The Home Secretary is facing a revolt by police chiefs who have warned that thousands of officer jobs will have to be cut due to a ‘fundamental accounting mistake’.
Chief constables are predicting that a shortfall in the police funding settlement due to be announced this week will mean major reductions to officer and staff numbers next year.
In a significant rebellion, ten forces including Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk have sounded the alarm writing to Yvette Cooper warning that they will have no choice but to slash officers, police community support officers (PCSOs) and staff.
Furious chiefs 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.
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.
But the policy came under attack after it emerged that almost a quarter will be drawn from existing ranks, meaning officers will have to be redeployed from current duties, leaving gaps to fill.
Labour is also introducing targets for forces including halving knife crime and violence against women and girls, but some police and crime commissioners are warning these will be unachievable if the previous government’s 20,000 officer uplift is reversed.
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.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper (pictured in Liverpool) is facing a backlash from police chiefs over her funding settlement
Ten forces including Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Norfolk and Suffolk have sounded the alarm, warning they will have no choice but to slash officers and staff (file photo)
Chiefs have calculated that they would need an extra £331 million next year just to fund the latest 4.75 per cent 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.
In their fifth year of service, a police constable typically earns 25 per cent more than in their first year, with an increase of around £4,000 between their fourth and sixth year in post.
A policing insider said the Home Office had made a ‘fundamental accounting mistake’ and the 2025/6 funding settlement due to be announced this week has ‘fallen short’ of what was needed.
Sources said forces would have to request emergency government funding if next year’s police pay rise was more than two per cent.
Police chiefs are also concerned that they will face perverse financial penalties for cutting officers.
Under the ring-fenced police uplift grant set up by the last Government, forces are penalised if they do not maintain a set number of officers.
Now police leaders are urging ministers to relax the targets so that cash-strapped forces aren’t fined if they cut numbers.
Lincolnshire Police Chief Paul Gibson has written to the Home Office warning of a ‘significant deterioration’ in services because of an ‘untenable’ finances
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: ‘It is disgraceful that police forces are faced with having to cut police numbers thanks to Labour’s real-terms cut in funding, when pay pressures are accounted for.
‘This means that British people face falling police numbers even though Labour has slapped us with the biggest tax rise in recent memory – breaking their elections promises in doing so.
‘Conservatives left office with record ever police numbers – I call on Labour to maintain and grow those record police officer numbers.’
Sir Mark Rowley has predicted ‘eye-watering cuts’ if Scotland Yard doesn’t get more money, saying: ‘If some of the decisions I fear we are having to make over the next few months come to bear, then there will be a lot of raised eyebrows and a lot of concern.’
Essex Police has warned it will have to reverse half of its officer uplift programme, shedding over 200 police officer posts and half of the force’s PCSO workforce, with 50 posts facing the axe.
Suffolk’s PCC Tim Passmore has written to Ms Cooper warning that his force will have stick officers in back office jobs.
He has demanded a ‘cast iron guarantee’ that the force will be fully compensated for the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her budget.
Mr Passmore said unless money was provided on a ‘per person’ basis, rather than the ‘iniquitous’ national police funding formula, Suffolk Police will have cut civilian police jobs. ‘It’ll mean staff vacancies not being filled and police officers doing their clerical jobs’, he said.
Police leaders are now urging ministers to relax the targets so that cash-strapped forces aren’t fined if they cut numbers (file photo)
‘It’s completely inconsistent with the government’s aims of tackling violence against women and girls and knife crime.’
Lincolnshire Police Chief Paul Gibson and PCC Marc Jones have also written to the Home Secretary warning of a ‘significant deterioration’ in services because of an ‘untenable’ financial situation.
Mr Gibson said: ‘In terms of the size of the cuts that would be required, we’d have to look very, very carefully but we would have to reduce officer numbers and also staff numbers.’
Yesterday the National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Finance, Chief Constable Paul Sanford, said: ‘We will be working closely with the Home Office to understand what the Budget will mean for policing in the run up to the upcoming police funding settlement.’
A Home Office source said forces should avoid making assumptions on the funding settlement until full details are published and stressed that the Home Secretary had already confirmed that forces will be fully compensated for the changes to employer National Insurance contributions.
They added that the council tax level is determined locally and that ministers do not expect forces to be making reductions to officer headcount.
Essex Police will receive an additional £3.7 million to support the costs of the 2024-25 pay award, which has been allocated outside of the police funding settlement.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The Home Secretary has already announced an increase of over half a billion pounds of central government funding for policing next year, with a core grant increase of more than £260 million.
‘This overall increase also includes an additional £100 million to reinvigorate neighbourhood policing and restore a visible presence of officers to our streets.
‘Further funding and details on the overall settlement will be announced in due course.’