Official Statistics

Police officer uplift, England and Wales, quarterly update to 31 December 2020

Updated 4 February 2021

Applies to England and Wales

Frequency of release: Quarterly

Forthcoming releases: Home Office statistics release calendar

Home Office responsible statistician: John Flatley

Press enquiries: [email protected]
Telephone: 0300 123 3535

Public enquiries: [email protected]

Privacy information notice

Introduction

This release contains information on progress towards the recruitment of an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales by March 2023.

135,248 officers provisional headcount as at 31 December 2020

+6,620 (of +20,000 by March 2023) provisional uplift figure as at 31 December 2020

Key findings

  • provisional data show that there were 135,248 officers in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales as at 31 December 2020
  • this is an increase of 6,814 officers on the adjusted baseline of 128,434. Of these additional officers:
    • 6,620 had been recruited from funding for the Police Uplift programme and contribute towards the target of 20,000 by March 2023 (5% on top of baseline)
    • a further 194 additional officers had been recruited through other funding streams (such as year ending March 2021 local council tax precept)

Figure 1: Officers recruited into uplift

The chart shows the baseline of 128,434 and the uplift position for each month since April 2020. As at 31 December 2020 there were 135,248 officers. 6,620 officers counted towards uplift.

Notes: 1. Following an in-year adjustment (of -38) to the baseline for Greater Manchester Police, the adjusted baseline for England and Wales is now 128,434.

  • since April 2020, four in ten new recruits (40%) have been female; over the same time period 10.2% of new recruits (who stated their ethnicity) identified as belonging to the Black, Asian, Mixed, or Other ethnic group
  • 121,016 applications to become a police officer have been received since October 2019

1. Introduction

A manifesto commitment of the current Government was a pledge to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales by 31 March 2023. This release provides information on progress towards the recruitment of these officers and data are provided for each territorial police force in England and Wales on a monthly basis. Furthermore, this release also contains information on the gender and ethnicity of police officers in post, and, for the first time in this series, the gender and ethnicity of new recruits since April 2020.

The guidance issued to forces for the collection of police uplift data matches that issued for the existing statistical series ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’, which is published on a biannual basis.

Though data in this bulletin are released as official statistics, they have not yet been assessed for designation as National Statistics[footnote 1] by the Office for Statistics Regulation .

While this release provides a provisional quarterly update on the number of police officers (headcount) in England and Wales, it is not intended to replace the long running statistical series ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’, which also contains information on other police workers. The data released in the biannual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ have been designated as National Statistics[footnote 1], and users are therefore encouraged to use those data to analyse police numbers. The biannual release provides a snapshot of officer numbers on both a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis as at 31 March and 30 September each year, as well as more detailed breakdowns on joiners and leavers.

Table 1.1 provides information on the content of both statistical series.

Table 1.1: ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ and ‘Police officer uplift’ statistical bulletins

Police workforce, England and Wales Police officer uplift, England and Wales
Frequency of release Biannually (July and January) Quarterly (July, October, January, April)
Period covered Data at 31-Mar and 30-Sept each year Data at the end of the preceding quarter
Workforce covered Police forces in England and Wales, British Transport Police, and National Crime Agency Police forces in England and Wales
Measurement FTE and headcount Headcount

The statistics cover all the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales.

In line with the established statistical series used for measuring the size and composition of the police workforce (‘Police workforce, England and Wales’), figures quoted in this bulletin include those on career breaks or other forms of long term absence, as well as those seconded in to police forces from other forces. It excludes those seconded out from forces to central services (such as the Home Office, the National Crime Agency etc.).

1.1 Headcount versus full-time equivalent

Our headline workforce statistics (published biannually) report on officers on both a full-time equivalent (FTE) and a headcount basis. However, given that headcount is the most appropriate way to measure and track the recruitment processes which relate to individuals (e.g. applications, vetting, assessment centres), this release reports on officers on a headcount basis only. There is a relatively small difference between headcount and FTE figures. The most recently published police workforce statistics, Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2020, showed that as at 31 March 2020, the police officer headcount was 131,576 and the FTE was 129,110 – a 2% difference. For new recruits, the difference in the two measures is likely to be even smaller as most new joiners tend to start on a full-time basis.

