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63rd Report - Increasing police productivity

Public Accounts Committee HC 1239 Published 28 January 2026
Report Status
Government responded
Conclusions & Recommendations
30 items (18 recs)
Government Response
AI assessment · 30 of 30 classified
Accepted 14
Accepted in Part 1
Acknowledged 11
Deferred 3
Not Addressed 1
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Recommendations

18 results
2 Accepted

Set out arrangements across government to quantify policy change impact on policing resources.

Recommendation
The Home Office does not understand how wider policy changes affect the demand on police resources. Police forces face growing demands as they take on additional responsibilities and tackle increasing volumes of more complex crimes, for example, the number of … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government states the recommendation is implemented, citing the Police Reform White Paper and existing Consolidated Budgeting Guidance for considering policy impacts on policing. It is currently working with policing stakeholders and relevant departments to assess existing processes and identify necessary changes to manage these burdens.
HM Treasury
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3 Accepted

Assess implications of maintaining police officer numbers on force efficiency and workforce flexibility.

Recommendation
Police forces have limited flexibility to recruit people with the skills they need. Since the Police Uplift Programme was established in 2019, the government has ringfenced funding on the condition that forces maintain officer numbers, allocating £270 million to forces … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government states it has assessed the implications of maintaining police officer numbers, concluding that the officer maintenance grant was a barrier to visible policing. As a result, the grant and officer headcount targets will be abolished from April 2026 to improve workforce flexibility and support neighbourhood policing.
HM Treasury
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4 Accepted

Set out timeline and detailed plan for achieving planned police efficiency savings and standardisation.

Recommendation
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 … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government states the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) targets £354 million in cashable efficiencies by 2028-29, and thousands of officer hours saved. It details how savings will be achieved through commercial strategies, productivity improvements, data, and shared services, confirming targets were agreed with the Treasury and will be reported via a Benefits Strategy.
HM Treasury
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5 Accepted

Provide an update on accelerating new technology adoption to improve police force productivity.

Recommendation
It is taking too long to identify and scale-up innovative practices and roll-out new technologies to improve police productivity. There are many examples of police forces exploiting innovative technologies—including audio-visual multimedia redaction, live facial recognition and enhanced video response—but scaling … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and is accelerating the adoption of new technologies by supporting the College of Policing, prioritising key digital technologies like AI and data analytics, and scaling productivity-enabling systems nationally. It will consider further recommendations as part of implementing force mergers.
HM Treasury
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6 Accepted

Set out new accountability and funding arrangements to improve police productivity and governance.

Recommendation
The outdated and piecemeal approach to funding police forces is frustrating efforts to secure long-term productivity improvements. In November 2025, the Home Office was still working to develop an affordable plan to increase the number of personnel in neighbourhood policing … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government accepted the recommendation, noting the publication of the Police Reform White Paper detailing new governance arrangements and a review of the police funding formula following an independent review of force structures. The Home Office also confirmed it wrote to the Committee with further details.
HM Treasury
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7 Accepted

Fragmented police data hinders understanding of financial risks and impact on productivity.

Recommendation
We asked the Home Office whether it has the data it needs to understand the financial risks facing police forces and the impact that this has on police productivity.9 The Home Office said there are multiple datasets scattered across bodies … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Home Office will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations of the Police Performance Framework, and plans for public reporting of performance data.
HM Treasury
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8 Accepted

Home Office shifts to stronger central role in monitoring police force performance.

Recommendation
In 2015, our predecessor Committee concluded that the Home Office’s “hands off” approach to monitoring police forces had limited its ability to ensure value for money.13 The Home Office told us it is now adopting a stronger central role and … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Home Office will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations of the Police Performance Framework, and plans for public reporting of performance data.
HM Treasury
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9 Accepted

Absence of a police productivity measure hinders assessment and hides performance decline.

Recommendation
Written evidence from Leapwise raised the importance of having a measure of police productivity to assess and reward police forces. It noted that the absence of such a measure has meant that the current decline in police productivity is hidden.18 … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Home Office will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations of the Police Performance Framework, and plans for public reporting of performance data.
HM Treasury
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10 Accepted

Home Office plans to publish police performance data, but specifics remain undetermined.

Recommendation
We asked the Home Office about its plans for publishing data on the performance of police forces. Written evidence from The Productivity Institute highlighted that ‘public trust’ is an important productivity outcome.20 The College of Policing agreed that the antidote … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government has published the first iteration of the Police Performance Framework and will write to the Committee by July 2026 setting out the key metrics it will incorporate in future iterations and plans for public reporting of performance data to support greater transparency.
HM Treasury
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12 Acknowledged

Home Office has not fully costed sentencing reform impacts on policing.

