Guidance

Police funding for England and Wales: user guide

Updated 8 August 2024

Applies to England and Wales

1. Introduction

This user guide is designed to be a useful reference guide with explanatory notes on the issues and classifications that are important to the production and presentation of the Home Office’s annual statistical release of ‘Police funding for England and Wales’.

Police funding statistics are published on an annual basis around the month of July. Each publication and the accompanying data tables can be found on the Police funding for England and Wales statistics collection page.

The dates of future editions of these statistics are pre-announced and can be found on the statistics release calendar on gov.uk.

This user guide looks to communicate any data quality considerations in the interpretation of the statistics; however, it does not intend to evaluate the quality of the police funding settlement process or the police funding formula itself.

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in July 2021. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the code of practice for statistics and should be labelled ‘accredited official statistics’.

2. Scope of the statistics

2.1 What’s included in the statistics

The Home Office is responsible for the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, each of which is governed by a local policing body (typically a Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC))^{[footnote 1]} , elected by the local population. Policing in Scotland and in Northern Ireland is devolved and is the responsibility of the Scottish Government and Northern Ireland Executive. The information contained in this publication relates only to policing in England and Wales.

The publication series and the statistics reported within reflect the main elements of police funding as budgeted in the police funding settlement (as described in Chapter 2.2, plus any significant in-year funding announced after the settlement had been agreed. In addition to the funding statistics presented in this publication, PCCs also receive income from other sources (more information can be found in Chapter 2.2; therefore, the funding considered here does not constitute the whole budget for policing either in a particular police force area, policing body or overall.

The statistics in this publication series reflect the amount of funding budgeted and therefore do not reflect the actual amount of money spent by the Government on policing or received by a particular police force in any given financial year. For example, since the year ending 31 March 2020, the Government has provided a ring-fenced grant to support the recruitment and maintenance of an additional 20,000 police officers. PCCs are able to access this as they demonstrate progress towards annual recruitment targets. These statistics reflect the total funding committed by the Government, providing each police force meets the conditions to qualify for their full ring-fenced grant. The term “up to” is therefore used when referring to government funding to PCCs to reflect that this is the maximum amount that PCCs will receive. Further information about the ring-fenced grant is included in the Glossary.

Whilst the publication series and accompanying data tables include a detailed breakdown of police funding for the financial year ending March 2016 to the financial year ending March 2025, summary statistics for England and Wales covering overall funding back to the financial year ending March 2011 are also included. Extreme caution must be applied when comparing the detailed statistics for financial years ending March 2016 onwards with the summary statistics for financial years prior to the year ending March 2016. For a number of reasons, set out in Annex B of this user guide, it is difficult to compare current total police funding levels with these years due to changes in the structure of police funding over the period.

All statistics in the accompanying data tables are presented in both nominal and real terms. Chapter 6 of this user guide has further information on real terms comparisons.

2.2 Essential components of police funding

The structure of government funding for policing is set at Spending Reviews (where the Government determines how it will fund public services over several years), whilst the detail is outlined and agreed annually at the police funding settlement. The majority of public funding for the police forces in England and Wales is provided by the Home Office and is agreed by the UK Parliament on an annual basis, known as the police funding settlement. The police funding settlement consists of the funding set out in the written ministerial statement and the police grant report.

Figure 1: Main components of police funding

Typically, the Home Office publishes a provisional police grant report each year, which contains grant funding allocations for the following year to be paid out under the Police Act 1996. This is subject to a public consultation before a final police grant report is published and voted on by Parliament.

The Home Office accompanies the publication of each police grant report with a written ministerial statement that provides context and further information on funding not set out through the police grant report. This includes: police funding paid by the Welsh Government and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG); funding for national policing priorities (also termed as reallocations); capital reallocations; counter-terrorism police funding; and Council Tax precept. Police grant reports and accompanying written ministerial statements from previous years can be found on GOV.UK.

In addition to government funding, PCCs set a local police precept which is part of Council Tax. Police precept accounts for around 34 percent of the funding PCCs receive and is paid directly to collecting authorities by local taxpayers. The level of the police precept for the following year is set by each PCC by 1 March. Each year MHCLG set referendum principles for PCCs in England which set out the level of increase in Band D bill level above which a local referendum must be held (more information on local referendums can be found on the House of Commons Library website). Council Tax in Wales is a devolved matter. In Wales, local authorities are responsible for the setting, collection, and enforcement of Council Tax. PCCs in Wales are not subject to the referendum principles which apply in England, when setting their Council Tax Band D bill levels.

In addition to these main sources of funding, PCCs also receive income from other sources. These include:

• charging for special police services (for example, providing police officers at football matches, festivals, concerts and other events where they have been requested to do so by the event organiser) to recover costs
• the provision of services such as training
• income from donations and sponsorship

PCCs also hold financial reserves. This funding is outside the scope of these statistics. Information on reserves held by PCCs can be found on GOV.UK.

The wider policing structure includes a number of law enforcement bodies which are partly funded from the police funding settlement and are only within the scope of this publication in this respect. These include:

• the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC), which investigates complaints about the police
• His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS), which is responsible for inspection
• the National Crime Agency (NCA), which is a non-ministerial department

Police forces also participate in Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs), which are largely funded out of PCCs’ budgets but which also receive Home Office grant partly funded from police settlement funding for national priorities.

2.3 Reason for publication

The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) has previously noted that arrangements for police funding are complicated and recommended that the Home Office publish a regular analysis of police funding in line with the principles set out in the code of practice for statistics.