1.2 Temporal effects

Once a force surpasses their baseline level (see chapter 2) new officers will start counting towards their uplift allocation. As there is a flow of officers joining and leaving the police service each month, the number of officers counting towards uplift can both increase and decrease over the course of a year. For example, if in a given month more officers leave than join, the number of officers counting towards uplift would decrease compared with the previous month.

Some forces plan to run the majority of their recruitment at a particular point in the year as it may be more efficient to do so, whereas other forces may choose to recruit more consistently and continuously throughout the year. These decisions will vary depending on the size and composition of the force and the volume of new officers they are seeking to recruit. Therefore, while this release reports on the position of each force at the end of each month, it should not be used to compare the progress of one force against another.

1.3 Exceeding the year one allocation and local recruitment

Since the baseline does not account for locally planned recruitment and adjustments made after the 2019-20 financial year, recruitment under funds raised through 2020-21 local precept[footnote 2] flexibility (as well as recruitment funded by other means) must be taken into account when calculating the number of uplift officers.

For forces who have made a commitment to recruit additional officers in addition to their uplift officers (through local funds), the number of officers counting towards uplift is initially capped at their year one allocation. If the force continues to recruit and then also exceeds the recruitment plans under local funds, additional officers will then continue to count towards uplift.

Where forces have exceeded their year 1 allocation, they have chosen to continue recruitment in anticipation of funding for future years of the programme. Allocation decisions for year ending March 2022 have recently been announced, and can be found in Annex A of this release. Decisions for year ending March 2023 have yet to be announced.

See chapter 2 for more details.

1.4 Data collection and publication

Home Office statisticians have worked closely with police colleagues working on the Police Uplift Programme to collect and quality assure data for this publication. Data are sourced from police forces’ Human Resource systems and are collected on a monthly basis from each of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales.

Data are published on a quarterly basis in April, July, October, and January, each year, for the duration of this recruitment drive. The aim is that each bulletin provides provisional data for the most recent quarter, and finalised data for earlier quarters. Therefore, each successive release should finalise the preceding quarter’s provisional information and supersede previous editions in the series. Table 1.2 shows revisions made since the last quarterly release.

Table 1.2: Summary of monthly headcount revisions

Month Headcount published in ‘quarter to September 2020’ bulletin Updated Headcount Difference (Headcount)
Jul-20 134,197 134,197 -
Aug-20 134,424 134,424 -
Sep-20 134,885 134,879 -6

1.5 Revisions to this release

Following the original release of this publication on 28 January 2021, an error was spotted in the figures provided by Staffordshire Police for the male and female breakdowns. The data had been provided in the incorrect columns, meaning that the male and female headcount figure (as at 31 December 2020) were the wrong way round. This has been updated in this release and Table U5 of the accompanying data tables has also been corrected.

1.6 Additional data sources

The data in this release can be found in the ‘Police officer uplift, England and Wales, December 2020’ data tables.

Future editions in this series will be available on the statistical collection page ‘Police officer uplift statistics’.

National Statistics on the police workforce, including full-time equivalent (FTE) figures and information on other worker types, are published biannually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.

2. Allocations and Baseline

2.1 Baseline

The first release, Police officer uplift, quarterly update to March 2020, in this statistical series, published on 30 April 2020, set out the methodology for calculating a starting figure (or baseline) against which the recruitment of an additional 20,000 officers would be measured.

While the announcement to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales was made in September 2019, the methodology explained why the police workforce statistics as at 30 September 2019 (published 30 January 2020) have not been used as the baseline.

The methodology explains that prior to the announcement, and following planned local council tax precept increases, most forces already had plans to adjust their officer numbers in the 2019-20 financial year. There were also some forces who planned workforce reductions. Therefore, the police workforce statistics as at 30 September 2019 would not capture all adjustments, and some pre-planned recruitment (such as Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) announced precept recruitment) may already have been reflected in those figures.

Therefore it was decided to take the headcount figures from the Police Workforce figures as at 31 March 2019 and make adjustments to allow for planned increases and reductions within the 2019-20 financial year to derive a baseline. This methodology ensures that any previously planned adjustments are accounted for when calculating officer uplift. Furthermore, police forces are required to backfill any leavers throughout the duration of the campaign in order for the recruitment goals to be met.

