Why does Dorset Police receive such a low amount of central funding?
Because the formula that the government uses to allocate funding does not, we believe, treat Dorset Police fairly. Dorset receives less funding per head of population than any other force in England except one. Dorset Police has long argued, for example, that it fails to take account of the public order and violent crime associated with the huge number of visitors to Bournemouth’s expanding nightclub scene. Another factor in our relative under funding is the so-called ‘Area Cost Adjustment (ACA)’, where forces with high average salaries in their area receive additional grant. Neighbouring forces Wiltshire and Hampshire both receive additional funding in this way (as do all the forces in the South East) but Dorset does not. We have always argued that the ACA is unfair because police officers are paid the same salary in each of those forces so there is no need to financially compensate. Dorset Police funding is protected by a ‘floors’ mechanism, which ensures that we receive a percentage
