Merseyside’s Police Commissioner is asking local people if they would be willing to pay a little extra through the police precept, which is collected alongside the council tax, to help protect 100 police officer jobs and recruit 40 new officers.

The public consultation launched by Jane Kennedy follows the budget announcement in December where the Government said local council precept payers must pay more to avoid further cuts in police jobs.

Since 2010 Merseyside Police have already been required to make cuts of £110m, with an estimated £14.5m still to make by 2022/23. In that time, the size of the organisation has reduced by a quarter, with 1,110 fewer police officers now patrolling the region’s streets. This increase in the precept would enable the Chief Constable to avoid the planned cut of 100 police posts and instead, increase the number of police officer posts by 40.