This means that the calculated baseline is the number of officers that each force must maintain. Only when forces exceed the baseline level will newly recruited officers count towards their uplift allocations. Figure 2.1 summarises the methodology described above to calculate a baseline for each force.

Figure 2.1: Methodology for calculating a baseline figure

Headcount as at 31 March 2019
PLUS
Planned recruitment from increased precept allocation
MINUS
Recruitment undertaken prior to 31 March 2019 in anticipation of precept increase
PLUS or MINUS
Any other previously planned workforce adjustment
=

Baseline figure

As explained in the Police officer uplift, quarterly update to June 2020, revisions have been made to the starting figure of three police forces since the baseline was set. Furthermore, in-year adjustments have been made where forces have lost externally funded posts (for example, posts transferring out of the force to the National Crime Agency).

Following the in-year adjustments made in the Police officer uplift, quarterly update to September 2020, an in-year adjustment of -38 has been made to the baseline for Greater Manchester Police, due to the loss of external funding. The figure for which recruitment of an additional 20,000 officers is measured is now 128,434. It is expected that small adjustments may be made throughout the duration of the recruitment campaign as externally funded posts move from one organisation to another. Detailed figures for each Police Force Area, including in-year adjustments, can be found in Table B1 of the accompanying data tables.

Furthermore, Year 2 allocations, including specific allocation for Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) and Counter Terrorism Police (CTP) have now been announced, and can be found in Annex A of this release.

Further details on the baseline methodology can be found in the statistical note ‘Plans for statistical reporting on progress with the recruitment of an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales’.

2.2 Allocations

Following the [announcement] (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/national-campaign-to-recruit-20000-police-officers-launches-today) of the Government commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers by March 2023, the Home Office published details of the first phase to recruit up to 6,000 additional officers by the end of March 2021. Information on the allocations given to individual police forces can be found in Table B1.

Allocation decisions for year ending March 2022 have also recently been announced, and can be found in Annex A of this release.

2.3 What counts as uplift?

Each police force has a baseline figure, and an allocation of additional officers to recruit by March 2021 (Table B1). Police forces are required to backfill any leavers throughout the duration of the campaign in order for the recruitment goals to be met.

Exceeding the allocation and 2020-21 precept

Some forces have recruited more officers over and above their year one uplift allocation. There are a number of reasons for this:

  1. In advance of allocation decisions for year ending March 2022 and year ending March 2023 being announced, some forces chose to recruit in excess of their year one allocation in anticipation of receipt of uplift funding in future years
  2. Some forces chose to run the majority of their recruitment early in the current financial year as it may be more efficient to run a single recruitment exercise rather than continuously through the year; these forces will therefore see a spike in their headcount, as well as their uplift position, which will reduce as the year progresses as they have profiled to return to their allocation level as other officers leave the service
  3. Some forces also have plans to recruit additional officers through local funds, such as 2020-21 council tax precept; while the baseline takes into account additional recruitment under 2019-20 precept, 2020-21 precept and other adjustments were not accounted for at the time, as the decisions had not yet been made; in this situation the difference between the headcount figure and the baseline figure could be greater than the uplift allocation since the additional officers are not funded through the uplift programme, and rather through local funds

In scenarios one and two, officers in excess of the year one allocation are still counted towards uplift progress, since they are to be funded through this route. In scenario 3, since the baseline does not account for planned recruitment and adjustments following the 2019-20 financial year, recruitment under funds raised through 2020-21 council tax precept (as well as recruitment funded by other means) must be taken into account when calculating the number of uplift specific officers.

For forces who have made a commitment to recruit additional officers in addition to their uplift officers (through local funds), the number of officers counting towards uplift is initially capped at their year one allocation. If the force continues to recruit and then also exceeds the locally funded recruitment plans, any further additional officers will then continue to count towards uplift and as in scenario 1, these additional uplift officers are recruited in anticipation of uplift funding for future years.

For example:

Force A has a year one allocation of 50 officers, and plans to recruit a further 25 officers through local funding. Force A has a baseline figure of 1,000 and a current headcount of 1,060.

The difference between the current headcount and the baseline is 1,060-1,000 = 60 officers.

Since the difference is in excess of the year one allocation, and the force has made the Home Office aware of plans to recruit via local funds, only 50 officers would count towards uplift. The remaining 10 officers count towards the forces’ ambition to recruit an additional 25 officers through local funds.

