Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 29
29
Deferred
Outdated police funding formula creates structural gaps for forces amid demographic changes since 2015.
Conclusion
In its 2015 report on the financial sustainability of police forces, our predecessor Committee recommended that a new police funding formula be introduced in 2016–17.80 In our evidence session, we asked whether changing demographics meant the out-of-date formula had led to a structural funding gap.81 We were also concerned about the impact on rural police forces.82 Demographic changes have meant some forces, such as Bedfordshire and Warwickshire, have seen government funding per capita fall by nearly 12% since 2015.83 The Home Office has provided £123 million of additional support to five forces to help them respond to financial pressures since 2023–24.84 It told us that it is willing to speak to forces about local pressures, is scrutinising forces’ financial plans to work out where additional funding might be needed and uses the special grant system to respond to local pressures. The Home Office also highlighted that the funding formula is just one element of police funding and that it expects to look at the arrangements as part of the police reforms.85
Government Response Summary
The Home Office will review the police funding formula once the implementation of police reform is underway and will launch an independent review into police force structures to consider the right model for local policing, which will report in the summer.
Government Response
Deferred
HM Government
Deferred
6.5 Changes to police governance, force mergers and the creation of the National Police Service require a new way of allocating funding between forces, aligned with these new structures. The Police Reform White Paper confirmed that the Home Office will review the police funding formula once the implementation of police reform is underway so that the new formula reflects the new police force structures. The Home Office will launch an independent review into police force structures to consider the right model for local policing, which will report in the summer. The scope of any review of the funding formula will need to reflect the outcome of this independent process.