‘We need a long-term funding settlement’

16 January 2020

The Government needs to come up with a long-term and sustained funding settlement for policing to end the boom and bust one-year settlements that prevent forces making strategic plans to fight crime and support communities, according to the national chair of the Police Federation.

John Apter put forward his arguments in the Federation’s submission to Phase 1 of the Strategic Review of Policing, launched by the Government last year and being carried out by The Police Foundation, and called for an end to the current system where policing has been at the whim of political drivers with annual budgets set by national and local government.

The submission also demands a full review of the police funding formula to end the current postcode lottery where richer regions get more resources for policing.

Jon Nott, chair of West Midlands Police Federation, believes the national chair is right to push for longer-term funding as a means of ensuring future stability.

“Policing has been hard hit by the cuts to budgets over the last 10 years,” says Jon, “In the West Midlands alone, we have lost more than 2,100 officers since 2010 under a Government that told police forces they could do more with less.

“We warned that the cuts would have consequences and those consequences have been felt by our communities who have, for example, seen a reduction in policing presence and an increase in violent crime. But our officers have been hard hit too. They have put themselves under pressure trying to maintain an effective service and all too often have suffered stress and ill health as a result.

“The new Government is saying it wants to reinvest in policing but we need action and not just soundbites. It must agree to a sustained funding settlement so that police forces can put in place long-terms plans to fight and prevent crime, keep order and protect the vulnerable.”

Jon, while welcoming the Government’s commitment to recruit 20,000 new officers nationwide over the next three years, also questioned whether this was achievable.

“Due to the number of officers retiring or resigning, we would actually need to recruit 55,000 officers to increase our overall numbers by 20,000 and then you have to also take into account that would only take us back to the number of officers we had in 2010,” says Jon.

“The pressure to recruit such a large number of officers in a relatively short time-frame could also bring its own problems. During the cuts programme, we have seen police stations close, we have seen training departments diminished and, of course, we do not have a store full of uniform and equipment just waiting for new recruits to be taken on.

“We welcome the Government’s recruitment drive but there is a lot of work to be done to actually get these new officers in post, trained and equipped to serve their communities.”

The Police Federation submission to the Strategic Review also called for:

• An examination of the adequacy of mental health services and impact of the increasing number of elderly and vulnerable people in society
• A re-examination of a complaints investigation protocol which is labour intensive and often disproportionate to the magnitude of a complaint
• Proper analysis of the 43-force model of policing which ‘may not necessarily best serve the needs of the public’.

Describing the Strategic Review as a ‘once in a generation opportunity to help right the wrongs of austerity’, the national Federation chair said: “It’s almost 60 years since the last Royal Commission, and we have been calling for another since 1999. This review is an important opportunity for us to help shape the future of policing into the century.

“While appreciating that the police service is a 24/7, 365 days a year service, it does not mean it is best placed or best equipped to deal with all public demands. This is an opportunity to help determine what the public wants and expects of their police service.”

Following the conclusion of the first phase of the review, a further second phase will examine workforce, equipment, accountability mechanisms, structures and resources in early 2020.