Two months later Force A has a headcount of 1,095 officers. The difference between the headcount and the baseline now is 1,095-1,000 = 95 officers.

Since the difference now exceeds both the year one uplift allocation (50), and the recruitment plans under local funds (25), any additional officers once again count towards uplift. In this case, the initial 50 count as uplift, and the force has also achieved its ambition to recruit 25 officers through local funds, so the remaining 20 officers will once again count towards uplift, bringing the total uplift figure to 50 + 20 = 70 officers.

Figure 2.2: How uplift is counted, an example

The accompanying data tables break these data down as follows:

Table B1: Baseline, adjusted baseline and allocation
Table U1: Current headcount position
Table U2: Officers counting towards uplift
Table U3: Officers recruited via other means

This chart gives a visual representation of how uplift is counted across the stages mentioned in section 2.3.

Baseline
When the headcount is less than the baseline there are no officers counting towards uplift. Some forces may start below the baseline as they are yet to complete recruitment planned prior to the uplift announcement (i.e. 2019-20 precept recruitment), which is accounted for in the baseline. When the force headcount exceeds the baseline officers start to count towards uplift.

Year one allocation
When the force exceeds their year one allocation, they may then have plans to recruit additional officers through local funds. If this is the case, these officers will not count towards uplift.

Additional recruitment through local funds
Some forces have plans for additional recruitment through local funds. These officers will not count towards uplift. If a force does not have plans to recruit through local funds this section will not exist (as in Scenario 1 and 2).

Exceeding the year one allocation and additional local recruitment
Past this point the force has achieved the full year one uplift allocation, as well as additional recruitment under local funds. Additional officers will once again count towards uplift, but are recruited in anticipation of year two uplift funds.

3. Officer uplift to 31 December 2020

As at 31 December 2020 provisional data show that there were 135,248 officers in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. This is an increase against the adjusted baseline of 6,814 officers. Of these additional officers, 6,620 can be attributed to the uplift programme (a 5% increase on the adjusted baseline), and the remaining 194 officers have been recruited by forces through local funds (see chapter 2 for further details).

Collection of data for the monitoring of uplift commenced in October 2019, and Figure 3.1 shows how officer numbers have steadily increased every quarter, to 135,248 in December 2020. On a monthly basis, officer numbers decreased in December. This likely reflects recruitment patterns towards the end of the calendar year, where many forces experience more leavers than joiners.

Figure 3.1: Number of police officers1, 31 March 2019 to 31 December 2020, England and Wales

Source: Table U1

Notes:

  1. Data for the most recent quarter (October 2020 to December 2020) are provisional and subject to change in future releases of this statistics series, when they will be finalised.

This chart shows the officer headcount for March 2019, then the headcount for each month from September 2019 to December 2020. As at 31 December 2020 provisional data show that there were 135,248 officers in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. The figures for previous months are: September 2019, 127,399 October 2019, 127,562 November 2019, 128,351 December 2019, 128,596 January 2020, 129,305 February 2020, 129,913 March 2020, 131,576 April 2020, 131,858 May 2020, 132,200 June 2020, 133,131 July 2020, 134,197 August 2020, 134,424 September 2020, 134,879 October 2020, 135,215 November 2020, 135,623

3.1 Officers counting towards uplift

As discussed in chapter 2, since the baseline does not account for planned recruitment and adjustments post the year ending March 2020 financial year, recruitment under funds raised through year ending March 2021 council tax precept (as well as recruitment funded by other means) must be taken into account when calculating the number of uplift officers.

Table 3.1 shows the number of officers in England and Wales at the end of every month for which programme data have been collected. The table also shows how this figure relates to the adjusted baseline, and how many additional officers are attributed to the uplift programme.

As would be expected, larger forces contribute a greater proportion of the current number of uplift officers. For example, the Metropolitan Police Service currently account for 1,369 of the 6,620 uplift officers (20.7%) across England and Wales. Data published in the established ‘Police workforce’ National Statistics show that as at 30 September 2020 the Metropolitan Police accounted for 25% of officers in England and Wales.

