UK Inquiry Tracker

Increasing police productivity

Public Accounts Committee Open Inquiry

Opened: 10 Jul 2025 Parliament page

Total police funding in 2025-26 is £19.6bn, with approx. 70% of this made up of central government funding and the rest raised through council tax. Government is aiming to put 13,000 additional police officers, police community support officers and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles, paid for by tackling waste … Read more Total police funding in 2025-26 is £19.6bn, with approx. 70% of this made up of central government funding and the rest raised through council tax. Government is aiming to put 13,000 additional police officers, police community support officers and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles, paid for by tackling waste through a programme of reform. This includes plans to centralise functions such as procurement and vetting, and greater use of technology to make officers more productive. The PAC’s 2018 report on the financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales warned that financial pressures were undermining confidence in the police, which the report found had been severely dented as forces reprioritised work in response to funding cuts. The Committee’s subsequent 2022 report highlighted significant challenges for the Home Office in realising a promised uplift in police numbers. The National Audit Office (NAO) reports in 2025 on police productivity, with a focus on the Home Office’s approach to supporting police forces to improve. Following the NAO’s report, the PAC will take evidence from senior Home Office officials, with likely topics for scrutiny including current financial constraints facing police forces, and how the Home Office is supporting forces to deliver value for money from funding. If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Monday 10 November 2025. Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is the Committee which decides what information to publish and how. It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this. Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues . Show less

18 Recommendations

12 Conclusions

1 Report

1 Oral session

4 Letters

1 Event

Activity timeline 8 events

7 Apr
2026

Report published

Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Sixty-third report from Session 2024-26

12 Mar
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Acting Permanent Secretary at the Home Office relating to the Committee’s inquiry into Increasing police productivity, 04 M…

23 Feb
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer of the College of Policing relating to a follow-up to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 Novemb…

28 Jan
2026

Report published

63rd Report - Increasing police productivity

8 Jan
2026

Correspondence

Letter from the Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Increasin…

15 Dec
2025

Correspondence

Letter from the Chief Executive Officer at The College of Policing relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Incr…

24 Nov
2025

Oral evidence

Oral evidence session

24 Nov
2025

Formal meeting (oral evidence session) · The Grimond Room, Portcullis House

Committee event

Oral evidence sessions 1 session

24 Nov 2025

View on parliament.uk

Bethan Page-Jones · Home Office Dame Antonia Romeo DCB · Ministry of Justice James Bottomley · College of Policing Richard Clarke · Home Office Sir Andy Marsh QPM · College of Policing

Reports 1 report · click to expand

Title	HC No.	Published	Items	Response
63rd Report - Increasing police productivity	HC 1239	28 Jan 2026	30	Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

14 results

2 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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 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 these across all 43 police forces has been slow. The Home Office is implementing some of the changes from the 2023 Policing Productivity Review but has reduced funding to support the roll-out of new technologies from £105 million in 2024–25 to £50 million in 2025–26. As around 80% of police funding is committed to staff pay costs, police forces have limited flexibility to invest in new technologies and have been forced to increase their borrowing to fund their capital programmes. The College of Policing acknowledged that the large number of bodies involved in the roll-out of innovative practices, including identifying and scaling innovations with the greatest potential, was not the most effective way of operating. There is also scope to improve police productivity by streamlining processes. The College of Policing has developed a diagnostic tool to help police forces identify opportunities, in areas such as burglary, but its launch has been delayed. 4 recommendation The Home Office should provide the Committee with an update in six months on the steps it has taken to speed up the adoption of new technologies and support police forces to improve their productivity. This should include setting out: a. the digital technologies with the greatest potential and how it is supporting their wider adoption; b. how it will support the College of Policing to identify innovations with the greatest potential; c. how it will simplify the arrangements for approving and rolling-out new technologies; and d. the results of using the new diagnostic tool to assess the scope for productivity improvements from streamlining police processes, including the potential benefits identi Show less

Government Response

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 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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 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 roles by 13,000 by 2029. The government provided £200 million in 2025–26 to recruit 3,000 additional personnel but forces do not know what funding will be provided from 2026–27 onwards. The Home Office is still using the out-dated police funding formula, which our predecessor Committee recommended be reformed in 2015. The formula was revised 5 in 2013 but subsequent demographic changes and regional variations in precept funding have created increasing financial pressures in some forces, with Bedfordshire Police and Warwickshire Police, for example, seeing government funding per capita fall by nearly 12% since 2015. We were also concerned that funding allocations did not reflect the needs of rural forces. Since 2023–24, the Home Office has provided £123 million of emergency funding to help some forces manage pressures. The new White Paper will be an important step in setting out the Home Office’s vision for policing reform. It offers the opportunity to clarify the leadership role the Home Office will play and how forces will be held to account following the abolition of police and crime commissioners. recommendation After the publication of the White Paper on police reforms, the Home Office should write to the Committee setting out how the new accountability arrangements will support it in leading the policing system to improve its productivity and deliver government’s policy commitments. In doing so, it should: a. set out in detail the new governance arrangements that will replace police and crime commissioners in those areas where there is no regional mayor; and b. explain how it will revise existing funding arrangements to provide police forces with an equitable and stable basis from which to m Show less

Government Response

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 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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9 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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10 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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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15 Conclusion Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

Officer maintenance grant incentivises inefficient deployment of police officers in staff roles.

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 … Read more

Government Response

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.

HM Treasury

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18 Conclusion Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

Inflexible police workforce model and poor wellbeing reduce productivity and increase costs.

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 … Read more

Government Response

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19 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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 Recommendation Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

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

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

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24 Conclusion Accepted

63rd Report - Increasing police pr…

Police forces successfully exploit innovative technologies to enhance productivity and performance.

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 … Read more

Government Response

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.

HM Treasury

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Government Response AI assessment · 30 of 18 classified

Accepted 14

Accepted in Part 1

Acknowledged 11

Deferred 3

Not Addressed 1

Total 18 recs + 12 conclusions

Correspondence 4 letters

12 Mar 2026 To committee Letter from the Acting Permanent Secretary at the Home Office relating to the Committee’s inquiry into Increasing police productivity, 04 March 2026

Parliament page

23 Feb 2026 To committee Letter from the Chief Executive Officer of the College of Policing relating to a follow-up to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Increasing police productivity, 18 February 2026

Parliament page

8 Jan 2026 To committee Letter from the Second Permanent Secretary at the Home Office relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Increasing police productivity, 12 December 2025

Parliament page

15 Dec 2025 To committee Letter from the Chief Executive Officer at The College of Policing relating to the Committee’s evidence session on 24 November 2025 on Increasing Police productivity, 08 December 2025

Parliament page