Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
Inflexible police workforce model and poor wellbeing reduce productivity and increase costs.
Conclusion
Written evidence from Leapwise, Sir Stephen House and the City of London Police all highlighted how an inflexible workforce model can undermine police productivity.42 Leapwise highlighted how poor workforce wellbeing is reducing workforce capacity, identifying that the proportion of police officers on long-term sick leave has increased from 1.5% in March 2021 to 2.2% in 2025, with a 47% increase in officers sick for more than 28 days. This equates to 3,165 officers off-duty for considerable periods, with a cost of approximately £52 million to £92 million a year for policing.43 36 Qq 33, 52 37 Q 51 38 Qq 124, 127 39 ADS Group Ltd (IPP0002) 40 Q 123 41 ADS Group Ltd (IPP0002) 42 Sir Stephen House QPM (IPP0008); City of London Police (IPP0010); Leapwise (IPP0013) 43 Leapwise (IPP0013) 12 2 Improving police efficiency and productivity Implementing the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme
Government Response Summary
The officer maintenance grant and the requirement to achieve officer headcount targets has been abolished from 1 April 2026, and has allocated £363 million of ringfenced funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams towards the aim of 13,000 additional personnel in neighbourhood roles across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
3.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 3.2 The government has listened to policing’s concerns about the financial and operational impacts of requiring forces to maintain a centrally set number of officers; and have assessed that the Police Officer Maintenance Grant has become a barrier to visible policing, sometimes leading to warranted officers being placed in support functions. As a result, the officer maintenance grant and the requirement to achieve officer headcount targets has been abolished from 1 April 2026. 3.3 The 2026-27 police funding settlement provides forces with the investment needed to strengthen neighbourhood policing and modernise frontline capability. Overall funding for the policing system in England and Wales will be up to £21.0 billion, an increase of £1.3 billion compared to 2025-26. Of this, total funding to police forces will be up to £18.4 billion, an increase of up to £796 million. 3.4 As part of that settlement, the government is focused on what officers are doing rather than purely on officer numbers. For 2026-27, the Home Office is introducing a neighbourhood policing grant and has allocated £363 million of ringfenced funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams towards the aim of 13,000 additional personnel in neighbourhood roles across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament. 3.5 The expectation is that forces will prioritise redeploying officers from roles where their warranted powers are not required, into neighbourhood policing teams in 2026-27. This moves away from setting total officer headcount targets. Prioritising neighbourhood policing may place some limitations on workforce flexibility which the Home Office will keep under review. 3.6 Ensuring that policing has the right people and skills to deliver an efficient modern service aligned to current and future demand is important as the Home Office moves forward with our police reforms. The Police Reform White Paper outlines proposals to improve leadership, professional development and create a new national workforce strategy which will support this aim.