Table 3.1: Headcount and uplift position, by month, England and Wales

Month Headcount as at the end of the month Adjusted baseline Officers counting towards uplift recruitment Additional officers under precept Total change from adjusted baseline
Oct-19 127,562 128,434 -872 - -872
Nov-19 128,351 128,434 -83 - -83
Dec-19 128,596 128,434 +162 - +162
Jan-20 129,305 128,434 +871 - +871
Feb-20 129,913 128,434 +1,479 - +1,479
Mar-20 131,576 128,434 +3,142 - +3,142
Apr-20 131,858 128,434 +3,424 - +3,424
May-20 132,200 128,434 +3,621 +145 +3,766
Jun-20 133,131 128,434 +4,374 +323 +4,697
Jul-20 134,197 128,434 +5,191 +572 +5,763
Aug-20 134,424 128,434 +5,322 +668 +5,990
Sep-20 134,879 128,434 +5,857 +588 +6,445
Oct-20 135,215 128,434 +6,295 +486 +6,781
Now-20 135,623 128,434 +6,867 +322 +7,189
Dec-20 135,248 128,434 +6,620 +194 +6,814

Source: Table U1, Table U2, Table U3

Notes:

  1. Following an in-year adjustment (of -38) to the baseline for Greater Manchester Police, the adjusted baseline for England and Wales is now 128,434. Further details can be found in chapter 2

3.2 All new recruits

Not all new recruits will be counted as progress towards uplift, as forces must maintain their baseline by recruiting to backfill any leavers. The number of new recruits therefore exceeds the number of officers counting towards uplift, as some of these were recruited to backfill vacancies, or to achieve other recruitment commitments.

Figure 3.2 shows the total number of new recruits per month since data collection began in November 2019. These figures include all new recruits, and so will be a combination of officers recruited under precept funding, those recruited against uplift, as well as others recruited to backfill any leavers. However, these figures exclude those returning to the Police Service after a period of absence, nor do they include transfers, so should not be used to deduce the actual number of leavers.

Since November 2019, there have been 14,585 new recruits to the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. As explained previously, levels of recruitment in December are usually lower than other month, with many employers experiencing more leavers than joiners towards the end of a calendar year. December 2020 saw particularly low levels of recruitment, with just six forces taking on new recruits. This compares with 22 forces in November 2020 and 17 forces in December 2019.

Figure 3.2: Number of recruits, by month, England and Wales

Source: Table U4

Notes:

  1. These data do not include those returning to the Police Service after a period of absence, nor do they include transfers.

The chart shows the number of recruits in each month since November 2019. The chart shows that the month with the highest number of recruits was March 2020, with 2,242 recruits. In November 2019 there were 1,164 recruits, 614 in December 2019, 1,286 in January 2020, and 1,123 in February 2020. March 2020 saw 2,242 new recruits, 804 in April 2020, followed by 773 in May 2020 and 1,321 in June 2020. In the penultimate quarter there were 1,574 new recruits in July 2020, 767 in August 2020, and 1,007 in September 2020. Then in the most recent quarter, there were 899 new recruits in October 2020, 872 in November 2020, and 139 in December 2020.

Data for individual police forces can be found in the data tables that accompany this publication.

3.3 Diversity

Data on the gender and ethnicity of all officers in post at the end of each quarter, and of new recruits have been collected since 1 April 2020. Prior to that, such data were not collected as part of the ‘officer uplift’ monthly collection in a consistent manner, so do not form part of this release. However, data on the gender and ethnicity of new recruits are also published annually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, the latest of which covers the period to March 2020.

Data on gender are collected under three categories (‘male’, ‘female’, and ‘prefer to self-describe’[footnote 3]), and data on ethnicity are collected aggregated to five broader categories (White, Black, Asian, Mixed, Other and ‘prefer not to say’) to align with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Census 2011 classification.

Diversity of those in post as at 31 December 2020

As at 31 December 2020 there were 44,603 female officers in post, accounting for 33.0% of all officers. On the same date, 9,871 officers identified as belonging to the Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic group (7.5% of those who stated their ethnicity[footnote 4]). Of these officers, 43% identified as Asian, 17% as Black, 29% as Mixed and 11% as ‘Other’.

Of the 43 forces, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) had the highest proportion of officers in the Black, Asian, Mixed and Other ethnic groups, with 16% of officers identifying themselves as such which on an annual basis is the highest proportion on record. However, this was still below the proportion of people resident in the Capital who identified as an ethnicity other than White (40%) at the time of the last Census in 2011.