Following this recommendation, the Home Office established this publication series to provide a single source of statistical information on police funding levels in the recent period and the context for earlier periods. The publication is intended to help inform debates on police funding by providing a single authoritative source of facts.

In 2021, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) conducted an assessment of compliance against the standards set out in the code of practice for statistics. The assessment was positive in its view that the statistics are important for public accountability and that users find the statistics provide more transparency than previously. However, it also recommended several presentational changes to add further public value. These changes have been incorporated into the publication from the July 2021 publication onwards.

The OSR has since confirmed these statistics should be labelled as ’accredited official statistics’. This means that these statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, impartiality, quality and public value, and are fully compliant with the code of practice for statistics.

3. Data quality

3.1 Sources of data

These statistics draw on data from a number of sources. The majority of the statistics contained in the publication are available in the public domain ahead of this publication.

Government funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs), government budgeted spend on national priorities, and police capital spend are agreed as a part of the annual police funding settlement. The data underpinning the settlement is held and managed by the Police Funding Policy team within the Home Office.

This information is considered admin data, which means the data is collected for administrative or operational purposes, with statistical use being a secondary purpose. The primary purpose of this dataset is calculating the annual police funding settlement as well as generating data tables for the written ministerial statement and police grant report ahead of the parliamentary vote. Calculations are carried out in a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet, from which the tables in this publication series are partially derived.

Meanwhile, information on Council Tax precept received by PCCs is collected and published as accredited official statistics by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and Welsh Government, in their publications Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England and Council Tax Levels in Wales respectively. MHCLG and Welsh Government collect this information from all precepting authorities through annual data returns issued using legislative powers.

3.2 Quality assurance of the data

The data in this publication series undergoes rigorous quality assurance serving its operational purpose in supporting the police funding settlement as well as during the production of these statistics.

During its operational use by the Police Funding Policy team to inform the proposal and agreement of the police funding settlement, the team implement a number of manual and automated checks on the underlying data they hold within the police funding settlement spreadsheet. The team have adopted principles based on the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) best practice methods for publishing data relating to funding. The spreadsheet is also independently audited outside the team, with each completed check documented in a checklist.

MHCLG and Welsh Government both include information about the quality assurance of their Council Tax data in their respective technical notes accompanying their statistics:

• Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England statistics technical notes
• Council Tax in Wales statistics quality report

Both the MHCLG and Welsh Government statistics have achieved accredited official statistics status, demonstrating they meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and value. The Home Office maintains a close working relationship with MHCLG and Welsh Government throughout the police funding settlement cycle and in the production of these statistics, with the Home Office featuring on the 24-hour pre-release list for the MHCLG statistics.

After compiling the data tables for the ‘Police funding for England and Wales’ statistical publication, further checks are carried out. The data is checked against those published in the police grant report to ensure consistency between documents. Checks for internal consistency between tables are carried out, and aggregated totals are checked for consistency with previous years. Variance checks are carried out to ensure that any large year-on-year changes can be explained. Where there have been in-year adjustments or other funding announced outside of the usual police funding settlement process some manual input may be required. The team work closely with relevant policy leads to ensure this is carried out correctly, and consistently with previous years, limiting the risk of manual input error or double counting. The source of the manual adjustments are documented by the team to ensure a clear audit trail.

MHCLG and Welsh Government precept data is also sense checked against estimated precept increases calculated during the settlement process.

3.3 Limitations of the data

These statistics look to reflect the level of funding as budgeted in the police funding settlement and voted on in Parliament. As comprehensive checks are undertaken to ensure consistency with the statistics published in the police funding settlement, the risk of errors is low. However, there are limitations to the data that we have identified.

Changes to police funding structure

The structure of police funding is complex and is subject to frequent change and review. When these statistics are compiled, effort is taken to ensure consistency in aggregated totals to allow for year-on-year comparison. Where this is not possible, we aim to provide appropriate caveats to highlight the reasons why to users. For example, Annex B of this user guide describes the changes to police funding which make comparisons for the financial year ending March 2016 onwards difficult to previous years. Whilst this user guide and the footnotes in the data tables accompanying this publication series provide a summary of these changes, this is not an exhaustive list and other changes may impact on year-on-year comparability.

Pensions grant Annual Managed Expenditure (AME)

AME funding is provided annually, though the value of funding provided is based on a 3-year rolling cycle. For any particular financial year, the first 80% of AME funding is paid out in July and is based on the forecast demand and pension contributions. The remaining 20% of the funding is paid the following July once the financial year has come to an end, based on unaudited force accounts. A final payment is made another year later when accounts have been audited. The statistics presented therefore reflect the amount of funding actually paid in respect to each financial year, regardless of when the payment was actually made. It should therefore be noted that figures in Table 1a and 1b will be revised up to 2 years after the end of a financial year.

The pensions grant for the financial year ending March 2016 and the financial year ending March 2017 were revised in the July 2018 publication. This is because the data reported for these years included the pensions grant for fire superannuation as well as the police.

