Billion pound funding boost for police forces announced by Home Secretary

Part of the Government’s Plan for Change, this will take total funding up to £19.5 billion for next year.

The majority of this total funding – around £17.4 billion  – will be given to police and crime commissioners (PCCs) to help tackle crime and anti-social behaviour in their communities and “apprehend persistent offenders”.

This money will include £339 million more for the police core grant to help forces with general running costs and to be allocated by forces to tackle local priorities.

Costs arising from changes to national insurance contributions (NICs) will also be covered in full, helping police to balance their budgets.

In addition, there will be:

• New funding of £100 million to kickstart the recruitment of 13,000 additional neighbourhood officers, community support officers and special constables, as announced by the Prime Minister earlier this month; and
• £65 million more for the National and International Capital City (NICC) grant for the London forces, to recognise this has not kept pace with inflation and rising demands of policing the capital.

As well as the money being given to PCCs, the Home Office is also investing an extra £140 million for Counter-Terrorism Policing, ensuring that they have the resources they need to deal with the threats we face and protect the public from serious harm.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: “Today’s settlement provides a substantial increase in funding for policing to help deliver on this government’s Safer Streets mission. This vital funding boost will enable forces to kickstart the recruitment of neighbourhood police officers and crack down on the crimes blighting our high streets and town centres.

“We recognise the financial and operational challenges that police forces across the country have faced in recent years, and that is why we are providing a significant and much-needed increase in funding to help forces protect the public and keep our streets safe.

“We will also work closely with forces at a national and regional level to maximise efficiency and innovation, so that every penny they receive goes as far as possible and provides real value for the public.”

She said the provisional funding settlement will be central to the Prime Minister’s Plan for Change and will help to deliver the manifesto pledge that policing will be reformed to deliver for communities.

The Government aims to put an extra 13,000 officers into neighbourhoods, and dedicated police officers, who are visible, named and contactable, will support communities and work closely with residents and businesses.

The settlement also comes after the Home Secretary also announced a major package of police reform, including a new Police Performance Unit to track local performance and drive up standards, and a new National Centre of Policing to harness new technology and forensics.

Projects that sit within other national priorities are also being protected, including:

• £612 million to help modernise police forces, enhancing their ability to share data, intelligence and evidence with each other and law enforcement partners. This funding will be essential in tackling the increasingly tech-savvy criminals who wreak havoc on people and businesses;
• £50 million for Violence Reduction Units, delivering on the Government’s pledge to halve knife crime; and
• £30 million to tackle the ongoing battle against serious organised crime through County Lines routes.

Policing Minister Dame Diana Johnson said: “We are determined to deliver for the people up and down this country and make good on our promise to reform policing, halve knife crime and tackle anti-social behaviour head on.

“This settlement aims to do just that, providing a significant and substantial increase in funding that will allow polices forces to get a grip on criminality, to make our streets and communities safer.”

National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for finance, Chief Constable Paul Sanford, said: “The funding settlement announced today presents real challenges for policing, with forces facing an estimated £1.3bn gap in finances over the next two years. This will inevitability lead to cuts across forces.

“Investment in neighbourhood policing is welcome, as is the Government’s ambition to support and deliver the wide-scale reform our service needs in order to better protect the public in the long term.

“However, by ringfencing funding for neighbourhood police officers, forces are unable to invest in other specialist areas of policing that are critical to our service.

“Crime is evolving at a rapid pace and becoming more and more complex in nature. At a time when community needs have never been greater, we cannot afford to cut back our resources.

“We are fully committed to achieving the Government’s ambition of making our streets safer and reducing violence against women and girls. To do that, we need to focus on recruiting the right people with the right skills, supported by the best technology, and not measure our effectiveness alone through officer numbers.

“Our current funding model is outdated and means that the funding announced today will not be evenly shared across forces, resulting in some forces facing significant deficits. As part of wider police reform, we have long called for a new funding model that would help forces to plan for the future and improve financial resilience.

“We continue to work with government to drive greater productivity and efficiency in our police service, however, without proper funding and investment, and with no resilience left in police budgets, efficiencies can only take us so far to meet these challenges.

“We reaffirm our commitment to work closely with government to improve policing, including through the forthcoming spending review.”