DORSET'S Police and Crime Commissioner will be able to demand more cash from council taxpayers under plans announced by the government.

Police Minister Nick Hurd said Martyn Underhill and other PCCs will be allowed to raise their local council tax precept by up to £2 per month for a typical household.

The move is expected to raise around £500 million and there will also be £161 million in government grants, which Mr Hurd said will see every force's funding "protected in real terms".

A further £150 million will be available to pay into police pension pots.

And there will be an extra £59 million for counter-terror police and £90 million to tackle economic crime, cyber crime and child sexual exploitation.

Mr Hurd said he was announcing the settlement at a "time of real pressure on police", saying they "need additional support to help them do their job".

As well as rising cost pressures, the minister said there "has been a major rise in the reporting of higher harm, previously hidden crimes like child sexual abuse."

He said officers were "bearing down on the worst spike in serious violence and knife crime that we have seen in a decade."

He added: "We are determined to make sure the police have the powers and resources they need to respond to changing demand."