Save our PCSO'S

[brianb]

I know.

It's no longer 27, it's shot up to 31...

[yvonne]

I am hopeing over the weekend that there will be more signatures ,has anyone got any thoughts on where on the internet i can post a letter on the epetition anything that i am able to get more signatures on . Or any newspapers that i can write to or email.

[yvonne]

just received an email from the i newspaper that it will be considered for possible publication. dont know when though.

[Yvonne]

Ihave just sent some emails to local papers and to two national papers The Sun and The Sunday People the local ones are Thurrock Gazette, The Enquirer,Basildon Echo, Brentwood Gazette, Barking and Dagenham Post, will let you know if any will publish.

[yvonne pitchers]

hello just letting you know what i am doing i am looking into petitioning parliament and i am doing it about match funding to see if i can get the decision changed to get the goverment to pay all of your salaries. at the minute i am having trouble finding anything on the home office website and the hmic website about it so i have gone back to the start of pcsos to 2002 if anyone has got any information on match funding would you please let me know.it is going to take me quite a while but i will try to keep you updated .

[yvonne pitchers]

hello i am having trouble finding any information on matchfunding if any one has any ideas where i can find it would you please let me know.i believe it was around 2002when it started.

[falkor]

what is match funding? never heard of it, what has it got to do with PCSOs?

[yvonne pitchers]

I n answer to your question what is match funding , it is where the government pays 75% of the pcso funds and the other 25% is paid bypolice councils businesses and other organisations.This does not apply to the Metropolitan Police.

[Arthur ASCII]

The big problem with Match Funding is that it's subject to political whim.

PCSOs need to be totally funded from central government.

[falkor]

what is the difference between "Ring fenced money" (as referred to by PCC Hurley) and Match Funding?

RING FENCED MONEY
In February (this year) Surrey's Police Commissioner said he thought PCSOs were doing a good job but wanted to make sure those officers were able to ‘intervene more decisively’ in all types of situations. (become PCs)

He said “One of the challenges with making the budget balance is simply this,” he said. “The government is giving us ring-fenced money to pay for PCSOs.

“In the future that money is going to cease and we are going to have to pay for it from the overall collective budget.

So is Ring Fenced Money the same as Match Funding and why does this not apply to the MET? (see post above dated 17 May)

[Arthur ASCII]

Ring-fenced money is a part of the Force's money that can ONLY be spent on PCSOs. Match funding is where a Local Authority agrees to match the money the police spend on PCSOs with an equal amount of Council dosh.

The Met employs CSO NOT PCSOs, that's why the funding (and the union that represents them) is different.

[yvonne pitchers]

I agree that the government needs to pay for all of the funding for pcsos , If the match funding is going to stop in the future then it should be funded by the council tax.

[yvonne]

I emailed the home office asking them for some information on match funding pcsos from 2002 up to date and why the government made the decision to fully fund the pcsos for the first year, and then to match fund after.
I have just had this reply come in .
The neighbourhood policing fund was a home office specific annual grant of which about 90% was ringfenced for pcsos, in recognition of the essential role that they play in delivering visible and available policing for communities .The fund contributed up tp 75% of pcso salary costs across England and Wales on the basis that the remaining proportion was funded by the Police ,Councils, and other organisations in recognition of their role in community safety. From the 1st of Aprilk 2013 the fund was consolidated in to the police main grant to give police crime commissioners freedom and flexibility over how they use their resourses. pcc in consultation with chief constables can now take local decisions on neighberhood policing and pcsos resourseing in response to local needs.
If anyone can tell me on what basis the remaining proportion has to be match funded i would be gratefull .I have emailed the home office to ask more questions will let you know when i get a reply.

[Arthur ASCII]

I agree that the government needs to pay for all of the funding for pcsos , If the match funding is going to stop in the future then it should be funded by the council tax.

Not a good idea!. Our council stopped paying last year, resulting in the loss of 18 PCSOs.

[yvonne]

Iam sorry to hear that 18 pcsos were lost looks like it is going to be down to the matchfunding to see if i can get the decision reversed.