Spending Review ‘falls far short’ of what is needed for policing, says NPCC

The Chancellor announced that police spending power will increase by 2.3 per cent a year in real terms over the next three years.

But NPCC chair Chief Constable Gavin Stephens said the amount “falls far short of what is required to fund the Government’s ambitions and maintain our existing workforce”.

And Police Federation of England and Wales acting national chair Tiff Lynch said: “This Spending Review should have been a turning point after 15 years of austerity that has left policing – and police officers – broken. Instead, the cuts will continue and it’s the public who will pay the price.”

Mr Stephens said they recognise that the Government faces “tough financial choices”.

“In the face of these challenges, it’s now more important than ever that police chiefs and government continue to unite behind radical reform for policing, and crucially, give forces the flexibility they need to modernise their workforce,” said.

“Despite the news today, our ambition to tackle violence against women and girls, reduce knife crime and build confidence in local policing remains.

“However, it is clear that this is an incredibly challenging outcome for policing. In real terms, today’s increase in funding will cover little more than annual inflationary pay increases for officers and staff.

“Whilst we await further detail on allocation to individual forces, the amount falls far short of what is required to fund the Government’s ambitions and maintain our existing workforce.”

Mr Stephens added: “A decade of underinvestment has left police forces selling buildings, borrowing money and raising local taxes to maintain the what we already have, with forces facing a projected shortfall of £1.2 billion over the next two years, which is now expected to rise.

“This is against a backdrop of increasing crime rates, with new and escalating threats from organised crime and hostile states, and more offenders being managed in the community as a result of an overstretched criminal justice system.

“Cutting crime isn’t just about officer numbers – we need specialist skills and people, supported with the right systems and technology, to better protect communities.

“We fully support the Government’s drive to cut crime and grow officer numbers, but for these to succeed, investment in policing must live up to the ambition.”

Ms Lynch said the Chancellor “hasn’t listened to police officers”.

“As rank-and-file officers kit up for night duty this evening, they’ll do so knowing exactly where they stand in the Government’s priorities,” she said. “It is beyond insulting for Cabinet ministers to call on police to ‘do their bit’ when officers are overworked, underpaid, and under threat like never before.

“They are facing blades and bricks, managing mental health crises while battling to protect their own, and carrying the weight of trauma and financial stress home with them every day. Police pay has fallen by over 20 per cent in real terms since 2010.

“The number of crimes allocated to each officer has jumped by a third in a decade. We will lose 10,000 experienced officers a year to resignation by the end of this Spending Review period – driven out by poor pay and unacceptable working conditions.

“This Chancellor hasn’t listened to police officers. She hasn’t listened to the Home Secretary. She hasn’t listened to the public’s concerns about community safety.

“We await the Government’s decision on police pay in the coming weeks. But with this Spending Review, the signs are deeply worrying; the consequences will be even more so. And those consequences sit squarely on the shoulders of the Chancellor and the Prime Minister.”

Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) joint leads for funding and finance, Roger Hirst and Joy Allen, said: “Today’s settlement is a real terms increase, and we welcome the commitment to investing in the wider criminal justice system, but the funding announced is not enough to deliver the Government’s Safer Streets mission.

“The current police funding formula no longer reflects the reality of local demand in different force areas, and we urge the Government to work with us to develop a fairer and more sustainable funding model – one that reflects true demand, supports capital investment, and empowers all forces to build a resilient, future-ready service.”

Mr Hirst, police, fire and crime commissioner for Essex, added: “We are in a challenging fiscal environment, and I am concerned that, whilst it is a real terms increase, it is unlikely to fully fund the level of pay award the government is considering. If we are to maintain police numbers, the additional burden will fall on local council tax payers.

The APCC has worked closely with the Home Office over the last year to cost a settlement that would enable police and crime commissioners (PCCs) and deputy mayors, who fund local forces as well as national police capabilities, to meet the challenges of evolving threats and the need to invest in more officers and new technologies. There is no money here for either of those.

“We will continue to press for fair and adequate funding to maintain the level of resources required and a workforce that is able to meet public expectations and keep communities safe.

“Given the unfair split of the police funding formula, it is clear some PCCs face unpalatable decisions around raising council tax while reducing services, and chief constables will have to make difficult choices on operational priorities.”

Ms Allen, PCC for Durham, added said policing plays a critical role in protecting the public and tackling crime.

