PEOPLE living in South Wales Police areas - which includes the vale of Glamorgan - will see a five per cent increase in the amount they pay for policing.

The increase - the highest out of the four Welsh forces - will raise an additional £5m and equate to an extra 11-15p per week for most households.

The police precept is included in council tax bills.

Police and Crime Commissioner Alun Michael said the increase comes as a result of cuts to the central police grant, and a funding formula which sees cash taken from South Wales and distributed to the other three Welsh forces.

South Wales Police faces funding cuts of around £9m this year and £27m over the next four years. By 2019, South Wales Police will have experienced a massive £70m in cuts since the 2010 comprehensive spending review.

Mr Michael said: “We are now into our fifth year of extensive budget cuts and I am taking a balanced approach to soften the impact on policing our communities while keeping the burden on the rate payer to a minimum.

"I am speaking to our partners in local government and to representatives of our local communities. Their wish to maintain an effective local police service which keeps people safe in their homes and in their streets has been made clear to me.

“South Wales remains the best value for money in terms of the cost to council tax payers in Wales and it has been recognised by ministers that police forces funded by higher levels of grant and lower levels of precept are more vulnerable to the impact of such drastic cuts.

“Despite the unfairness of the funding challenges faced by the Chief Constable and his team, South Wales Police has succeeded in improving performance and this has been recognised by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary, particularly in relation to improving the levels of satisfaction with our service expressed by victims.

“The money raised through the modest increase in precept in South Wales will enable the Chief Constable to sustain Police Officer numbers for a further year at the already-reduced level of 2,800 (down from 3,244 prior to the start of the cuts).

"We are also keeping faith with Welsh Government Ministers whose additional money has enabled us to keep 206 more PCSOs on the streets of South Wales that would have otherwise been possible, and I am enormously grateful for that support."