Inflicting £18 billion cuts on the public service after more than ten years of austerity is “absolute madness”

6 October 2022

Inflicting £18 billion cuts on the public service after more than ten years of austerity is “absolute madness”, the acting Chair of Surrey Police Federation has said. 

Budgets would not be topped up to take account of soaring price rises, the chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng revealed this week, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies saying an £18billion would be needed to cover inflation, which is currently running at around 10 per cent.

Nolan Heather, SPF Chair, said: “The problem is, that the further the cuts go, the more the standard of service the police can give declines. 

“We’re already trying to do more with less, so there is going to have to be a sensible conversation about what the police can actually do.” 

The service would have to consider what its “core functions” are, Nolan said, with officers working “smarter on the objectives they have”. He questioned whether the force would be able to continue doing preventative projects or community engagement work in the future. 

Nolan said: “We build up public confidence with police officers going out to schools and community events. You could argue - is there a policing need for this, if we don’t have the resources to cover it? We hear all the time from the public - you just don’t see the police anymore. And it looks like we’ll have to contend with more of that.” 

He also warned that the public will need to understand that any cuts to policing might mean the service not being able to do everything.  

He added: “Further cuts will be borne out in more antisocial behaviour, a lack of crime prevention and an increase in low level offending. Police officers are frustrated because they want to do their job; they want to help people and prevent crime. But they are hamstrung through increasing processes, increasing red tape and the amount of resources that are actually available to them.” 

Nolan also warned that further cuts will force officers out of the service, as they are already struggling to do the job with the little resources they have. 

He added: “You’re going to lose staff, and you are going to lose service levels.”