Recommendation 4

The Home Office has not established how it will achieve the planned savings in its police efficiency and collaboration programme. The Home Office has identified £354 million of potential savings over the period to 2028–29 but recognises that achieving this is high risk. As at November 2025, the Home Office had not established how it would fund its savings programme and some initiatives will require legislative change. The Home Office believes it will achieve the planned savings by 2028–29 3 but was unable to explain to us the practical steps needed to achieve lasting changes in working practices across all police forces. The lack of standardisation across police forces is inefficient and represents poor value for money, with the Home Office expecting to achieve half of the savings from commercial efficiencies. However, it has not yet established the scope for standardisation and how it will engage police forces to achieve change. The Home Secretary has powers to mandate forces and/ or specify requirements but these have rarely been used, with the Home Office saying it needs to be confident that mandating would be beneficial for police forces. Without the right data and monitoring systems, it will be difficult for the Home Office to track and assess what progress is being made and how savings are being achieved. recommendation In its Treasury Minute response, the Home Office should set out by when it expects to achieve its planned efficiency savings. In doing so, it should: a. provide details on how it will achieve savings, including the areas in which it is seeking standardisation, which forces are using procurement frameworks, and the areas in which it is planning to mandate greater consistency across policing; and b. set out how it will ensure that claimed savings meet HM Treasury requirements.