Rounding

During the calculation of the police funding settlement, data is collated from different sources, including internal Home Office budgets, His Majesty’s Treasury, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Welsh Government. Whilst an effort is made to ensure numbers are unrounded (or rounded to the nearest pound), in some cases data is only provided in a rounded format (such as to the nearest one hundred thousand). Therefore tables 1a and 1b contain a mixture of rounded and unrounded numbers. Particular caution should be taken when making comparisons where the change is relatively small as such changes could be due, to some extent, to rounding differences.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflators

Real terms comparisons made in this publication are calculated using the latest published GDP deflators. As this publication is forward looking, the forecast GDP deflators for the year ahead are used which are subject to change and revision. Further information can be found in Chapter 6 of this user guide.

The timing of in-year funding announcements

As this publication is forward looking, caution should be taken when comparing the latest financial year with historic financial years. This publication series reflects major funding streams agreed as at the point of publication in July. As these statistics are published part way through the financial year (which starts on 1 April), the latest year may not be reflective of the final, full year of funding and may still be subject to in year adjustments. The latest year of police funding data may therefore not be completely comparable with previous years.

For example, in 2022, the Home Office published statistics covering the financial year ending March 2023 on 12 July 2022. Following the Government’s decision to accept the police pay award recommended by the police Pay Remuneration Review Body (PRRB), a further £70 million of in-year funding was announced for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 on 19 July 2022 after the publication of these statistics. The statistics were later revised in July 2023, upon the next publication, to reflect this additional funding.

In July 2023, similar in-year funding was announced for the financial year ending 31 March 2024, however, the statistics were published after the announcement and therefore reflected this in year funding at the time of publication.

3.4 Quality Assurance of Administrative Data (QAAD) framework

The data underpinning the police funding settlement, held and managed by the Police Funding Policy team within Home Office, is considered to be administrative data. We have therefore applied the QAAD framework to assess our processes in receiving and publishing admin data.

Through the framework we have identified the publication to be of medium public profile. While police funding attracts a lot of external interest, the statistics in this release are not new, and have already been published in the written ministerial statement and police grant report. This publication series simply brings all figures together in one place.

This publication series aims to convey an accurate view of the levels of funding agreed in the police funding settlement, published and voted on in Parliament each year. This QAAD review does not aim to reflect the risk of quality concern in the settlement process itself. As such, we consider the police funding statistics to carry a low risk of quality concern as the information can be easily checked against published material. The close involvement of the Home Office Police Funding Policy team, as data suppliers, in the production of these statistics further limit the risk of any quality concerns.

The medium public profile coupled with low risk of quality concerns mean we have therefore determined basic (A1) or enhanced (A2) assurance to be a sufficient level of assurance required for these statistics. To demonstrate this level of assurance we have used this user guide to provide information about the context in which this data is collected, information on the collaboration between data suppliers and statistics producers, quality assurance principles we have applied, limitations of the data and the likely degree of risk to the quality of the admin data.

4. User engagement

4.1 Uses of the data

The statistics produced in the series are used by a range of users to monitor trends in police funding in England and Wales. Specific uses of the data include:

• informing political debate – the statistics are used within parliamentary debate, providing a comparable view of changes to police funding over time. Information on the statistics is routinely requested in parliamentary questions. The data is also used by Police and Crime Commissioners and independent think tanks to scrutinise the funding process
• policy making and monitoring – the statistics are used by policy areas to monitor the state of the police workforce
• informing the general public – the data is used by members of the public and is routinely provided in response to Freedom of Information requests
• third parties – the statistics are used by a range of third parties, including factcheckers, independent think tanks and academics

4.2 Ongoing user engagement

The Home Office aims to engage with users on a continuous, ad hoc basis, to ensure that the statistics remain as relevant as possible. Following the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) assessment of the statistics in 2021, a number of users provided feedback and the Home Office made subsequent changes in response.

Real terms data

Users told the OSR that presenting funding changes only in nominal prices did not help provide an understanding of the effects of inflation on police funding. Since July 2021 we have published real terms (adjusted for inflation) as well as nominal prices to provide greater understanding of the effects of inflation on police funding. More information on real terms comparisons can be found in Chapter 6 of this user guide.

Data back to 2010

Users highlighted that the value of the statistics would be enhanced if the time series went back to 2010, like other related statistics, such as the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government local authority revenue expenditure and financing England statistics. There are a number of difficulties in making valid comparisons with data prior to the financial year ending March 2016, (which can be found in Annex B), however, since July 2021 statistics on high–level overall funding back to the financial year ending March 2011 have been provided. More information on the difficulties of making comparisons with historic data can be found in Annex B of this user guide.

Timeliness of the statistics

User feedback identified that some users felt the timeliness of the publication could be improved. Some users also said it would be useful to provide more information about the events that take place prior to the production of the statistics. Since July 2021 Annex A of this user guide has been included to explain the current process to agree police funding and to produce the statistics whilst directing users to further background material.

4.3 Feedback and enquiries

To expand on the work started as a part of the OSR assessment of these statistics, we have launched a user engagement survey to help shape future publications.

We aim to use this opportunity to identify further uses and users of the data as well as provide a chance for users to give their suggestions on how the publication can better meet their needs. Whilst the survey will be anonymous by default, we encourage regular users who are interested in establishing an ongoing dialogue with the Home Office to provide their contact details when prompted.

If you have any other enquiries regarding these statistics, please email them to [email protected].

5. Glossary

Definitions of terms used in the publication series and data tables.

Additional National Crime Agency (NCA) and Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCU) funding: funding to protect the budget of the NCA and the ROCU grant funding in cash terms. In the police funding settlement for the financial year ending March 2022, some funding for the NCA was transferred outside of the police funding settlement.

