High Crime, Low Funding: Why Teesside's Being Short-Changed Again...

Matt Storey Labour PCC for Teesside

Police Commissioner Warns Funding Deal Falls Short of What’s Needed, as a 'Bottom-Tier' Police Force, receives 'Bottom-Tier' Funding...

20th December 2025

A scandal ridden police force has recieved one of the lowest funding proposals from the Government sparking concerns over the future of the force many perceive to be operating with almost no public confidence.

Labours Police and Crime Commissioner for Teesside, Matt Storey, has issued a stark warning after it was confirmed Cleveland Police will receive the lowest funding increase of any police force in England and Wales under the latest government settlement announced recently.

The announcement is said to have raised serious concerns about the future financial sustainability of policing across Teesside, particularly given the region’s long-standing challenges with crime, corruption, deprivation, and social inequality.

Funding Formula “Fundamentally Flawed”

Responding to the settlement, the Labour Crime Commissioner Matt Storey said he was “beyond concerned” that Teesside had once again been disadvantaged by the national police funding formula. Despite persistently high levels of crime, the regions allocation remains tied largely to population size, a mechanism critics argue fails to reflect real policing demand.

According to the Commissioner, the current model takes no meaningful account of deprivation, social harm, or entrenched economic problems—all of which are recognised drivers of crime and victimisation in Teesside.

“As it has for years, the flawed funding formula disadvantages our area based on its small population size—without any consideration of our significant social and economic problems,” he said.

Increase Barely Matches Inflation

While Cleveland Police’s funding uplift broadly tracks inflation, the Commissioner warned that this provides little real-term improvement and does not address mounting pressures on frontline services.

He warned that, without additional government support, the force could soon face severe financial strain.

“If there is no further funding from the Government coming down the pipeline, Cleveland Police will be left in an incredibly difficult financial situation.”

The warning also comes amid rising costs at Cleveland Police reportedly linked to staffing, estates, technology, and specialist policing demands—pressures already being felt across forces nationwide.

Calls for Reform Based on Need, Not Headcount

The Commissioner said he hopes any forthcoming national reforms to policing will include a fundamental overhaul of how forces are funded, arguing that allocations should instead be based on crime levels, operational demand, and deprivation, rather than crude population metrics that fail to reflect the lived realities in areas such as Teesside.

“A key part of this work must be to revise how police forces are funded, by focusing on need, crime rate and deprivation—none of which are currently considered.”

That certainly means the Police Precept of Council Tax will have to be Increased in April 2026...

For residents across Teesside, the funding decision raises difficult questions about visibility, response times, and the long-term capability of Cleveland Police to tackle serious and organised crime, antisocial behaviour, and repeat victimisation.

With Cleveland once again placed at the bottom of the funding table, critics argue the settlement risks reinforcing regional inequality—leaving some of the most challenged communities in England with fewer resources to keep them safe, however others claim its the first steps towards Cleveland Police being dissolved as a police force, allowing its services to be merged with another regions police force, as the government becomes increasingly worried that funding Cleveland Police is merely funding its corruption, explaining, at least in some part as to why its funding settlement is the lowest in the country.