South Yorkshire Police Authority is an independent body made up of seventeen members, nine of whom are local councillors and eight are independent people who have  been appointed following a rigorous selection process involving the Home Office. 

We make sure South Yorkshire Police is accountable to the people living and working in South Yorkshire, and that the public can have their say in how the area is policed.

We do this in a number of ways, including:

• regularly consulting members of the public to ensure that policing matches the public’s needs.  We use results from a number of consultation events including: Independent Advisory Groups, Police Authority Roadshows, Your Voice Counts survey, and focus groups
• having a rigorous approach to performance management; setting targets for the force and regularly monitoring performance against these targets.
• setting the police budget

The Government has identified tackling the UK’s record deficit as its most urgent priority. The Comprehensive Spending Review has set spending limits for every Government department for the period 2011/12 to 2014/15. This confirmed that Central Government police funding will reduce by 20% in real terms over the next four years. Almost two thirds of this will be cut in the first two years.

This means that we will have responsibility for at least two of the four budget rounds that span the Spending Review period, as the Government then intends to replace us with a locally elected Policing and Crime Commissioner in May 2012.   This, and other strategic risks, have been identified by the Police Authority. 

Throughout these challenging times we will continue to keep you, the people of South Yorkshire, informed on policing in your local area.