AN INCREASE in Dorset Police's share of the council tax will help the force to recruit an extra 50 officers – although there are still 'unanswered questions' on funding for the force in future.

Police and Crime Panel members approved plans to increase the precept by the maximum amount of 1.99 per cent at a meeting which will mean average (Band D) properties will pay an extra £10 a year, bringing the annual charge to just under £241.

For those in the highest rated properties it will result in an extra £20 a year, bringing bills to just over £481, while for the lowest rated properties the rise will be £6.67, giving an annual bill of £160.39.

Dorset Police & Crime Commissioner Martyn Underhill asked the panel for their agreement to increase the precept following government advice to raise this by the maximum amount permitted.

His office held a consultation with Dorset residents asking whether they would support an increase.

More than 5,000 people responded, with just over 74 per cent saying they would be willing to pay extra for policing (£15 a year increase on Band D).

Mr Underhill said: “Following a decade of austerity, this is the first government funding settlement in years I can feel positive about, and will mean not only that Dorset Police can deliver a balanced budget but that new officers will be recruited to keep people safe.

“However, the funding always comes with strings and disappointingly once more I have been given no choice but to ask for some of the money to come from local taxpayers.

"There are still a great deal of unanswered questions about the government funding, and I want to see a fairer funding system than the current formula which massively disadvantages smaller forces like our own.

“The 50 officers starting in Dorset represent the first of a three-year recruitment cycle, and the government needs to provide much more clarity about how the force will pay for new recruits over the next two years.

“Forces urgently need a much more long term funding system, allowing chief constables to plan, particularly at a time when they are being asked to deliver huge numbers of new officers.”