Conservatives announce plan to slash police bureaucracy to free up 7 million hours of police time

• The Conservatives have announced a plan to cut police bureaucracy that would free up over 7 million hours of police time every year, the equivalent of more than 3,800 officers.
• The plan makes six changes: a proportionate disclosure policy for case files, an end to redacting files in cases that are never charged, automation of administrative and crime-detection tasks, a higher threshold for use of force forms, an end to the double-counting of behavioural crimes, and putting police EDI officers back on the beat.
• Our plan to slash police bureaucracy will put officers back on the street where they are most effective.

Today [Wednesday 5^th August 2026], the Conservative Party has set out a plan to slash police bureaucracy, freeing up over 7 million hours of police time each year for officers to spend solving crimes and patrolling the streets.

Far too much of police time is spent on paperwork and box ticking. We need officers out on the streets and solving crime. Cutting police bureaucracy would free up officer capacity to do their work that keeps us safe.

Through our new plan, we can free up 7 million hours of police time each year, the equivalent of over 3,800 police officers, which can be re-allocated to solving crimes and patrolling the streets.

Changes made by the Crown Prosecution Service have sharply increased the work involved in preparing a case file, including lengthy forms and the disclosure of unused material with no bearing on the case, every page of which has to be catalogued and redacted.

Officers redact files for cases that are never charged and will never be published. Officers fill in use of force forms for compliant handcuffing. Officers enter the same offender's details twice because the recording rules require it. The Police Federation has rightfully been campaigning to reduce these requirements because the time lost is so substantial.

The Conservative Party has step out a clear plan to cut back on this waste in order to free up police time. The plan covers prosecution case files, file redactions, use of force forms, duplicate crime recording and the adoption of automation.

The plan would change 6 things:

1. Reduce the burden of preparing prosecution case files

A more proportional disclosure policy has been trialled in Merseyside and Cheshire and has been found to save seven hours per case file. According to the CPS, in 2024-25 225,979 pre-charge case files were received from the police. The Conservative Party would reduce the burden of preparing prosecution case files, which nationally could save over 1.5 million hours of police time.

1. Ending the requirement to redact files in cases that are never charged

Where cases are not charged there should not be a need for them to be redacted, and so we will reduce the burden of file redactions for case files that are submitted to the CPS.

The Policing Productivity Review shows that an average of almost three hours is spent redacting each case file. It estimates that 25 per cent of cases submitted to the CPS, 56,495 cases, do not result in a charge. As a result, this change would free up 158,000 hours of time spent redacting files that do not proceed to prosecution.

1. Adopting technology to simplify and automate a range of administrative and crime-detection tasks

We would embrace the adoption of new innovative technology, for example the type designed to automate a range of administrative and crime-detection tasks. The Metropolitan Police has tried to adopt this autonomation but was blocked by Mayor Sadiq Khan. It is estimated that this could have saved the Metropolitan Police 940,000 hours, therefore if this were rolled out across the country, 4,272,000 hours could be saved per year.

1. Raising the threshold for use of force forms

Officers are required to complete a form every time they place handcuffs on a compliant suspect something the custody officer records anyway when that suspect arrives in cuffs. They complete one when they draw a baton, a taser or a canister of spray and do not use it. Each form takes an average of 23 minutes. 

A Conservative Government would raise the threshold so that a form is required only where force is actually applied to a person, removing over 425,000 unnecessary entries and freeing up to 163,000 hours of police time. Every use of physical restraint, every unarmed intervention, every deployment of a police dog and every discharge of a weapon would continue to be recorded in full.

1. Ending the double-counting of behavioural crimes for the same arrested person

Crimes like harassment or stalking often involve a sustained pattern of behaviour by the same perpetrator against the same victim. Currently, each act has to be logged as its own crime, complete with its own crime reference number, victim update, and investigation file. So, one person's campaign of abuse against one victim is double-counted', generating five or six separate paper trails instead of one, with officers repeating the same administrative work.

The Policing Productivity Review found that implementing changes to the recording of the details of double-counted' individuals will reduce the number of crime reports by 236,000 each year. Ending the double-counting would save 433,000 hours of officers' time that can be redeployed away from unnecessary recording tasks.

