The UK government has, in a relatively unprecedented move, announced a doubling of December’s £100M provisional settlement for police funding. The stated aim is to ensure the government’s target for additional personnel is met by 2029. Of course, one of the government’s key pledges within its Plan for Change, is that every neighbourhood will have a named, contactable officer, with an aim to restore ‘the local knowledge and presence that effective neighbourhood policing demands’. With public services ever in crisis, facing budget shortfalls and a tightening therefore of their capabilities, a real tangible promise to funding highlights needed action on community safety.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said:

“This major investment marks a turning point for policing in this country. By doubling extra neighbourhood funding to £200 million, we are giving forces across the country what they need to put more officers and PCSOs [police community support officers] where they’re needed most – on our streets and in our town centres.

Every neighbourhood deserves dedicated officers who know their patch, understand residents’ concerns and can tackle problems before they escalate. This investment, alongside new powers we are bringing into law, will help prevent crime and protect our communities, which is at the heart of our Plan for Change.

Restoring local policing will not happen overnight, but this funding boost will get more officers into our town centres and rural areas.”

Policing by consent, is central to the British policing model, a longstanding philosophy of policing stemming from Rober Peel’s 9 principles of Policing. Apart of this therefore is ensuring that visibility and presence is felt by the local communities that police work and operate within. At Resolve, we fundamentally believe in the principle of empowering communities; resilient communities are safer and better engaged on local issues. We need to foster pride in places where people live and empower individuals to protect and improve their communities. This is why it is welcomed that more funding is going towards local community policing, with an expected delivery of 13,000 more neighbourhood police officers across England and Wales.

Cross-Sector Responses

This was also welcomed by other organisations, include retail trade union USDAW. We have covered previous instances of retail crime, and the shocking violence that often is accompanied. Official figures shows that this retail crime wave is continuing to increase, with it up 23% last year and has almost doubled since the pandemic.^[1]

Paddy Lillis, Usdaw general secretary, said in response:

“This is a welcome boost for our police forces after years of Tory underfunding that resulted in a huge retail crime wave. We urge local constabularies to ensure the extra funding is directed straight to community policing, so that there is a significant increase in uniformed patrols in neighbourhoods and town centres.

“Past underfunding has meant that too many incidents of retail crime and attacks on workers do not get a police response. We desperately need that to change, and today’s announcement (31 January) is a great start.”

Policy must follow pennies. Of course, funding is a boon for many communities, who too often feel left behind and disconnected with the state. It is therefore important to look at this through a lens of policy formulation; welcomed it is then, that along with more officers on the ground, the upcoming Crime and Policing Bill will equip officers with an expanded toolkit to keep streets safe, aimed specifically at antisocial behaviour and shoplifting. Now promised is the much-needed amendment to retail workers’ law which ends the £200 threshold for prosecuting shoplifters, along with the introduction of respect orders.

The initial police funding settlement also drew ire from some key stakeholders, including the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). The NPCC’s Lead for finance, chief constable Paul Sanford said on the funding settlement:

“The funding settlement announced today presents real challenges for policing, with forces facing an estimated £1.3bn gap in finances over the next two years. This will inevitability lead to cuts across forces.

“Investment in neighbourhood policing is welcome, as is the Government’s ambition to support and deliver the wide-scale reform our service needs to better protect the public in the long term.

“However, by ringfencing funding for neighbourhood police officers, forces are unable to invest in other specialist areas of policing that are critical to our service.

“Crime is evolving at a rapid pace and becoming more and more complex in nature. At a time when community needs have never been greater, we cannot afford to cut back our resources.

However, in response to the announcement of increased funding, Chief Constable Gavin Stephens stated:

“We welcome the investment in neighbourhood policing, which is a vital part of how we engage with our communities, building trust and confidence locally.

Working with our communities and partners to problem solve, tackle antisocial behaviour, supporting victims of domestic abuse, and diverting young people from offending are just some examples of the challenging and rewarding work officers do.

Visibility and engagement with local communities has always been central to the British policing model and police leaders are in agreement that it must always remain at the heart of what we do.”

Concluding Thoughts

The final police funding settlement has been published, and this takes total funding for police forces across the country up to £17.5 billion next year, an increase of up to £1.1 billion compared to the 2024 to 2025 police funding settlement. This is stated by the government to include additional funding to support the costs of the pay awards, the increase in the employer national insurance contributions and funding for officer maintenance.

With the upcoming advent of the Crime and Policing Bill, and it’s proposed amendments, this is a positive direction for community safety and a welcome change. We of course, encourage an open dialogue around these issues and will aim to be a leading voice for community safety.

^[1] https://www.talkingretail.com/news/industry-news/408442-03-02-2025/