Financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales
Steve White, Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales said:
“The report confirms what we have said, that current government policing policy is based on wishful thinking, and not based on any real data or proper evidence for the direction being taken and the cuts being made.
We have been saying for a decade that we need an open and public debate on what the public wants from its emergency services, how they are paid for, provided and delivered. If money is the driving force in service delivery, no accountant would ever structure our police service in the way it has been. We need to stop burying our heads in the sand and accept that the 43 force system is outdated and flawed and should be changed.
Most of the immediate problems we are facing are of the Government’s own making. The long term financial viability of our police forces is in doubt and the current structure and management of the service is simply not sustainable.
Policing should be all about reliability, continuity and certainty, but the way we set budgets now is about uncertainty, shifting sands and ‘robbing peter to pay paul’.
Forces should not be setting budgets piecemeal, year by year, constantly looking over their shoulders for where the axe might next fall.
The Police Federation has been arguing for much of what is in this report for a long time. We can only hope that the government takes this report seriously and address the issues contained within it.”
