,724 enquiries through the mailbox
• 17 Freedom of Information requests responded to
• 237 community engagements
• 170 complaint reviews completed
• 942 volunteered hours
• 40, 012 Neighbourhood Alert subscribers
• 64 crime prevention projects funded in partnership with the Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs)
• £354k invested in community safety small grants
• £1.4mil invested in victim support services
• £7.4mil secured a total of income for the force area in 2024/25
• 3,900 responses to surveys
• 593,800 social media reach
• 97.5% Victim Satisfaction victim support service Catch 22
• 16,146 victims supported
• 87% of victims supported feel better able to cope and have enhance resilience to move on with daily life
• -13% reduction in recorded serious violence offences in the fifth-year anniversary of our local Violence Reduction Network (VRN).

The panel was invited to ask the Commissioner further questions on the activities within the report.

Police and Crime Commissioner's Update

The Police and Crime Panel were scheduled to receive an update from the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) on work undertaken between April 2025 and July 2025. The PCC Update Report included details of community consultation and engagement, commissioning and partnership activity, and scrutiny and governance activity.

During the reporting period, the Police and Crime Commissioner undertook a total of 55 engagements, and passed on local intelligence to the local Neighbourhood Area Commanders on 11 occasions.

The report also provided an update on commissioning and partnership activity, including details of contracts for Out of Court Resolutions (OOCR), community based commissioning, People Zones³, and the Violence Reduction Network.

The panel was asked if it was supportive of the work update provided by the PCC, and if it would like to make any recommendations to the PCC in relation to any of the work outlined within the report.

Public Disorder

The panel was scheduled to discuss a report outlining how the Police and Crime Commissioner is fulfilling his duty by contributing to national and international policing capabilities, bringing together community safety and criminal justice partners, and holding the Chief Constable accountable for the policing of large-scale public disorder.

The Public Order Policing report noted that there have been multiple incidents of public disorder across the UK in previous years, and that thanks to social media and organised groups this disorder is now easier than ever to organise and rapid to develop.

The report stated that each force regionally and nationally has to maintain a pre-determined commitment to the Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR), and that the Chief Constable confirmed that the amount in place is the amount required.

The panel was asked if it was content in the way that the PCC has held the Chief Constable to account on this important subject, and if it would like to make any recommendations to the PCC in relation to this matter.

Update on Panel Membership

The panel was scheduled to receive an update on panel membership. The Update on Panel Membership outlined a change to panel membership and confirmed that membership of the Police and Crime Panel reflects the requirements for precise political balance.

The report noted that following the County Council election in May 2025, the political balance and allocation for the municipal year 2025/26 is as follows:

Following the annual meetings of appointing Councils, the membership of the Police and Crime Panel for 2025/26 did not reflect the requirements for precise political balance, and comprised 4 Conservative members, 4 Labour members, 3 Liberal Democrat members, 1 Reform member, and 1 Independent member i.e., 1 additional Labour member and no Green appointee.

On 5 August 2025, Harborough District Council notified the Director of Law and Governance at Leicestershire County Council that it had reviewed its appointment and had appointed Councillor Darren Woodiwiss of the Green Party, rather than Councillor Jim Knight of the Labour Party.

The change in appointment by Harborough District Council means that membership of the Police and Crime Panel now reflects the requirements for precise political balance.

Section 106 Update

The panel was scheduled to receive an update on how the PCC and Force are implementing the recommendations that were provided as part of the Police and Crime Panel Tasking group S106 funding review.

The S106 Update noted that the Police and Crime Panel endorsed the recommendations in the Task Group report S106 review which was presented to the Police and Crime Panel on 14th December 2022. The recommendations were as follows:

• The Force to take steps to repurpose s106 agreements that are no longer viable through liaison with local authority planning officers and developers to ensure that funding is secured.
• The Force to produce a defined list of items to be linked to its Investment Strategy and which can be used for repurposing agreements.
• The Force to progress work in partnership with planners and/or Community Safety Partnerships to align timescales and awareness of new larger developments and to co-ordinate needs with other infrastructure projects.
• The Police and Crime Commissioner to provide for resource to enable establishment of sufficient officer support to the s106 area of work and to facilitate the spend of s106 monies and pursuit of new bids.
• The Police and Crime Commissioner/Force to develop and introduce a monitoring system to enable oversight and management of all s106 agreements and to monitor use of monies received.
• The Police and Crime Commissioner/Force to liaise with planning officers in determining any new method for future bids.

The report stated that the force has identified a number of projects to maximise the use of S106 funding, and that the Force currently has £1.5m of agreements which are due to expire in 2026. The Force will continue to prioritise draw down from these agreements and identify suitable projects to fund.