Additional Recruitment Top Up: one-off funding provided to forces who volunteered to recruit above their Uplift target in 2023/24.

Arm’s length bodies: part funding for policing bodies: His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) Police Efficiency, Effectiveness and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspections; Independent Office for Police Conduct; College of Policing Direct Entry scheme; Police Now graduate programme; Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority and set-up costs of the Office for Communications Data Authorisations. In the financial year ending March 2016 this included the Knowledge Fund and Ordnance Survey grant.

Billing authorities: the authorities that are empowered to set and collect council taxes on behalf of themselves and other local authorities in their area. In 2023 to 2024 there are 296 billing authorities in England, consisting of shire district councils, metropolitan district councils, unitary authorities, and London boroughs.

Communications capabilities development: a programme to help policing to acquire and exploit communications data and lawfully intercept material.

Core funding: originally based on the police allocation formula (PAF)^{[footnote 2]} and Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) (now-Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, MHCLG) own relative needs-based formula. During the period covered by these statistics core funding has been allocated on the basis of uniform percentage changes for each police force area. Core funding is made up of core Home Office grant funding, ex-DCLG formula grant, Welsh top-up and Welsh Government funding. Tables 2a and 2b provide further detail of these grant streams.

Council Tax grants: the combination of:

• Legacy Council Tax freeze grant – paid to PCCs in England who chose to freeze their precept levels in certain years
• Local Council Tax support grant – paid to PCCs in England to compensate them for a reduction in income due to changes in the Council Tax benefit system
• City of London precept grant

Tables 2a and 2b provide further detail.

Council Tax precept: police precept element of Council Tax, set by the PCC and raised locally.

Counter-terrorism and NCA pensions grant: introduced in the financial year ending March 2020 following a revaluation of public sector pensions. The funding to cover part of the costs of increased employer pension contributions for police officers and some police staff working in counter-terrorism policing and the NCA.

Counter-terrorism police grant: ring-fenced funding, which is distributed to PCCs. Force level allocations are not published for security reasons.

COVID-19 funding: to support the police through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government reimbursed all the police’s additional Personal Protective Equipment purchased, resourced enforcement, and set an income loss recovery scheme for PCCs to recover a proportion of their lost income from sales, fees and charges throughout the financial year.

Forensics: introduced in the financial year ending March 2021 to provide funding for Digital Forensics, the Forensic Capability Network and the Transforming Forensics programmes; to complete the build of a Forensic Capability Network, run the network as business as usual and provide support to forces for digital forensics.

International Crime Coordination Centre: a dedicated unit set up to support territorial policing in co-operating with international partners on law enforcement matters, particularly in preparation for exiting the European Union and the end of the associated transition period.

National and International Capital City (NICC) grants: funding for the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) and the Common Council of the City of London in recognition of the unique and additional activities associated with policing London.

National operational policing units: funding for United Kingdom Football Policing Unit and National Wildlife Crime Unit.

National Police Air Service (NPAS): funding to support the operation and development of the National Police Air Service, which provides air support to the police in England and Wales.

National Policing Programmes: replaced funding provided by the Police Transformation and Police Innovation Funds in the financial year ending March 2021. The funding ensures the completion of programmes, transforming policing to meet future demands and building the capability needed to respond to changing crime and threats. In addition, this includes funding to support an uplift to police firearms capability.

National priorities: funding to support the implementation of important policies and projects within policing. National priorities funding is invested at a national level and not distributed to PCCs by the police funding formula. The specific funding streams within national priorities can change each year as the focus on different policies and projects changes.

Nominal terms funding: nominal values are the current monetary values (that is, the cash value of police funding). Unlike ‘real terms’, nominal values are not adjusted for inflation.

Pensions grant Annual Managed Expenditure (AME): AME is spent on items that may be unpredictable or not easily controlled by departments, and are relatively large, including public sector pensions. Pensions grant AME is additional funding paid according to demand to cover the costs of police officer pensions above police employer contributions. Pensions grant AME funding is provided annually in addition to the police funding settlement, although the value of funding provided is based on a 3-year rolling cycle. For any particular financial year the first 80% of funding is paid out in July and is based on the forecast demand and pension contributions. The remaining 20% of the funding is paid the following July once the financial year has come to an end, based on unaudited force accounts. A final payment is made another year later when accounts have been audited. The statistics presented therefore reflect the amount of funding actually paid in respect to each financial year, regardless of when payment was actually made. It should therefore be noted that figures in Table 1a and 1b will therefore be revised up to 2 years after the end of a financial year.

Pensions grant: introduced in the financial year ending March 2020 following a revaluation of public sector pensions. The funding covers part of the costs of increased employer pension contributions for police officers and some police staff.

Police capital grant: funding to PCCs for capital expenditure, provided for financial years up to the year ending 31 March 2022. Since the financial year ending March 2023, PCCs receive all core funding as resource, providing maximum flexibility whilst still providing options for investing in critical infrastructure. In addition to the police capital grant, further capital funding is provided to national policing programmes and projects.

Police Commercial Organisation: a national body co-ordinating commercial strategy, ways of working, systems, best practice, and professional development across police forces.

Police Innovation Fund: introduced in the financial year ending March 2014 to support emergency services collaboration, improvements to police information and communications technology, and the development of the police workforce. In the financial year ending March 2018 money awarded through the Police Innovation Fund was included in the published Transformation Fund total (£175 million). This fund was replaced by the National Policing Programmes funding stream in the financial year ending March 2021.