“It is clear the Home Secretary has gone the full distance in negotiating with the Treasury, and her officials have worked closely with PCCs and chief constables on the resourcing requirements for policing,” she said.

“However, while this settlement marks a positive step forward, it does not fully address the long-standing financial pressures facing police forces across England and Wales.

“With a lack of capital investment, many forces are still working from ageing buildings, managing vehicle fleets beyond their operational life, and relying on outdated digital infrastructure that no longer meets the demands of modern policing.

“While the ringfenced funding for neighbourhood policing is welcome, the broader settlement does not yet go far enough to support delivery of the Government’s ambitious policing priorities – halving knife crime, tackling violence against women and girls, and embedding the neighbourhood policing guarantee.”

The president of the Police Superintendents’ Association (PSA), Nick Smart, said: “Today’s funding announcement is a huge blow to the police service, which has once again been placed at the bottom of the Government’s list of priorities.

“It is the first duty of government to keep its citizens safe, yet today we see no evidence of a commitment to doing this. Instead, ensuring public safety will be even more challenging, as demand on police rises, whilst funding does not.

“This three-year settlement means we will be left to ‘tread water’, rather than developing and improving our service. In fact, national figures suggest that this will cover little more than annual inflationary pay increases for officers and staff, and we will not only struggle to afford to recruit the additional 13,000 officers promised, we will likely see current numbers reduce.

“Many of the Government’s election pledges centred around a commitment to ‘safer streets’, promising the public that it would meet ambitious targets such as halving knife crime. Yet the lack of investment announced today means we will continue to struggle to deliver the basics, to maintain officer numbers, cover inflationary costs, cover pay awards, and function as we are, let alone move forward on new public safety and transformation initiatives.

“Leaders representing every part of the police workforce have come out in unison, stating the stark truth of policing today, stressing that it will be impossible to deliver on the pledges made by Government without increased, long-term investment, and once again, we are ignored.”

Mr Smart added: “Our people are working in outdated buildings with woefully inadequate IT infrastructure, which is years behind the technical capability of many of the organized crime groups we now face, and that slows service delivery. Officers in every area are overworked and stretched to breaking point, and both new and experienced officers are leaving in numbers that are higher than we have ever seen.

“Today’s settlement provides no capacity for growth, no ability to make progress towards reform that is so urgently needed, and most critically, has the potential to put public safety at risk when we cannot respond in the way that communities rightly expect and deserve.

“The UK police workforce is one of the most committed, professional, and dedicated teams of people you will ever meet, but they cannot do everything with nothing. Today’s announcement means that things must change. We cannot continue to do more with less; we cannot continue to pick up the work of others.

“The Treasury has made its intentions clear – there is no backing or support for police. The question must therefore be asked – what is the police mission? Conversations must be had around true police demand, where we can begin to say ‘no’, and to stop answering calls for service for other agencies who turn to us when they are overwhelmed. We cannot continue to be society’s sticking plaster when other services falter.”

Mr Smart said with no more money, it was even more essential to start moving on the changes the service has been asking for.

“We need a better funding formula, collaborative arrangements to save millions on procurement, flexible funding to enable chief officers to spend on what is required, free of ‘ring fencing’ restrictions, and a review of the 43-force model,” he said.

“Public expectations must now be realigned. Our people will always do everything in their power to keep people safe, and will do their utmost to work with the government to do this, but today’s announcement has made that much harder.

“Let’s be clear, we are still operating in austerity. We were previously accused of ‘crying wolf’ when we warned about the potential impact of cuts and austerity. We were right.

“We have made cuts and compromises year on year, for over a decade. This settlement is a missed opportunity to finally deliver police reform, and once again appears to be a shameful abandonment of the police service.”

Jason Towse, managing director, Business Services at Mitie, commented: “Against a vast backdrop of threats to public safety, ranging from organised retail crime to the ongoing epidemic of violence against women and girls, many were hoping to see more from the Government on delivering its promise to improve safety on our streets.

“With growing pressure on our police forces, and limited levers to deliver policy commitments, building public confidence in our justice system cannot be done in a silo. The expertise, experience and specialist skills found within the private sector can help bridge gaps in policing and support a system of national security and resilience that acts both as a foundation for economic growth and as a driver of thriving communities.

“As the UK’s largest intelligence-led security company, Mitie is already supporting the police with insights captured by market-leading monitoring technologies, as well as helping to improve cohesion between forces through data sharing agreements like the one we developed with Opal, the specialist retail crime policing unit. In just a short amount of time, intelligence-led data sharing between forces and retailers has led to hundreds of prosecutions.