Recommendation
In his written submission, Sir Stephen House highlighted how policing productivity must be considered in the context of an effective end-to-end process.26 We asked the Home Office how it is working with other departments to understand how policy decisions might … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Home Office will work closely with policing to fully understand the impact of any policy changes that affect policing, and is working with policing and relevant departments to understand what changes are required to help policing meet these costs.
HM Treasury
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13 Acknowledged

Home Office progress on cross-departmental drug addiction work remains preliminary.

Recommendation
The Home Office acknowledged that further work is required with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), the Department for Education and Department for Work and Pensions to understand the whole system join-up and ensure the impact of policy … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Home Office will work closely with policing to fully understand the impact of any policy changes that affect policing, and is working with policing and relevant departments to understand what changes are required to help policing meet these costs.
HM Treasury
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16 Acknowledged

Police forces struggle to recruit and retain specialist IT staff due to competition.

Recommendation
Police forces face difficulties recruiting and retaining staff with specialist skills, including IT staff, inhibiting their ability to deploy new technology. The Home Office told us that part of the challenge is that all 43 forces are seeking to recruit … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, has abolished the officer maintenance grant, provides funding to strengthen neighbourhood policing and modernise frontline capability, and outlines plans to improve leadership, professional development and create a new national workforce strategy.
HM Treasury
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17 Acknowledged

Police officers lack adequate skills to investigate complex crimes like fraud effectively.

Recommendation
Police forces must also invest in the skills of their workforce to be able to respond to the changing nature of crime. Evidence submitted by ADS Group Ltd stated that, according to a 2025 Police Foundation report, half of police … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees, has abolished the officer maintenance grant, provides funding to strengthen neighbourhood policing and modernise frontline capability, and outlines plans to improve leadership, professional development and create a new national workforce strategy.
HM Treasury
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19 Accepted

Police Efficiency Programme faces high risks, legislative hurdles, and unestablished funding.

Recommendation
The Labour Party manifesto set out that the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee would be paid for by tackling waste through a Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme.44 The Home Office has identified efficiency savings of £354 million over the period 2025–26 to … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) has an annual cashable efficiencies target of £354 million by 2028-29 and a non-cashable efficiencies target of saving thousands of officer hours to support government priorities such as neighbourhood policing.
HM Treasury
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20 Accepted

Lack of standardisation across police forces impedes national procurement efficiency and savings.

Recommendation
The Home Office told us that about that half of the planned £354 million of savings will come from commercial savings, such as national purchasing, with the remainder from cost recovery and improved productivity.48 We asked whether there has been … Read more
Government Response Summary
The Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) has an annual cashable efficiencies target of £354 million by 2028-29 and a non-cashable efficiencies target of saving thousands of officer hours to support government priorities such as neighbourhood policing.
HM Treasury
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25 Deferred

Slow scaling of police innovation hindered by funding cuts and a crowded delivery landscape.

Recommendation
Despite these opportunities, scaling innovation and new technologies across the 43 police forces in England and Wales has been slow. The Home Office and College of Policing acknowledged the lack of speed and told us that scale-up was the biggest … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees to provide an update in July 2027 on the steps taken to speed up the adoption of new technologies and support police forces to improve their productivity, including the technologies with the greatest potential, support for the College of Policing, simplifying arrangements for rolling out new technologies, and results from the diagnostic tool.
HM Treasury
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26 Deferred

Police forces face significant funding constraints for IT system improvements and new technology.

Recommendation
We asked if police forces had sufficient funding to improve their IT systems,71 particularly given the financial pressures they are facing, which has led them to increase borrowing to fund capital programmes.72 Forces also spend around 80% of their funding … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and sets a target implementation date of December 2029, noting that the National Police Service will consider these recommendations further once established; meanwhile, the Home Office is working closely with policing to modernise IT systems and is addressing concerns through work on national data standards and programmes upgrading legacy technology.
HM Treasury
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28 Accepted in Part

Future funding plan for 13,000 extra neighbourhood policing personnel beyond 2025-26 remains uncertain.