The second highest proportion of officers from a Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic group was in West Midlands Police, where 12% of officers who stated their ethnicity identified themselves as an ethnicity other than White. As with the MPS, this is the highest proportion on record, but still below the local population who identify as an ethnicity other than White (30% according to the 2011 Census). This force was closely followed by Bedfordshire Police (10% compared with 23% of the local population). Cumbria, North Wales and Devon and Cornwall Police had the smallest proportion of officers from a Black, Asian, Mixed or Other ethnic group (each under 2%), reflecting relatively small estimates of these groups within those areas by the 2011 census (between 1.5% and 2.5%).

Diversity of new recruits since April 2020

Since April 2020 there has been a total of 8,156 new recruits to police forces in England and Wales. Of these,3,261 were female making up four in ten of all new recruits (40%).

With regard to ethnicity, 10.2% of new recruits (who stated their ethnicity ) identified as belonging to Black (1.5%), Asian (4.8%), Mixed (3.1%) or in the Other (0.9%) ethnic group. This remains below the representation of such ethnic groups in the general population (14% according to 2011 Census estimates) and similar to the 10.3% (excluding transfers and re-joiners) that we reported in the last annual workforce statistics to 31 March 2020.

Figure 3.3 shows that, of new recruits that self-defined their ethnicity as other than White, 47% identified as Asian, 30% as Mixed, 15% as Black and the remaining 8% as Other.

Figure 3.3: Composition of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic new recruits, by ethnic group, as at 31 December 2020, England and Wales

Source: Table U8

Figure 3.3 is a pie chart showing the within-group proportion of new recruits since 1 April 2020 who identify as Black, Asian, Mixed, or Other ethnic group. The chart shows that of these new recruits, 47% identify as Asian or Asian British and 15% identify Black or Black British. A further 30% identify as being a mix of different ethnicities, and 8% identify as Other.

Data for individual forces can be found in Tables U5-U8 of the accompanying data tables. Similar data as at March each year are available in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.

4. Annex A: year ending March 2022 allocations

The year to 31 March 2022, which will commence after the period reported in the quarterly ‘Police Officer Uplift’ statistical bulletin due to be released in July 2021, will be the second year of the Uplift Programme.

On 17 December 2020, the Government announced it would provide forces new funding during year 2 of the programme for up to another 6,000 additional police officers to be recruited by the end of March 2022. This new funding follows the announcement on 9 October 2019 for an initial 6,000 additional officers above the adjusted baseline.

Allocation of additional officers to be recruited during year ending March 2022 between forces also includes allocations specifically to tackle Serious and Organised Crime (SOC), and an allocation to Counter-Terrorism Police (CTP). Funding for tackling SOC will be shared across the network of Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs). Furthermore, City of London Police has been allocated an additional 30 officers specifically to uplift their officers tackling Fraud.

Table 4.1 shows year 2 allocations for the 43 territorial forces, less specific SOC and CTP allocations. Distinct allocations for these planned additional new recruits to SOC and CTP are shown in table 4.2 by relevant regions that in total sum with allocations in Table 4.1 to make the 6,000 additional officers for year ending March 2022.

Table 4.1: year ending March 2022 allocations by Police Force Area (less SOC and CTP allocations)

Force name 2021/22 allocation
Avon and Somerset 128
Bedfordshire 51
Cambridgeshire 58
Cheshire 84
Cleveland 67
Cumbria 47
Derbyshire 79
Devon and Cornwall 132
Dorset 47
Durham 63
Dyfed-Powys 40
Essex 126
Gloucestershire 43
Greater Manchester 325
Gwent 58
Hampshire 146
Hertfordshire 86
Humberside 91
Kent 138
Lancashire 143
Leicestershire 84
Lincolnshire 47
London, City of 41
Merseyside 187
Metropolitan Police 1,282
Norfolk 63
North Wales 58
North Yorkshire 55
Northamptonshire 54
Northumbria 173
Nottinghamshire 100
South Wales 127
South Yorkshire 142
Staffordshire 85
Suffolk 51
Surrey 73
Sussex 121
Thames Valley 171
Warwickshire 39
West Mercia 87
West Midlands 343
West Yorkshire 239
Wiltshire 46
England and Wales 5,620