Police live services: funding provided between the financial years ending March 2017 and March 2023 to support investment costs for national law enforcement information technology systems including the Police National Computer, Police National Database and Childhood Abuse Identification Database.

Police Now: funding to Police Now programmes between the financial year ending March 2021 and March 2023 to assist with the recruitment of 20,000 additional police officers in England and Wales by 31 March 2023. Police Now is a charity supporting the recruitment of police officers through graduate schemes.

Police pay funding: additional funding to support police forces in England and Wales with the costs of the pay award following the Government accepting the Police Remuneration Review Body’s recommendations in full. The grant was paid in line with current funding formula shares.

Police technology programmes: funding for infrastructure costs of national police technology programmes: Airwave; the Emergency Services Mobile Communication Programme; Home Office Biometrics; National Law Enforcement Data Programme; National Automatic Number Plate Recognition Service and Forensic Archive.

Police Transformation Fund: provided funding to deliver the mechanisms for policing to transform itself to meet future demands and build the capability it needs to respond to changing crime and threats. In addition, it supported an uplift to police firearms capability. This fund was replaced by the National Policing Programmes funding stream in the financial year ending March 2021.

Police Uplift Programme Grant: a ring-fenced grant to support the maintenance of the 20,000 additional police officers recruited through the Police Uplift Programme within 43 police forces across England and Wales. The grant was confirmed in January as part of the police funding settlement for the financial year ending 31 March 2025. PCCs will be able to access this funding by demonstrating that they have maintained officer numbers.

Police Uplift Programme: the government made a manifesto commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales over a 3-year period by 31 March 2023.

Precept grant: introduced in the financial year ending March 2019 and is paid to the Common Council of the City of London on behalf of the City of London police to compensate the force for not receiving police precept income.

Precepting authorities: councils or local government agencies, for example police forces, that do not collect Council Tax directly but instruct a billing authority to do it on their behalf.

Pre-charge bail: funding for the Ministry of Justice to cover their costs of changes to the police bail system (legal aid and court running costs).

Private Finance Initiative (PFI): payments to PCCs for long term PFI contract commitments. PFI is a type of Public-Private Partnership and is a long-term contract where the private sector designs, builds, finances and operates an infrastructure project. A number of PCCs receive a PFI grant from the Home Office which contributes towards the cost of the unitary charge (the quarterly payment paid to the PFI provider).

Prüm: facilitated large-scale exchange of fingerprints and DNA profiles, as well as vehicle registration numbers, with signatories to the Prüm Treaty for the purposes of law enforcement and national security.

Real terms funding: funding that has been adjusted to account for inflation. Real terms funding is calculated using the latest Gross Domestic Product deflators at the time of publication.

Safer Streets Fund: funding provided in the financial years ending March 2021 and March 2022 to enable PCCs to bid for investment in initiatives such as street lighting and home security, that have been proven to prevent acquisitive crime.

Science, Technology and Research (STAR): funding, provided in the financial years ending March 2021 and March 2022 for future police programmes, overseen by the Police STAR Board.

Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) Strategy Implementation: funding to implement elements of the SOC Strategy, published in November 2018, including funding to combat illicit finance and child sexual exploitation.

Serious Violence Fund: announced in March 2019 to support forces to tackle increased demand from serious violence. Serious violence funding in this publication includes funding for drugs and county lines as well as additional out of settlement funding.

Special branch funding: funding to protect local counter-terrorism assets and provide forces with greater access to specialist expertise and resources. This funding has been transferred from core PCC budgets to the counter-terrorism policing grant.

Special grant capital: contingency funding for capital expenditure provided up to the financial year ending March 2021.

Special grant: contingency funding to assist PCCs to manage exceptional or unexpected costs in-year. Information on special grant funding is published on GOV.UK.

Welsh top-up: In order that they shall receive the same change (increase or decrease) in the core Home Office grant and local authority general grants as that applicable to local policing bodies in England, a specific Welsh Top-Up grant shall be paid to local policing bodies in Wales.

6. Real terms comparisons

Following user feedback received as a part of the Office for Statistics Regulation’s national statistics assessment, real terms comparisons were included from the July 2021 publication onwards. Calculations have been carried out using Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflators, published quarterly by HM Treasury (HMT).

As police funding statistics are forward looking, the GDP deflators used are based on Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts of the GDP deflator for the budget year. The GDP deflators used in this publication reflect the most up-to-date data available at time of publication (typically the June deflators). Real terms police funding figures will not be revised based on quarterly changes to GDP deflators, so users should ensure they are using the most appropriate deflator. This is particularly significant where there is likely to be unusual levels of volatility in the OBR forecasts of GDP deflators, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

7. Police force and regional breakdowns

Government and precept funding provided to Police and Crime Commissioners is included by police force area in Table 4a and 4b accompanying the publication. This includes core funding, Council Tax grants, National and International Capital Cities grants, pensions grants, Police Uplift Programme grants, Council Tax precept and the police capital grant.

To allow for easier regional comparison, these have also been aggregated to include Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) level one totals (further information can be found on the Office for National Statistics website). Funding for national priorities, serious violence funding, counter terrorism funding and additional capital funding (not including the police capital grant) are budgeted at a national level and as such, police force or regional breakdowns cannot be derived.

8. Comparison with the police funding settlement

There are a number of differences between the police funding settlement and the ‘Police funding for England and Wales’ publication.