“Regardless of the number of officers on the streets, integrating policing with world-class technology and specialist support in the private sector can act as a further deterrent to offenders and ensure that those who do offend face appropriate consequences. As an industry, we stand ready to support the Government and the police to turn the tide on crime.”

Under the Spending Review, the Government will also increase counter‑terror policing budgets to maintain capabilities and protect officer numbers. It will provide at least £100 million a year by 2028/29, through the Integrated Security Fund, to support current national security priorities.

In addition, the Government will provide £7 billion between 2024/25 and 2029/30 to deliver its commitment to build 14,000 new prison places by 2031.

The probation service will receive up to £700 million additional funding per year by 2028/29, and there will be £450 million additional investment a year for the courts system by 2028/29 to help tackle court backlogs.

Andrew Steele, partner and emergency services solicitor at national law firm Weightmans, said: “As a package, the Spending Review included a lot of positives for the police force. Increased funding, more officers on the beat – this is investment the service has long been calling for. Just as important is the promise to increase prison places, as overcrowding and reliance on police officers to plug gaps in the prison infrastructure is a root cause of the overall strain on officers.

“How quickly new prison places can be offered will be crucial. Policing is already being stretched in multiple directions, with officers expected to support overstretched prisons by housing overflow and managing early releases. I worry that increased funding for police will be rapidly absorbed unless the promised increase in prison capacity materialises soon.

“Recruiting extra police makes it even more important that we better define the role the service should play. Policing is quicky becoming a ‘catch-all’ emergency service so, without defined responsibilities and a joined-up approach, additional officers may only temporarily offset the current strain. If the government truly wants to strengthen policing, it must set clear priorities and ensure every part of the justice system is properly resourced and aligned.”

Rob Sinclair, chief executive officer of Altia, said: “Today the Chancellor announced that police spending power will increase by 2.3 per cent over the next three years. This totals £2 billionn of investment and will see an additional 13,000 neighbourhood officers back on the streets.

“We’re pleased to see the Chancellor recognise that our police forces are stretched and actively working to increase resources. This funding boost reflects a clear understanding that visible policing is crucial to keeping our streets safe.

“But alongside increased numbers, we must also improve how resources are used. Technology has a key role to play in driving efficiencies and saving valuable police time, allowing officers to focus on frontline work and community engagement.

“We would like to see even more done in this area.”

Responding to the Chancellor’s announcement of a funding boost to the UK’s criminal justice system, Marion Vannier, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Manchester, said: “Today’s announcement of additional funding to invest in the UK’s probation services is a welcome step in the right direction. That said, the promise to build new prison spaces without addressing the root cause of mass crime in the UK and rehabilitation, risks falling short of what is truly needed.

“The overcrowding issues affecting our prison systems are not an isolated challenge, but the result of a hollowed out criminal justice system and a disjuncture between the carceral space and the community. As such, we must ask ourselves whether we want this funding to paper over cracks, or to support the systemic reform that our justice system so desperately needs.

“With this in mind, it’s important that this funding is used to implement the recommendations made in last month’s Independent Sentencing Review to focus on rehabilitation, community alternatives and reparation for offenders – acting not as a stopgap, but as a catalyst for long-overdue change.”

Tom Franklin, chief executive of the Magistrates’ Association said: “We are pleased to see the considerable additional investment in criminal justice announced in today’s Spending Review, including in probation and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), which we hope will speed up justice for victims, witnesses and defendants.

“Our members tell us that the shortage of probation staff undermines their timely and effective use of community-based sentencing options, such as unpaid work orders and Mental Health Treatment Requirements (MHTR), so the additional funding for this important work is welcome.

“However, the devil is in the detail and, while the additional money is very welcome, other parts of the justice system need investment too. There was no mention of tackling the dire shortage of legal advisors in magistrates’ courts, which is leading to up to one in ten sittings being cancelled, or the need to recruit up to 6,000 additional magistrates over the next few years to hear the extra cases, especially if the new intermediate courts come to fruition. And, while there was plenty of capital spending for new prison places, there was no mention of the need to invest in our crumbling court buildings.

“The Chancellor also announced that the Ministry of Justice is expected to find substantial efficiency savings. Some past efficiency measures could more accurately have been called corner-cutting, which led to greater inefficiencies and court delays, and we will be urging the ministry to act with care and caution.”