Table 4.2: year ending March 2022 allocations for officers released to Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) and Counter-Terrorism Police (CTP)

ROCU/CTP ‘hub’ 2021/22 allocation
North East (NERSOU) and Yorkshire and Humber (YHROCU)1 40
North West (NWROCU) 41
East Midlands (EMSOU) 18
West Midlands (WMROCU) 27
Eastern (ERSOU) 27
MPSROCU 62
South East (SEROCU) 24
South West (SWROCU) 18
South Wales (TARIAN) 11
City of London (including Fraud)^2 32
SOC total 300
CT total 80
Allocation to SOC and CT total 380

Notes:

  1. Since NERSOU and YHROCU share resource their ROCU allocations have been combined and will be managed as one.
  2. City of London Police has been allocated an additional 30 officers specifically to uplift their officers tackling Fraud.

North East (NERSOU) is made up of the following forces: Cleveland, Durham, Northumbria, and Yorkshire and Humber (YHROCU) is made up of the following forces: Humberside, North Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire. North West (NWROCU) is made up of the following forces: Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Merseyside, North Wales. East Midlands (EMSOU) is made up of the following forces: Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire. West Midlands (WMROCU) is made up of the following forces: Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Mercia, West Midlands. Eastern (ERSOU) is made up of the following forces: Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Kent, Hertfordshire, Norfolk, Suffolk. MPSROCU is made up of the Metropolitan Police only. South East (SEROCU) is made up of the following forces: Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex, Thames Valley Police. South West (SWROCU) is made up of the following forces: Avon and Somerset, Devon and Cornwall, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire. South Wales (TARIAN) is made up of the following forces: Dyfed-Powys, Gwent, South Wales.

5. Glossary

Baseline: The starting figure against which adjustments will be made (see adjusted baseline). The baseline accounts for people in post at the start of the recruitment drive, and also accounts for any recruitment planned prior to the uplift announcement.

Adjusted baseline: The adjusted baseline is the figure used to track the recruitment of an additional 20,000 officers. The adjusted baseline is the original baseline with in-year adjustments then made to account for externally funded posts that have moved since the calculation of the original baseline.

Counter Terrorism Policing: Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) is made up officers from police forces across the country. They work to protect the public and our national security, by preventing, deterring and investigating terrorist activity.

Management information: Data provided by police forces from their administrative data sources. These are provisional figures only and are not subject to the same assurance processes as National Statistics.

National Statistics: A status designated to statistics by The Office for Statistics Regulation. National Statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, impartiality, quality and public value, and are fully compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

New recruit: A candidate who is joining the Police Service for the first time. This does not include those returning after a period of absence, nor does it include transfers or those rejoining.

NPCC: National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). The NPCC brings forces in the UK together to help policing coordinate operations, reform, improve and provide value for money.

Police workforce, England and Wales: These are the established statistics on the police workforce, which have been designated as National Statistics. This release contains statistics on the numbers of police officers, police staff, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), designated officers, special constables and Police Support Volunteers (PSVs) in post on 31 March and 30 September each year (published in July and January respectively).

Precept: Police funding that is raised via local council tax.

Regional Organised Crime Unit: Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) are regional collaborations of police forces that bring together specialist policing capabilities to tackle the threat from Serious and Organised Crime (SOC).

Serious and Organised Crime: Serious and organised crime is defined in the 2018 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy as individuals planning, coordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and/or as part of transnational networks. It affects more UK citizens, more often, than any other national security threat and leads to more deaths in the UK each year than all other national security threats combined. It has a corrosive impact on our public services, communities, reputation and way of life.

Uplift: The term used to describe officers who count towards the Government’s commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by March 2023. Officers are counted as uplift once the baseline for the respective police force has been exceeded.

  1. This means that the statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, impartiality, quality and public value, and are fully compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics 2

  2. Precept refers to an element of local Council Tax which is raised for specific services, such as, policing, local councils and Fire and Rescue Services. 

  3. ‘Prefer to self-describe’ includes cases where the officer does not identify as ‘male’ or ‘female’. 

  4. 94.7% of officers self-identified their ethnicity and the ethnicity was unknown in 5.3% of cases.