PCC sends letter to Treasury to mark launch of fairer funding campaign

PCC Matt Storey has today (Friday 19 September 2025), launched a campaign for fairer police and victim support funding in Cleveland.

Backed by local victim services and members of parliament, Matt’s Fairer Funding, Safer Cleveland campaign highlights disparities between demand and the outdated funding formula used to set levels of police funding in England and Wales.

Matt penned a letter, co-signed by representatives of local victim support services, calling for the Chancellor to allocate a fairer share of funding in Cleveland. We have attached his letter to this email.

Some facts about funding for victim support services: 

-Funding from the Ministry of Justice for victim support is calculated on the population of the police force area, not on crime rates or demand on victim services.  

-The five forces in England and Wales with the lowest crime rates receive around £19 per crime for victim support services.

-Cleveland, with the highest crime rate in the country, receives just £7 per crime.

-Based on Cleveland receiving the same amount of victim funding as the five forces with the lowest crime rates, the area would get almost £1m extra per year to fund much-needed victim support services.

Matt says: “At the moment, I am propping up our victim support provision with funds from my wider budget, as current Government funding does not go far enough. With an additional £1m, I could cover any gaps and invest in initiatives to reduce crime in the first place.

Matt was joined at the Darlington Economic Campus by members of his Policy, Partnerships and Delivery Team, Andy McDonald MP, a representative from the office of Jonathan Brash MP and representatives from Arch Teesside, Eva Women’s Aid, Harbour Support Services and A Way Out.