Home Office hails officer redeployment after neighbourhood policing boost
The Home Office has hailed its decision to give chief constables greater flexibility over officer deployment, claiming it has helped increase neighbourhood policing by more than 22 per cent in a year.
Responding to the latest police workforce statistics, a spokesperson said the number of neighbourhood police officers had “skyrocketed” by 22.2 per cent since March 2025.
The Government said it had exceeded its first-year target under the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, delivering 3,814 additional neighbourhood policing personnel against a target of 3,000. It has pledged to recruit 13,000 additional neighbourhood policing personnel by the end of the current Parliament.
The spokesperson also criticised the previous Government’s police funding arrangements, saying: “We scrapped the pointless rules which saw forces hire thousands of officers that filled back-office roles, including HR and IT.”
According to the Home Office, more than 12,000 warranted officers remain in support roles, including more than 200 working in human resources and more than 200 in administrative support.
Earlier this year ministers removed the officer maintenance grant requirements introduced by the previous government, giving chief constables greater freedom to deploy officers where they are most needed, including neighbourhood policing teams. The impact of the policy change is expected to become clearer in future workforce statistics.
The Home Office said it had allocated £200 million through the Neighbourhood Policing Grant in 2025/26 to support the first year of the programme and is investing a record £18.4 billion in policing.