Labour's police funding shortfall is a crisis of their own making

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said: 

"The warning lights are flashing across our police force, as Labour have failed to stump up the funding needed to stop massive cuts to frontline services. 

"Our police services face £118 million shortfall, which puts over 1800 police jobs at risk.

"Law and Order is taking a backseat to Trade Union handouts under this Government. The only winners here are the criminals who can operate with increasing impunity as our police are left with huge funding shortfalls. 

"Make no mistake, this is a crisis of Labours making - Rachel Reeves National Insurance Tax grab gobbles up around a fifth of new police funding. Labour have chosen to send police numbers tumbling, and the Home Office must urgently set out whether this is new money or whether Yvette Cooper is cutting the police to pay the chancellors job tax."

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Extra costs for 25/26 are:

• £326m extra for pay relating to 2.25 per cent of 4.75 per cent pay rise in Sept 2024 not covered by the previous SR
• Pay progression / pay increment pressures as officers get more seniority = £354m [£8m in Essex and Essex is 2.26 per cent of policing so 8/2.26 per cent = £354m]
• Allow £170m for a 2.5 per cent pay rise in Sept 2025 for the latter 7 months of the financial year (could be more) [2.5 per cent x £11.5b x 7 / 12]
• Allow £125m for 2.5 per cent general inflation in non-staff costs [2.5 per cent x £5b non-pay spend; actual non-pay inflation running at 5.3 per cent so building in 2.8 per cent efficiency gains]
• £230m extra for national insurance

Total extra costs for 25/26 = £1,205m

Extra funding for 25/26 is:

• Extra govt funds: £527m (including the extra £200 million for neighbourhood policing)
• Extra NI money: £230m
• Extra precept money: £330m

Total: £1,087m extra (UK Parliament, Provisional Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2025-26, 30 January 2024, link).

As a result, there is a shortfall of £118 million. This results in 1873 officers, at £63,000 per officer (Home Office, Policy Paper, 5 March 2024, link).

• Only 3,000 of the 13,000 neighbourhood police officers are extra new police officers. It was reported that the Home Office has requested funding for the recruitment of 3,000 fully warranted officers, 4,000 police community support officers and training and expenses for 3,000 additional special constables, who are unpaid volunteers. An additional 3,000 officers will be diverted from the existing workforce to make up the new neighbourhood policing programme (The Times, 2 December 2024, link).

• Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warned that he faces having to cut 2,300 officers as a result of funding cuts. Rowley said the Met Police force will be ‘scaling back our ability to tackle serious violence and organised crime' under plans to cut 2,300 officers and 400 staff due to a £450m budget ‘black hole' (The Daily Mail, 14 November 2024, link; The Daily Mail, 10 December 2024, link).

• The Conservative Government boosted police funding to over £18 billion, giving them the resources they need to make the streets safer. Police funding is £18.4 billion for 2024-25, representing 30.7 per cent cash terms increase compared to 2019-20, keeping communities safe (Home Office, Press Release, 14 December 2023, link).