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- UK policing spending plan 2010-2015
Recent Comments
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Links in brief
TXP.icio.us requires MagpieRSSUK policing spending plan 2010-2015
21 October 2010 by Rod McLaren
The 20 October 2010 spending review announced cuts to the Home Office budget of 23% (6% annually) by 2015.
Home Secretary Theresa May’s comment: “I believe that by improving efficiency, driving out waste, and increasing productivity we can maintain a strong police service, a secure border and effective counter terrorism capabilities whilst delivering significant savings.”
The numbers:
- Central government police funding cut 20% by 2014-15 (4% annually)
- UK Border Agency funding to be reduced by up to 20%
- Home Office central administration budget cut by 33%
- Home Office capital budget (long-term assets such as buildings, IT) cut by 49%
Reductions will be achieved by:
- efficiency and productivity measures in the police ‘back office’, says the Home Office
- modernising police pay and conditions, and removing central bureaucracy and targets
- introducing directly-elected Police and Crime Commissioners
- folding the National Policing Improvement Agency into the new National Crime Agency (saving £50m+)
- reducing support and purchasing costs in the UK Border Agency, investing in newer technology, and making migrants and visitors to the UK meet an increasing proportion of the costs (saving c £500m)
- police forces can make procurement savings by acting together when buying goods and services
Olympic spending and counter-terrorism funding are semi-protected:
- The UK will retain its capabilities to tackle the terrorist threat and there will be sufficient funding to deliver a safe and secure Olympic Games in 2012.
- Counter-terrorism-specific policing will be protected will [with] a smaller percentage cut (10%?) than overall police funding.
Note that because 80%+ of police budgets are headcount, it’s hard to achieve cuts without reducing staff and frontline numbers. Osborne said that the aim was to maintain “visibility and availability” of officers on beat, but equally no guarantee on police numbers was offered.
Indeed, HMIC’s July 2010 report had warned that efficiency gains would take policing only so far: “A cut beyond 12% would almost certainly reduce police availability unless it were prioritised over and above everything else the police did” (Valuing the Police, July 2010, p4) and Greater Manchester Police’s Chief Constable Peter Fahy’s said there was “no question” the cuts would lead to fewer officers. KPMG predicts 18,000 police officers jobs will go, and the Police Federation 20,000.
There will certainly be significant budget pressure on IT, infrastructure and other service projects. I’ll follow up on this soon with something on “doing more with less”.
See also: MoD spending plan 2010-2015
UK military spending plan 2010-2020 Reducing costs in policing