Premier League clubs and leading sports bodies increasingly fear they will be forced to pay millions more to cover policing costs after being called in for a series of consultations with the Home Office starting this week.
As things stand, football clubs only have to pay for policing of their own land. However senior officers believe clubs and not the taxpayer should pay the £71m per season it costs to maintain law and order in surrounding areas as well asin stadiums on matchdays. Football League games, international rugby and cricket matches and the London Marathon could all be affected if the plans go ahead, along with events such as the Notting Hill carnival and Pride.
The costs in some cases could be steep, with policing for the recent Europa League match between Aston Villa and Maccabi Tel Aviv reported to have cost £2m. Another source said that if Millwall were to face Leeds, the home club would be expected to foot a bill of more than £100,000 for policing if costs for outside the ground were also included.
News that the government was considering such plans emerged in March when the Times reported that Cheshire police chief constable, Mark Roberts, the head of the UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU), revealed he had been lobbying ministers on the issue. According to figures provided by the UKFPU, the total bill for police services for football in England and Wales for the 2023-24 season was £71.69m, of which clubs paid £14.87m – 20.7%.
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Roberts argued removing the remaining £56.82m burden from the taxpayer would mean that 1,200 additional officers could be deployed on Britain’s streets. He also suggested it was unfair that top football clubs could spend close to £400m in a single transfer window but only pay a fraction of that to police matches and expressed his frustration that the government was moving at a “glacial pace” on the issue.
In response, the Football Association, Rugby Football Union, England & Wales Cricket Board, Jockey Club, Silverstone and Boat Race sent a joint letter to Keir Starmer via the Major Event Organisers Association in April, warning the “ill-thought-out change would damage a crucial sector of the economy”. “We are gravely concerned at the approach Mr Roberts has chosen to take,” the group added. “All our members would be impacted by the change in the law which he is advocating. This is simply not just a Premier League football issue.” However it now appears the Home Office is determine to scrutinise the issue more closely.
The Home Office has been contacted for comment. In October, Sarah Jones, the minister of state, told parliament that it was looking at the issue closely. “The Home Office is concerned that the cost of policing football matches that is currently falling to the public purse is too high and is exploring ways to address this,” she said. “This is an important issue that requires careful consideration in order to ensure a balance between the costs to the public purse and the wider cultural and economic value of these events.”
