Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
63rd Report - Increasing police productivity
Public Accounts Committee
HC 1239
Published 28 January 2026
Recommendations
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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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 …
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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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Conclusions (7)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.