Home Office does not fully understand impact of police cuts, says government watchdog
3 min read
The Home Office’s “light touch approach” to running the country’s police forces means it does not understand the full impact of cuts to the service, the Government’s watchdog has warned.
The latest National Audit Office (NAO) says the department has “no overarching strategy of its own” for policing, which holds it back from offering the cash needed.
Its probe found there had been a 19% drop in police funding since the Tories took power in 2010, which in turn meant forces had to reduce staff numbers.
They fell by 18% from a peak of 244,497 staff in March 2010 to 199,752 staff in March 2018, with a 15% drop in police officers.
The NAO says ministers “had not forecasted what impact this will have on forces’ ability to meet increasing demand”.
The body also points out that the figures come alongside a spike in major crimes which are expensive to investigate – such as sexual offences and the increased threat of terrorism – despite an overall 36% drop in recorded crime since 2011.
Meanwhile the proportion of crimes which resulted in a charge or summons fell by six percentage points, from 15% in March 2015 to 9% in March 2018.
The spending watchdog says: “The Home Office’s light-touch approach to overseeing police forces means it does not know if the police system is financially sustainable.
“It lacks a long-term plan for policing and significant gaps remain in its understanding of demand for police services and their costs.
“The way the department chooses to distribute funding has been ineffective and detached from the changing nature of policing for too long, and it cannot be sure overall funding is being directed to the right places.
“With plans to reform the funding formula on hold and no systematic approach to ensuring forces are financially sustainable, we cannot conclude that the Home Office’s oversight of the police system is value for money.”
Elsewhere the report criticises the move to cut funding equally among forces without considering the full range of demands on police time, the efficiency of forces, levels of financial reserves and the ability of forces to raise funds locally through council tax.
NAO chief Amyas Morse said: “The financial sustainability of police forces and their ability to deliver effective services is reliant on the Home Office understanding national and local demands and allocating funds fairly.
“There are signs that forces are already experiencing financial strain and struggling to deliver effective services to the public.
“If the Home Office does not understand what is going on, it will not be able to direct resources to where they are needed, with the risk that the situation could get worse.”
Labour seized on the report, with shadow policing minister Louise Haigh accusing ministers of "relying on guesswork" as "violent crime surges and police resources are stretched to the limit".
She said: "Ministers haven't got a clue whether or not forces are financially sustainable, if they are meeting their demands effectively or what the risk is to the public."
The report comes ahead of a speech by Home Secretary Sajid Javid to the Police Superintendents' Association on Tuesday, where he will acknowledge the need to ensure forces are “equipped to deal with the changing crime landscape”.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “Our decision to empower locally accountable police and crime commissioners [PCCs] to make decisions using their local expertise does not mean that we do not understand the demands on police forces.
“In addition, the report does not recognise the strengths of PCCs and chief constables leading on day-to-day policing matters, including on financial sustainability.”
PoliticsHome Newsletters
PoliticsHome provides the most comprehensive coverage of UK politics anywhere on the web, offering high quality original reporting and analysis: Subscribe