1.  Put police EDI officers back on the beat

The Conservative Party have committed to repealing the Public Sector Equality Duty, which removes the legal cover forces have relied on to justify compromising their operational impartiality.

A huge layer of bureaucracy has spawned at a massive expense to taxpayers with hundreds of EDI officer posts sitting across the police service. We will remove Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion posts from across policing and reallocate these roles to the front line. This will save nearly 500,000 hours of police time a year.

We will also repeal the Police Anti-Racism Commitment and every force race action plan and staff associations will be stripped of police time, resources, and influence over policy making or strategic decisions. Officers who wish to associate on the basis of a protected characteristic will remain entirely free to do so, in their own hours and out of their own pockets.

In total, this amounts to 7 million hours of police time each year, which can be re-allocated to solving crimes and patrolling the streets.

Conservatives are clear about whose side we are on, and we will always support those who work hard and do the right thing. Our plan to slash police bureaucracy will put officers back on the street where they are most effective. 

Kemi Badenoch MP, Leader of the Conservative Party, said:

The Conservative Party is the party of law and order. That means ensuring police officers are out on the streets preventing and solving crimes, not stuck in back offices filling out forms.

We have done the work, spoken to police officers and developd a plan that will mean less time spent on paperwork and more time spent keeping people safe.

This is just common sense. The public want to see more police officers in their communities upholding the law. Under the Conservatives they will.

Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, said:

Ask any officer what they joined up to do and the answer will not be redacting a file for a case that nobody will ever prosecute. The more time Police Officers spend filling out forms and box ticking is time they are not on the streets or solving crimes.

Under Labour there are almost 6,500 fewer frontline officers than at the election, more than 9 in 10 crimes go unsolved, and Sadiq Khan has blocked the technology that would have freed 940,000 hours of Metropolitan Police time.

Our plan frees up over 7 million hours of police time every year the equivalent of more than 3,800 officers, on top of the 10,000 extra officers we have already pledged. That is more patrols, more arrests and more crimes solved. We must catch more criminals to make sure that crime has consequences.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

The Conservative Party has a plan to slash Police bureaucracy:

• We will free up 7 million hours of police time each year, the equivalent of over 3,800 police officers. Through our plan to slash police bureaucracy, we will ensure that the police are protecting the public, not catching up with paperwork. Our plan will free up 7 million hours of police time each year, which can be re-allocated to solving crimes and patrolling the streets. This is the equivalent of 3,834 police officers (Prospects, Police Officer, accessed 25 November 2025, link).

Reduce the burden of preparing prosecution case files:

• We will reduce the burden of preparing prosecution case files in order to free up over 1.5 million hours of police time. A more proportional disclosure policy has been trialled in Merseyside and Cheshire and has been found to save seven hours per case file. According to the CPS, in 2024-25 225,979 pre-charge case files were received from the police. This means that rolling this out nationally would save 1,582,000 hours of police time (Police Federation, 19 November 2025, link; CPS, Publication, 17 July 2025, link).

Reduce the burden of file redactions:

• We will reduce the burden of file redactions for case files that are submitted to the CPS and free up over 150,000 hours. Given that the CPS is a trusted partner, where cases are not charged there should not be a need for them to be redacted. The Policing Productivity Review shows that an average of almost three hours is spent redacting each case file. It estimates that 25 per cent of cases submitted to the CPS, 56,495 cases, do not result in a charge. As a result, this change would free up 158,000 hours of time spent redacting files that do not proceed to prosecution (CPS, Publication, 17 July 2025, link; Home Office, Policing Productivity Review, 23 April 2024, link).

Reduce the burden for police officers by applying AI and robotics:

• We will adopt technological solutions to simplify and automate a range of administrative and crime-detection tasks to save over four million hours per year. We would ensure the adoption of technology, for example the type that the Metropolitan Police recently tried to adopt before it was stopped by Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. This was provided by Palantir and designed to automate a range of administrative and crime-detection tasks. The Metropolitan Police estimated that it would have saved 940,000 hours. As the Metropolitan Police represents 22 per cent of policing in England, if this were rolled out across the country, 4,272,000 hours could be saved per year (BBC News, 10 June 2026,link).