When the police funding settlement is published, the exact figure for Council Tax precept is unknown. An upper bound estimate is therefore used based on Office for Budget Responsibility Council Tax base forecasts and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) Council Tax principles. When the ‘Police funding for England and Wales’ publication is published, actual Council Tax decisions have been published by MHCLG and Welsh Government.

The police funding settlement includes national priorities funding for drugs and county lines, and serious violence. In the ‘Police funding for England and Wales’ publication the total serious violence figure includes funding for drugs and county lines, as well as additional funding for serious violence that is agreed outside of the police funding settlement. In this publication serious violence funding is presented separately from the other national priorities.

In the ‘Police funding for England and Wales’ publication, government funding to Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) includes additional in-year funding announced outside of the usual policing funding settlement cycle. For example, in July 2022, the Government announced £70 million in additional funding for PCCs for the year ending 31 March 2023, to support an agreed pay award recommended by the Police Remuneration Review Body.

In addition, in-year funding was provided in the year ending 31 March 2024 following a government announcement in July 2023, providing a further £330 million for PCCs for the year ending 31 March 2024 for the police pay award.

Each ‘Police funding for England and Wales’ publication provides an annex with commentary on the differences with the police funding settlement and the publication.

Annex A: Key stages in the production of the statistical release

During the review of these statistics by the Office for Statistics Regulation in 2021, user feedback identified that some users felt the timeliness of the publication could be improved. Some users also said it would be useful to provide more information about the events that take place prior to the production of the statistics.

This annex has been included to explain the current process in place to agree police funding and produce the statistics whilst directing users to further background material. As this publication relies on the publication of several other documents this places a number of constraints on the timeliness of the statistical series, such as the publication of precept figures in April and the publication of updated Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflators in late June or early July. We continue to review the timing of these statistics each year.

Figure 2: Timeline summarising the key stages in producing this statistical release

A. The police funding settlement cycle

Most of the statistics in this publication series are agreed as a part of the annual police funding settlement. As such, the numbers included in the release are available in the public domain prior to publication.

The police funding settlement period begins each September with the preparation of a provisional settlement. Spending Review numbers are agreed with HM Treasury setting the total law enforcement envelope.

The Home Office proposes any funding for national policing priorities (also referred to as reallocations).

The remaining funds are distributed between police forces using pre-established distributions specific to each funding stream. The core Home Office grant for example is allocated using the police allocation formula (PAF). The Home Office also works closely with the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Welsh Government on the distribution of specific grants such as MHCLG Council Tax grants.

A provisional police grant report and accompanying written ministerial statement are published in December, outlining police funding settlement as well as providing further background information on the calculation and distribution of specific grants.

Typically, a 4-week consultation period between December and January gives the sector time to feedback on the provisional settlement.

Following this consultation, a final settlement is published each February in the form of a final police grant report and written ministerial statement.

The latest version of all of the above documents alongside publications for previous years can be found on GOV.UK.

B. Collecting precept data and making in-year adjustments

Throughout the funding settlement period, the Home Office estimates the amount of Council Tax precept that each police force will collect. This is based on the maximum allowable increase applied to precepting authorities. These figures are published in the tables accompanying the written ministerial statements.

For these statistics, actual precept funding is used instead. Statistics for England are published each March or April by MHCLG as a part of their statistical release Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England. Similarly figures for Welsh forces are published by the Welsh Government in their publication Council Tax levels in Wales.

Between April and May any ‘in-year adjustments’ are considered, including any commitments to police funding made outside of the usual police settlement period. For example, the publication for the financial year ending March 2024 included additional police pay support for the years ending 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2024, both confirmed after the publication of respective police grant reports.

C. Preparing the statistics and quality assurance

The preparation and production of these statistics is a collaborative exercise between the Home Office Police Funding Policy (who also lead on the police funding settlement) and Home Office Policing Statistics teams.

A kick-off meeting is held in April and a publication plan is prepared, containing all specific tasks, milestones and staff allocated to them. A provisional publication date is agreed and pre-announced on GOV.UK.

Following the publication of the police funding settlement, the publication of precept figures and the confirmation of any in-year adjustments, the Home Office police funding team compile the data for the statistical publication in May.

The funding team complete a series of quality assurance checks, including ensuring consistency with previous years, ensuring consistency with figures published in the police funding settlement and verifying figures with other Home Office policy leads. The team also completes sense checks on the MHCLG and Welsh Government precept data to ensure they are within the expected ranges of the projections calculated as a part of the police funding settlement.

Data is then shared with the Policing Statistics team who conduct a series of validation and variation checks including ensuring clear explanations of any significant changes in funding are explained.

D. Production of the statistics and publication

Once quality assurance is completed, preparation of draft data tables, charts, commentary, and updating the user guide begin in June. A confirmed publication date is pre-announced on GOV.UK at least 4 weeks in advance.

Real terms comparisons cannot be produced until the publication of updated GDP deflators by HM Treasury in late June to early July.

Tables, commentary and the user guide are then circulated for further quality assurance 2 weeks ahead of publication.

Statistics and accompanying documentation are sent for preparation of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) format for the GOV.UK web pages one week ahead of publication.

The commentary, tables, charts and statistics news release are circulated 24 hours before publication to a nominated list of people (including ministers and press office) who are on the pre-release access list. The job titles of individuals on the pre-release access list is published alongside the publication.

E. Follow-up work

A wash-up meeting is held after publication to discuss improvements to the process of publication. Actions are agreed for next year and lessons learned are recorded.