Recommendation
We asked how the government’s commitment to put 13,000 extra personnel into neighbourhood policing roles by 2029 will be funded. The government provided £200 million in 2025–26 to recruit 3,000 additional neighbourhood 69 Q 115 70 Q 130 71 Q … Read more
Government Response Summary
The government allocated £363 million of ringfenced funding to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams, but prioritising neighbourhood policing may place some limitations on workforce flexibility which the Home Office will keep under review.
HM Treasury
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Conclusions (12)

Observations and findings
1 Conclusion Not Addressed
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Home Office and College of Policing on how they are supporting policing to improve efficiency and productivity, and help meet the government’s policing commitments.1
Government Response Summary
The government's response describes its Police Reform White Paper and a new performance framework aimed at improving police efficiency and productivity. It commits to writing to the Committee by July 2026 to detail key metrics and plans for public reporting of performance data.
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11 Conclusion Acknowledged
Police forces are facing growing demands. This includes an increase in the number of crimes which require more specialist resources to investigate; for example, fraud crimes, sexual offences, and stalking and harassment offences increased from 768,000 cases in 2014–15 (18% of police recorded crime) to 2.1 million cases in 2024–25 …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and will work closely with policing to understand the impact of policy changes, consider impacts of policies on local authorities, and work with policing to identify if processes in place to manage burdens are sufficient.
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14 Conclusion Acknowledged
Since the Police Uplift Programme was established in 2019, the government has ringfenced funding to increase and maintain police officer numbers. In 2025–26, the government allocated £270 million to police forces through the officer maintenance grant, which forces are only eligible for if they meet their officer number targets.32 Most …
Government Response Summary
The government has abolished the Police Officer Maintenance Grant from 1 April 2026 and will focus on what officers are doing rather than officer numbers, allocating £363 million to incentivise forces to grow neighbourhood policing teams towards 13,000 additional personnel across England and Wales by the end of this Parliament.
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15 Conclusion Accepted
A number of stakeholders identified that the officer maintenance grant has led to police forces increasingly using officers in staff roles (that do not require a warranted police officer) – an expensive and inefficient practice.34 In written evidence, Leapwise estimated that this practice is costing policing at least £55 million …
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.
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18 Conclusion Accepted
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 …
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.
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21 Conclusion Acknowledged
We sought reassurances that the Home Office was considering simplifying police systems, such as those used in human resources. The Home Office recognised police forces use many different systems and it is a highly fragmented picture. It told us that it is trialling standardisation in “some areas”.52 It has included …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states that the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) aims to achieve savings through various workstreams and greater consistency across policing in IT, fleet, and energy spend, with consideration given to mandating approaches where appropriate.
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22 Conclusion Acknowledged
We asked the Home Office whether BlueLight Commercial had been a success. The Home Office said it has made some progress changing the behaviours and culture of police forces to generate savings, but it had not been used to the extent that was intended.55 BlueLight Commercial manages 300 contracts on …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states that the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) aims to achieve savings through various workstreams and greater consistency across policing in IT, fleet, and energy spend, with consideration given to mandating approaches where appropriate.
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23 Conclusion Acknowledged
We asked whether the Home Office had the data needed to monitor progress towards its planned savings of £354 million by 2028–29.58 The Home Office said it is important to get the right data to hold police 51 Qq 75-77, 95, 96, 103-106, 111 52 Q 51 53 Qq 71, …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees and states that the Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) aims to achieve savings through various workstreams and greater consistency across policing in IT, fleet, and energy spend, with consideration given to mandating approaches where appropriate.
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24 Conclusion Accepted
There are many examples of police forces exploiting innovative technologies, including audio-visual multimedia redaction, live facial recognition and enhanced video response.62 These technologies can help to improve police productivity and performance. For example, the College of Policing estimated that scaling the use of enhanced video response could save up to …
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that it is working to accelerate the adoption of new technologies to improve police productivity by providing financial and practical support to the College of Policing and its Centre for Police Productivity and investing in new secure national infrastructure.
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27 Conclusion Acknowledged
We asked what progress the Home Office has made implementing the recommendations of the 2023 Policing Productivity Review, which identified the potential to save 38 million hours of police time over five years. The Home Office said it had taken a number of initiatives forward, such as the establishment of …
Government Response Summary
The Police Efficiency and Collaboration Programme (PECP) has an annual cashable efficiencies target of £354 million by 2028-29 and a non-cashable efficiencies target of saving thousands of officer hours. PECP will achieve savings through four workstreams: commercial including cost recovery, productivity, data and the enabling services of the National Police Service.
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29 Conclusion Deferred
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 …
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.
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30 Conclusion Acknowledged
The Home Office said that it expects the police reform White Paper to start having an impact from 2026–27.86 As part of this, the Home Office said that it will work out implementation plans to establish new arrangements following the abolition of the role of police and crime commissioners.87 The …
Government Response Summary
The government published the Police Reform White Paper, setting out an ambitious programme to improve the quality, consistency and efficiency of policing. Plans to abolish the Police and Crime Commissioner model at the end of their current term in May 2028.
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