Meeting policing commitments will require ‘significant savings and productivity improvements’, says NAO

Last year, police forces responded to financial pressures by reducing their reserves by £276 million, and borrowing more than £630 million to fund almost two-thirds of their capital programmes.

The Home Office has identified potential savings of more than £350 million over the next four years but has assessed more than half (53 per cent) as high or medium risk to deliver.

Gareth Davies, head of the NAO, said: “Improving the productivity of the police is crucial to helping them manage financial pressures while supporting their ability to respond to changing demands. While structural changes will take time, the Home Office can make immediate progress on tackling the other barriers to higher productivity.”

The NAO says there is significant potential to improve police productivity and has identified five barriers – including inconsistency across forces and insufficient use of digital and artificial intelligence (AI).

The NAO’s latest report, Police productivity, examines how the Home Office is supporting police forces to improve their productivity and long-term financial sustainability, by making the best use of resources (time, money, personnel) to produce public safety outcomes like investigations, patrols, or arrests.

It says demands on policing are growing as crime evolves and police forces take on extra responsibilities, such as seizing XL Bully dogs and enforcing public safety rules after the amendment to the Dangerous Dog Act. And with criminal justice reforms and the probation service scaling back supervision of low-risk offenders this is also expected to add further pressures.

In 2024/25, police forces managed financial pressures by eating into their reserves and borrowing £632 million to fund 60 per cent of capital programmes (police buildings, vehicles and equipment). This is forecast to rise to 71 per cent in 2025/26 meaning forces will face higher debt repayments in the future, said the NAO.

The report says police forces have also run high levels of staff vacancies, used more officers in non-operational and administrative roles and reprioritised the services they provide.

The NAO last looked at the financial sustainability of police forces in 2018 and recommended the Home Office make better use of data to monitor the financial resilience of police forces. The NAO has now found the Home Office has strengthened its oversight of police forces and assessed their financial resilience.

“However, the Home Office has not yet established consistent data on police spending and has limited understanding of why some forces are under greater financial stress,” the NAO said. “Core government funding for forces relies on a formula that was last updated in 2013, and, in general, force areas with population growth have seen government funding fall per person.”

The Home Office has worked with police stakeholders and identified potential savings of £354 million, which is more ambitious than previously, the NAO said.

“It will deliver these through its Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme, which will help fund the government’s policing commitments, such as aiming to halve knife-crime and violence against women and girls over the next decade,” it added. “The department is yet to set out how it will support police forces to meet the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, or its funding implications.”

The NAO report found these savings will be a challenge to achieve as some may require new legislation to increase cost recovery and the Home Office has not established what funding is available to help deliver the savings.

Also, the majority of police funding (77 per cent) is committed to pay costs, meaning police forces have limited flexibility to make capital investments and invest in new technology.

The Government expects to increase total police funding by an average of 1.7 per cent a year in real terms over 2025/26 to 2028/29.

“The Home Office does not yet have an agreed definition of productivity, or a standard methodology for measuring it, but is increasing its oversight on police performance through a new performance dashboard which will allow it to better understand variations across forces and support accountability,” the NAO said.

“Previous efforts to boost police productivity, including the 2023 Policing Productivity Review, which made 26 recommendations, have stalled due to funding cuts, lack of standardisation, and slow adoption of technology.”

The NAO has identified five main barriers to higher productivity for the Home Office to tackle now and support better value for money from police funding:

• Limited evidence on what works, such as new working practices;
• Slow adoption of innovation, with no clear framework and insufficient focus on embedding change;
• Lack of standardisation and collaboration across the 43 forces causing duplication and weak bargaining power with suppliers;
• Rigid resources and skills gaps restricting flexibility and transformation; and
• Insufficient exploitation of digital and AI opportunities.

The NAO has suggested several ways for the Home Office to tackle these barriers, including:

Continue to strengthen financial oversight – Address financial stress and management capability, while clarifying policing costs and the resource impact of new demands and cross-government policies.

Plan for the future – Quantify the impact of emerging pressures on policing using reliable data.

Review the funding approach – which reflects operational context, demand levels, efficiency, and financial resilience.

Drive productivity and innovation – Accelerate adoption of technology and AI by improving skills, consolidating funding streams, and increasing standardisation across forces.

Emily Spurrell, chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners , said: “The NAO is right to highlight the urgent need to boost police productivity, but it’s clear that forces are being held back by outdated funding models and rising demand.

“Police and crime commissioners and deputy mayors are legally bound to deliver an efficient and effective service, however, current funding pressures are making this increasingly challenging. Without smarter investment and greater flexibility in how funding is used, forces will continue to struggle to modernise and meet the needs of our communities.

“The current reform programme is a golden opportunity to transform policing through better use of data and technology, but that transformation won’t happen without significant investment. Many forces simply don’t have the resources to unlock the productivity gains that innovation can bring.

“We need a funding system that empowers local leaders to respond to local priorities, whether that’s tackling knife crime, strengthening neighbourhood policing, or protecting women and girls.

“We will continue to work with the Home Office and policing partners to build a modern, resilient police service – one that’s properly funded and fit for the future.”