01/04/2026
Greater Manchester residents today begin contributing an additional £14.4 million to Greater Manchester Police (GMP) through their council tax bills, bringing GMP’s total budget to over £900 million — a decision made despite widespread community opposition.
Mayor Andy Burnham, Deputy Mayor Kate Green, and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s Police Fire and Crime Panel voted to increase the policing precept, rejecting calls from community organisations and residents to redirect funds towards community centres, youth provision, women’s services, a living income, and emergency housing. The decision came despite the GMCA’s own public consultation reflecting similar community concerns.
Since that decision was taken, GMP’s conduct has done nothing to justify the increased investment. Residents have witnessed numerous reports and incidents of police violence, including instances of sexual violence, and the brutal policing of antifascist mobilisations in the city — a stark reminder of what this money funds in practice.
The increase is the latest in a three-year run of precept rises: £10.5m in 2024/25, £13.1m in 2025/26, and now £14.4m — meaning GM residents will have contributed £38m to GMP through council tax since 2024. This comes as 37% of children across Greater Manchester are living in poverty, foodbank usage continues to rise, and tens of thousands of households are being referred to enforcement agencies each year for failure to keep up with council tax payments.
Community groups have set out concrete alternatives for how the £14.4m could instead be used: fully funding a Living Income pilot for 200 households over 24 months with £9m to spare; funding 30 therapists and 42 community support workers for women surviving domestic violence; providing over 6,100 children in care with £600 each for hobbies and activities; or funding 45 community centres with £70,000 each.
These proposals are detailed in Fund Communities (not policing), a publication produced with GM-based community groups working directly with communities every day, which sets out visions for how additional funding could be used to support, care for, and invest in Greater Manchester’s communities — rather than in policing, which organisations argue exists to surveil, criminalise, and punish.
Zara Manoehoetoe, from the Northern Police Monitoring Project, said:
‘As inequalities continue to grow, so too will police outcomes, not because policing is getting better or responding faster but because people are becoming more desperate. Meeting people’s material needs has been proven to be a sure way to divert them away from circumstances that can lead to criminalisation. It’s time our city region responds to social issues with care and support instead of policing and punishment. We are talking about less than 2% of GMP’s annual budget, minimal to them, but an amount that could be stabilising for community groups and life changing for people accessing their services’
Fund Communities (not policing) is available to download at: https://npolicemonitor.co.uk/uncategorized/fund-communities-not-policing/