Reduce the burden of the requirement on police officers to submit:

• We will free up to 163,000 hours of police time by raising the threshold for completion of use of force forms. The police spend an estimated 311,438 hours a year filling out use of force forms, based on 812,447 reports at an average of 23 minutes each. From the 1,146,016 tactics recorded in those reports, 425,773 relate to compliant handcuffing, which is already recorded by the custody officer when a suspect arrives in handcuffs, or to a baton, irritant spray, taser or attenuating energy projectile being drawn but not used. Removing the requirement to record those tactics would free up to 163,213 hours of police time, while every application of physical force would continue to be recorded in full, including ground restraint, limb and body restraints, unarmed skills, dog deployment and any weapon actually used or discharged (Home Office, Official Statistics, 4 June 2026, link; Home Office, Police use of force statistics, link).

Reduce the burden of the requirement repetitive data entry for the same arrested person:

• We will remove the requirement on the police double count behavioural crimes for arrested persons to free up over 430,000 officer hours. The Policing Productivity Review found that implementing changes to the recording of the details of double-counted' individuals will reduce the number of crime reports by 236,000 each year. This will save 433,000 hours of officers time that can be redeployed away from unnecessary recording tasks (Policing Productivity Review, 23 April 2024, link).

Put police EDI officers back on the beat:

• The Conservative Party will move every dedicated Equality, Diversity and Inclusion post in the police service will be redeployed to front-line duties.
  The scale of the problem is clear in London alone. An FOI response has revealed that the Metropolitan Police have a dedicated Culture, Diversity & Inclusion (CD&I) Directorate which employs 58 staff. This move will save nearly 500,000 hours of police time a year, as part of a wider programme to cut police bureaucracy by 7 million hours annually, the equivalent of 3,8000 extra officers back on the beat.

• The National Police Chiefs' Council Polic Anti-Racism Commitment and every force race action plan will be repealed, and staff associations will be stripped of police time, resources and influence.No force will be permitted to use irrelevant identity characteristics as the basis for hiring, promotion or resourcing decisions.

• The Conservatives have already committed to repealing the Public Sector Equality Duty. In repealing the Public Sector Equality Duty, this removes the legal justification forces have used to compromise their operational impartiality.

• The Crown Prosecution Service have increased the burden on the police preparing case files. Changes by the CPS, enshrined in DG6 Director's Guidance 6, have hugely increased the amount of work that needs to be done in preparing case files for prosecution. This includes lengthy forms and disclosure of unused material that is not directly relevant to the case, all of which has to be catalogued and redacted.  The Police Federation has been campaigning to reduce these onerous requirements in order to save substantial amounts of police time (Police Federation, 19 November 2025, link).

Under Labour, crime and policing are worsening:

• Only 8.5 per cent of crimes were solved in the year to March 2026. This means that almost 92% of reported crime goes unsolved (Home Office, Crime outcomes year to March 2026: data tables, 23 July 2026, link).

• There are over 1,800 fewer police officers under Labour. The Conservatives left a record high 147,745 FTE police officers in March 2024. That has now fallen by 1,859 to 145,886 FTE since Labour took office (Home Office,Accredited Official Statistics, 22 July 2026, link).

• There has been a fall of over 500 police officers in the past year. The number of police officers has fallen by 566 from 146,452 in March 2025 to 145,886 in March 2026 (Home Office, Accredited Official Statistics, 22 July 2026, link).

• The total police workforce is down by over 1,300 in the last year and over 2,100 since Labour took office. In March 2026, the total police workforce was 234,441, down 1,332 since March 2025 and down 2,147 since Labour came to office (Home Office, Accredited Official Statistics, 22 July 2026, link).

• There are almost 6,500 fewer frontline police officers under Labour. In March 2026, there were 115,764 frontline police officers. This is a fall of 6,485 since Labour came to office when there were 122,249 frontline police officers (Home Office, Accredited Official Statistics, 22 July 2026, link).

• The number of people who have experienced antisocial behaviour has increased by 15 per cent in the last year.40.9 per cent of people experienced or witnessed antisocial behaviour in the year to March 2026, an increase from the previous year when the figure was 35.5 per cent. This means that 15.2 per cent more people are witnessing antisocial behaviour (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending March 2026, 23 July 2026, link).