Any user feedback is also reviewed on an ongoing basis.

The published dataset is used for parliamentary questions, Freedom of Information requests and other enquiries (until the following publication).

Annex B: Police funding before the financial year ending March 2016

It is difficult to make direct comparisons between current police funding statistics and those in the years prior to the financial year ending March 2016 due to a number of significant changes in the structure of police funding and policing structure over the period.

The Government regularly reviews how it will fund public services in the years ahead in exercises known as Spending Reviews. As a result of these reviews, the structure of police funding can change significantly with specific programmes or policing bodies moving between being funded from within or outside the police funding settlement. It is therefore not easy to make valid comparisons of police funding from one spending review period to the next.

Breakdowns of individual funding streams prior to the financial year ending March 2016 are therefore not included in this publication. Table 5 provides a high-level summary of total annual funding since the financial year ending March 2011. Whilst effort has been made to maximise comparability, consideration should be given to the changes in funding structure when making comparisons.

This section provides information on the key changes to the structure of police funding and to policing and should not be taken as a comprehensive list of all changes to different parts of the system since 1995. Annex 3 of the publication for the financial year ending March 2021 provided an overview of the main national law enforcement bodies from 1996 onwards.

Police governance

Directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) were introduced in 2012 and are responsible for ensuring an effective and efficient police force and delivery of community safety and crime reduction in their area. PCCs replaced Police Authorities which had existed since 1964. PCCs in Wales receive part of their core grant funding from the Welsh Government. Additionally, Council Tax is devolved in Wales and the Welsh Government has policy responsibility for the police precept element of police funding in Wales.

The Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) is a functional body of the Greater London Authority and has been responsible for the oversight of the Metropolitan Police Service since January 2012. In 2017, a Combined Authority mayor with PCC functions was introduced in Greater Manchester Police, fulfilling the role of the PCC there. Similarly, in 2021, the responsibility of exercising the functions of the PCC in West Yorkshire Police transferred over to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Policing reform

Central Police Training and Development Authority (CENTREX) and Police Information and Technology Organisation (PITO)

Before 2002, training of new police officers was the responsibility of the Home Office. Responsibility then passed to an independent police training body – CENTREX. CENTREX and the information technology body PITO, operating since 2002, were not funded through the police funding settlement. In 2007, CENTREX and PITO were succeeded by the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA).

National Police Improvement Agency (NPIA)

In 2007 the NPIA was established as a non-departmental body and provided expertise for policing in areas such as information technology, information sharing, and recruitment. NPIA’s funding was not consistently treated as part of the main police funding settlement. In 2013, NPIA’s functions were transferred to a number of bodies including the College of Policing and the Home Office.

The College of Policing

In 2013 the College of Policing took over a number of police training and development roles; its direct entry programme for senior policing ranks has been funded through the police settlement since the financial year ending March 2015.

Police Innovation Fund (PIF) and Police Transformation Fund (PTF)

In the financial year ending March 2014, the PIF was introduced and continued until the financial year ending March 2017, when the PTF was introduced. Both are funded from the police funding settlement and both provide funding to develop capabilities.

Airwave

The police’s share of Airwave, the emergency services communication service, was funded separately from the police funding settlement by the Home Office between the financial years ending March 2007 to 2016 (at times through NPIA). Since the financial year ending March 2017, Airwave has been funded from within the police settlement, along with the Emergency Services Mobile Communication Programme and part funding of other police technology programmes that were previously funded from other budgets.

Inspection and complaints

A number of law enforcement arm’s length bodies receive part of their funding from other Home Office budgets and part from the police funding settlement. These arm’s length bodies include His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) which has a statutory duty to inspect the efficiency and effectiveness of the police forces in England and Wales, amongst other bodies. Since the financial year ending March 2015, HMICFRS has received funding for its Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspections from the police settlement.

These arm’s length bodies also include the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) which was established in 2004 (succeeding the Police Complaints Authority) to oversee the police complaints system and to investigate serious incidents. Work and inspectors also transferred from Police Standard Units, local police force bodies responsible for dealing with police standards and complaints, to the IPCC over a period of time. The IPCC was fully funded from other Home Office budgets until the financial year ending March 2015; since then part of its funding has come from the police settlement. In 2018, the IPCC was reformed and renamed as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).

Core and specific grant funding

The structure of government funding to Police Authorities and subsequently PCCs has changed significantly over time. Historically, grant funding has been made up of core grant funding, the Home Office element originally based on a funding formula, as well as a number of separate, targeted grant streams. Over the period these specific grant streams have ended and a number have been consolidated into core grant funding.

Ex-Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) grant

Until the financial year ending March 2014, a significant part of core police funding was paid by the DCLG, now renamed Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), based on their own relative needs-based formula. This funding transferred to the Home Office in the financial year ending March 2014.

Rule 2 grant

The Rule 2 grant was introduced in the financial year ending March 2007 as a non-ring-fenced grant and was an amalgamation of 5 specific grants which were not distributed on the basis of the police funding formula. These include:

• Rural Police Fund
• Forensic DNA grant
• Integrated Police Learning and Development Programme
• London and the Southeast allowances
• Special Priority Payment Scheme

In the financial year ending March 2012, Rule 2 grant was consolidated into core grant funding.

The Rural Police Fund was introduced in the financial year ending March 2002 to support forces with large rural areas. In the financial year ending March 2007 it was consolidated into the Rule 2 grant.

