Khan proposes council tax hike to fund the Metropolitan Police and London Fire Brigade

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced today in his Draft Budget that he is planning an increase in council tax to provide urgent funding for the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the London Fire Brigade (LFB).

The Mayor welcomed the £208.4 million of additional funding for the MPS announced by the Government last month.

But there is still a significant shortfall in the Met’s budget due to over a decade of cuts by the previous government, which reduced annual core funding for policing in the capital by £1.1 billion in real terms.

That’s why the Mayor is planning to step in by increasing the policing precept part of council tax by £14 per year – the equivalent of £1.17 a month (for an average Band D household).

This will help to fill financial gaps in the Met’s budget and is expected to raise an additional £54m, which will help to keep neighbourhood police officers on the streets and bear down on violent crime and robbery.

As Mayor, Sadiq has already increased police funding from City Hall to record levels, directly putting 1,300 extra police officers on the streets. This financial year alone, the Mayor has put in a record £151m to bolster policing and crime prevention in London. Since 2016, he’s doubled the funding the MPS receives from City Hall, taking it from 19 per cent of the Met’s total budget, to 25 per cent.

Overall, the Mayor’s Draft Budget for the next financial year proposes investing £1.149 billion of council tax and business rates funding to the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) in 2025-26 – an increase of nearly 103 per cent in annual funding compared to the previous Mayor’s final budget.

The Mayor is also planning to increase the non-police council tax precept by 3 per cent and to allocate the increase to the LFB in full. This is the equivalent of 41p a month increase for an average Band D household. The LFB is the UK’s largest fire and rescue service, operating in an extremely complex environment in London. The Mayor believes that additional, sustainable investment is necessary to ensure it can continue to carry out prevention and protection work to keep Londoners safe.

Previous investment from the Mayor has already driven the transformation of the LFB and has helped to deliver new equipment, improved training and better ways of working, particularly in how the LFB responds to fires in high-rise residential buildings. The LFB is responding to emergencies faster and is now rated as outstanding by His Majesty’s Inspectorate in how it responds to major and multi-agency incidents.  The proposed additional funding announced today will ensure the LFB can maintain these significant improvements to performance and culture, including those delivered in response to the recommendations of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry.

In total, the Mayor is proposing that council tax increases by an additional £18.98 a year for an average Band D household – the equivalent of £1.58 a month.

The Mayor’s Draft Budget also confirms £147.5m of funding to deliver free school meals for all London’s state primary schoolchildren in 2025-26 – the third year of the historic scheme. Delivering free school meals has been one of Sadiq’s proudest moments as Mayor and he has vowed to continue the scheme for as long as he is in office.

More than 43m free school meals were funded in the first year of the scheme, with up to 287,000 children benefitting and families saving more than £1,000 per child over the first two years of the scheme. The Draft Budget shows how additional business rates income will be used to continue delivery of this landmark policy.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The last thing I want to do is increase council tax at a time when many household budgets are stretched. But keeping Londoners safe is my top priority as Mayor and I’ll always do everything I can to ensure the Met police and the London Fire Brigade have the funding they need.

“The Government recently announced some welcome additional funding for policing in London, but the Met is still facing a budget shortfall due to over a decade of damaging real terms cuts by the previous government. That’s why I’m stepping in to provide an additional £54m, which will help to keep neighbourhood police officers on the streets and bear down on violent crime and robbery.

“I will continue to work closely with the Government, the Met Commissioner and the Fire Commissioner on the funding our police and fire brigade need to ensure we can continue building a safer London for everyone.

“I’m also delighted to confirm today record funding to continue delivering universal free school meals for state primary school children across the capital. We have seen the huge difference these meals have made to families, children and school communities, which is why I’m committed to delivering this scheme for as long as I’m Mayor.”