• Robbery of business property has increased by 91 per cent in the last year. Overall robbery increased by 10 per cent in the year to March 2026 to 87,362 offences and there was a 91 per cent increase in the number of robbery of business property offences to 29,669 offences (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2025, 23 April 2026, link).

• Sexual offences and rape have increased in the last year. There was a 4 per cent rise in rape offences to 74,727 offences in the year to March 2026, up from 71,614 offences in the year ending March 2025. There was a 4 per cent increase in sexual offences in the year ending March 2026 to 217,567 offences, up from 209,114 offences in year ending (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2025, 23 April 2026, link).

• Crime has increased by almost 10 per cent since the election.There were 9.6 million incidents of headline crime in the year ending March 2026, compared to 8.7 million in the year ending March 2024 (ONS, Crime in England and Wales: year ending December 2025, 23 April 2026, link).

• The Labour Government has released over 70,000 criminals from prison early in just 12 months, risking the safety of the British public. Since entering office, Labour have released 48,931 under their early release scheme between 10 September 2024 and 30 September 2025 (MoJ, Transparency Data, 29 January 2026, link).

The Conservatives plan to take back our streets: 

1. Deploy 10,000 extra police and introduce hotspot patrolling.A quarter of all crime happens in justfive per cent of neighbourhoods.We will useour investment in 10,000 extra police officers to introduce intense hotspot patrollingof these 2,000crime hotspotareas, whichwill preventan estimated35,000 crimes anddeteranti-social behaviour, public drug consumption,shopliftingandknife crime.

2. Triple Stop & Search to take knives and drugs off the streets.We will fight knife crime and drug possession by rolling outpermanentSection 60'orders in the2,000worst crime hotspot areas. Thisenablespolice to search anyonethey have reason tosearch withoutmeeting thenormalhigher legal tests. Across the country we willtake a common-sense approach toenablemore stop andsearch byallowingpolice to searchon the basis ofasingle suspicion indicator elsewhere.This will lead to 1 million ore Stop & Searchesand300,000 more arrests (Home Office,Stop and Search data tablesyear ending 31 March 2025, 6 November 2025,link). 

3. Roll outLive Facial Recognitionin crime hotspots across the country(LFR).Live Facial Recognition is a breakthroughtechnology to fight crime.AMet Police trial in 2024saw1,000 known criminals arrested,andwhen usedin Croydon Town Centre, there wasa 12 per cent reduction in crime in a year. RollingoutroutineLFRtothe 100 highest crime areas will deliveranestimated 22,000 arrests of wanted criminals (City News, 22 January 2026,link). 

4. Immediate Justice'assignments, issued by police.Timelycommunity sentences issued by police, so those committing lower-level offences clean up our streets and parks, clearup graffiti, and make our communities tidier and more orderly,foroffences likecriminal damage, minor or common assault, drunk and disorderly,ora first drug possession offence. Theywill enable police to issue an estimated 2millionhours of graffiti cleaning and clearing up parks and public areas.

5. Crack down on cannabis.Cannabisis a gateway to more seriousdrug use and can cause severe psychosis, yettwo-thirds of police officers think that cannabis has been decriminalised in practice.At present the police often walk on by or if they do stop someone they oftensimply give an informal warning on the streetwhich is not recorded.We will mandate the police to always intervene. First time offenders will geta formal, on-the-recordcaution or an Immediate Justice assignment. We will introduce automaticprosecution in aMagistrates Courtforallsecond offences.

6. Put public safety first when dealing with mentally ill people.We will overhaul Labour's Mental Health Act and stamp out the ideology that has seen an obsession with racial targets put ahead of public safety - with tragic consequences. An excessive focus on reducing the use of sectioning on racial grounds, is allowing seriously mentally ill individuals to remain in communities, when they should be detained for the safety of the public and themselves. 

7. Curbdangerous e-bikeand e-scooterriding.Enablingpolice to always intervene and enforce increased penalties.Dangerous to pedestrians some are heavy,fastand powerful-but are currently treated like bicycles rather than motorbikes.

8. Stamp outghost plates.Using fake orghost plates'allowsseriouscriminal activity,but there is only a £100 fine for using a non-compliant plate and a £1,000 fine for making and selling them. We will make it aseriouscriminal offence to manufacture or sell plates that cannot be ANPR read