London and Southeast allowance funding was introduced to support the payment of allowances and free police travel in London. In the financial year ending March 2007 it was consolidated into the Rule 2 grant.

The Special Priority Payment Scheme was introduced in 2002, providing funding for additional recruitment and retention payments to front line and operational police officers.

Basic Command Unit

Basic Command Units (targeting high crime areas) were funded by a specific grant from the financial year ending March 2004 to the financial year ending March 2011. In the financial year ending March 2011 it was consolidated into core grant funding.

Crime Fighting Fund

The Crime Fighting Fund was introduced in the financial year ending March 2001 to encourage community activism and to support innovation by the voluntary sector to reduce substance misuse and offending by young people. In the financial year ending March 2011 it was consolidated into the core grant funding.

Neighbourhood Policing fund

The Community Support Officers grant (funding for Police Community Support Officers focusing on anti-social behaviour and low-level crime) and the Neighbourhood Policing Fund were consolidated into core grant funding from the financial year ending March 2014.

National and International Capital Cities (NICC) grant

NICC grant was first paid to the Metropolitan Police Service in the mid-1990s following changes to the police funding formula. It was initially known as the Metropolitan Police Service special payment, but later renamed. It has sometimes been treated as part of core grant funding. NICC grant was extended to the City of London police in the financial year ending March 2015.

Royal Parks grant funding transferred into the police settlement in the financial year ending March 2016, becoming part of the NICC grant (further information can be found in the Glossary).

Police precept

Police precept was introduced as part of the creation of Council Tax in the financial year ending March 1994, which replaced the community charge. It was then extended across England and Wales in the financial year ending March 1996. A number of government grants have been introduced in England since the financial year ending March 2011 which have a direct relationship with police precept levels making it difficult to compare police precept levels over this period.

Council Tax freeze grants

Council Tax freeze grants started in the financial year ending March 2012, payable to local authorities in England including police authorities and PCCs, who chose not to increase their Council Tax level for that year. There were a number of freeze grant schemes up until the financial year ending March 2016 and all apart from the freeze grant scheme for the financial year ending March 2013 were consolidated into the police settlement, meaning that the PCCs who qualified for these former grants continue to receive this funding in the financial year ending March 2025. These grants are paid as part of the police funding settlement, apart from freeze grants for the Metropolitan Police Service and City of London Police which are paid through MHCLG’s local government finance settlement.

Local Council Tax support (LCTS)

LCTS grant was introduced in the financial year ending March 2014 to compensate local authorities, including PCCs, for a reduction in income due to changes in the Council Tax benefit system. These grants are paid from within the police funding settlement.

Precept grant

Precept grant was introduced in the financial year ending March 2019 and is paid to the Common Council of the City of London on behalf of the City of London police to compensate the force for not receiving police precept income.

Police pensions

Prior to the financial year ending March 2007 police pensions were paid by police forces out of their general funding. Since the financial year ending March 2007, police forces have received ring-fenced pension top-up grant funding for police pensions from outside of the agreed police settlement funding total. This funding is paid according to demand as annual managed expenditure (AME), taking into account a number of assumptions (including the number of: retired officers and survivor benefit payments; deceased officers no longer receiving a pension; and police officers and their force making contributions to the scheme). This financing arrangement protects police forces from fluctuations in the number of retirees and therefore in pension expenditure.

Serious and organised crime national policing bodies

National Crime Squad

Until 1998, serious and organised crime was dealt with through Regional Crime Squads, funded by contributions from police forces. These were replaced by the National Crime Squad which was initially funded by a levy on police forces, but from April 2002 was directly funded by the Home Office.

Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA)

In 2006, SOCA was formed from a merger of:

• the National Crime Squad
• the National Criminal Intelligence Service (an agency from 1992 which gathered intelligence and shared analysis and insight with police forces)
• the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit (investigated serious and organised crime committed over the internet between 2001 and 2006)
• parts of His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs
• the Immigration Service

SOCA was an executive Non-Departmental Public Body (NDPB) of the Home Office funded by grant, as well as receiving funding from other government sources including the Scottish Executive and the Northern Ireland Office.

National Crime Agency (NCA)

In 2013 SOCA was replaced by the NCA. The NCA is a non-ministerial government department and is funded outside of the police settlement. However, since the financial year ending March 2017, the NCA has received some funding from the police settlement to maintain its funding level in cash terms compared to the financial year ending March 2016. The NCA also absorbed the formerly separate Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre which formed in 2006 as an affiliated unit of SOCA with operational independence.

Counter-terrorism police funding

Prior to 2001, funding for police counter-terrorism activities was allocated to police forces in England and Wales through several mechanisms, including:

• the general Police Grant
• special grant payments
• ad hoc specific grants

From 2001, these separate funding streams were brought together and paid to police forces as ring-fenced counter-terrorism police funding. Total counter-terrorism police funding is announced to Parliament each year; however, force level allocations are not published for security reasons.

1. For the Metropolitan Police Service this role is fulfilled by the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC). For the City of London Police, this role is fulfilled by the Common Council of the City of London. For Greater Manchester Police this role is fulfilled by the Combined Authority Mayor for Greater Manchester. For West Yorkshire Police this role is fulfilled by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Police forces in all other police force areas have Police and Crime Commissioners. For the remainder of the document the term Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) refers to all local policing bodies. ↩

2. An explanation can be found in the latest Police Grant Report. ↩