Police chiefs have warned Yvette Cooper about severe cuts to frontline officers and staff because of a £300 million funding shortfall. The Telegraph has the story.
Ten forces have written to the Home Secretary predicting that they will be more than £300 million short in the police funding settlement due to be announced this week, forcing major reductions to frontline officers, police community support officers (PCSOs) and staff numbers next year.
The chief constables and police and crime commissioners (PCCs) are seeking talks with ministers about the scale of the cuts, with one force alone warning it would have to axe more than 200 police officer posts and half of its PCSOs to balance the books.
The ten forces include Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk but others have also warned they too face reductions.
The Telegraph revealed last week that the Metropolitan Police force is braced for reductions of up to 2,300 officers out of a force of 34,000 as well as 400 civilian staff, because of a potential £450 million budget shortfall. Specialist crime-fighting units like the Flying Squad face cuts of a fifth.
It comes after the Prime Minister announced plans last week to put 13,000 additional officers, PCSOs and special constables on the beat across England and Wales. …
Ms. Cooper announced last month that the core grant for the 43 forces in England and Wales would rise by more than £260 million in 2025/26, but policing leaders claim that won’t be enough to cover an above-inflation police pay award and a growing wage bill.
The police chiefs have calculated that they would need an extra £331 million next year just to fund the latest 4.75% police pay award. They also say no allowance has been made for the rising pay of the 46,000 officers hired since 2019 when the last Government funded 20,000 new officers.
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