Guidance

Police funding for England and Wales: user guide

Updated 28 July 2023

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 key to the production and presentation of the Home Office’s annual statistical release of “Police Funding for England & Wales”.

Police Funding Statistics are published on an annual basis every July. Each publication and 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.

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.

Shortly after the publication of Police Funding: England and Wales 2015 to 2022 in July 2021, the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) wrote to the Home Office confirming their designation of National Statistics. This followed an OSR assessment of compliance with the Code of Practice for Statistics on these 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 of England and Wales, each of which is governed by a local policing body (typically a Police and Crime Commissioner)^{[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.

This bulletin and the figures reported reflect the main elements of police funding as budgeted in the agreed police funding settlement (as described in section 2.2 below), plus any significant in-year funding announced after the settlement had been agreed. The funding here does not constitute the whole budget for policing either in a particular Police Force area, overall or for the National Crime Agency (NCA).

The figures in this publication 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, with PCCs 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 ringfenced grant is included the glossary.

The publication and data tables include a detailed breakdown of police funding for the years the financial year ending March 2016 to the financial year ending March 2024. High level figures for the years between the financial year ending March 2011 and the financial year ending March 2015 are included in Table 5, however, extreme caution must be applied when comparing these figures with figures for later years. 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 years before the financial year ending March 2016 due to changes in the structure of police funding over the period.

All figures in the accompanying data tables are presented in both nominal and real terms, see chapter 6 of this user guide for 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 (as described below).

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 publication of each Police Grant Report with a Written Ministerial Statement providing context and further information on funding not set out through the Police Grant Report. This includes police funding paid by the Welsh Government and Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), 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, Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) set a local police precept which is part of Council Tax. Police precept accounts for around 34% 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 DLUHC 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 (SPS) (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; and 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; and the National Crime Agency (NCA), which is a Non-Ministerial Department. Police forces participate in Regional Organised Crime Units, 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 has previously noted that arrangements for police funding are complicated and has 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 now publishes this document to provide a single source of statistical information on police funding levels in the recent period and the context for earlier periods. This publication is intended to help to 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 Practices 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 the designation of these statistics as National 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 figures contained in the publication are available in the public domain ahead of this publication.

As described in chapter 2 above, Government funding to 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, i.e. data that are collected for administrative or operational purposes, with statistical use being a secondary purpose. The primary purpose of this dataset is calculating the annual 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 these statistical publications are partially derived.

Meanwhile, information on Council Tax precept received by PCCs is collected and published as National Statistics by DLUHC and Welsh Government, in their publications Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England and Council Tax Levels in Wales respectively. DLUHC 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 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 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.

DLUHC 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 DLUHC and Welsh Government statistics have achieved National Statistics Status, demonstrating they meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, quality and value. The Home Office maintains a close working relationship with DLUHC 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 DLUHC statistics.

Upon compiling the data tables for the police funding statistics, further validation is carried out. Figures are 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.

DLUHC 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 figures published in the agreed funding settlement, the risk of errors is low. However there are a number of 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 comparison before the financial year ending March 2016 difficult. Whilst this user guide and footnotes in accompanying data tables provide a summary of these changes, this is not an exhaustive list and other changes may impact on year-on-year comparability.

Rounding

During the calculation of the police funding settlement, data is input from a number of different sources, including from internal Home Office budgets, HM Treasury, DLUHC and Welsh Government. Whilst an effort is made to ensure numbers are unrounded (or rounded to the nearest pound), in some cases figures are only provided in a rounded format (such as to the nearest one hundred thousand). Therefore Tables 1a and 1b contains 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.

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. For further information, see 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 financials years. This publication 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 to 31 March 2023 on 12 July 2022. Following the Governments decision to accept the police pay award recommended by the police Pay Remuneration Review Body, a further £70m of in year funding was announced for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 on 19 July 2022. 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

For the purpose of this publication, we consider the data underpinning the police funding settlement held and managed by the Police Funding Policy team within Home Office to be administrative data. We have therefore applied the QAAD (Quality Assurance of Administrative Data) 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 figures in this release are not new, and have already been published in the Written Ministerial Statement and Police Grant report. This release simply brings all figures together in one place.

The statistics aim 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 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 validated against published material. The close involvement of the Home Office Police Funding Policy team, as data supply partner, 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 supplier and statistics producer, 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 the police funding in England and Wales. Specific uses of the data are listed below.

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 also 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 OSR’s assessment of the statistics in 2021, a number of users provided feedback. Some examples of the subsequent changes made to the publication are listed below.

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 as well as nominal prices to provide greater understanding of the effects of inflation on police funding. For more information on real terms comparisons, please see 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 DLUHC’s 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 (see Annex B), however, since July 2021 a high – level overall funding figure back to the financial year ending March 2011 has been provided. For more information on difficulties making comparisons with historic data, please refer to 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 in place 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 of these statistics.

We aim to use this opportunity to identify further current 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.

A summary of responses and any action taken as a result of this survey will be included in this user guide alongside the next publication.

If you have any other enquiries regarding these statistics, please email them to policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk.

5. Glossary

The list below are definitions of terms used in the data tables.

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

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.

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

Core grant funding: Originally based on the police allocation formula (PAF)^{[footnote 2]} and DCLG’s (now-DLUHC) 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 provides 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

Also includes 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: 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 National Crime Agency, as part of a revaluation of public sector pensions.

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

COVID-19 funding: Funding to support the police through the COVID-19 pandemic. The Government reimbursed all the police’s additional PPE purchased, resourced enforcement, as well as setting 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: 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 (UKFPU) 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: Replaces funding provided by the Police Transformation and Police Innovation Funds that operated from the financial year ending March 2014 to the financial year ending March 2020. 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 supports an uplift to police firearms capability.

Pensions grant Annual Managed Expenditure (AME): Additional funding paid according to demand to cover the costs of police officer pensions above police employer contributions. AME is paid in addition to the police funding settlement agreed at Spending Review. AME is spent on items that may be unpredictable or not easily controlled by departments, and are relatively large, including public sector pensions. The pensions grant figures for the financial year ending March 2016 and the financial year ending March 2017 have been revised from July 2018’s statistical bulletin. This is because there was an error in that the figures that were reported for these prior years included the pensions grant for Fire Superannuation as well as the Police. AME funding is provided annually, though the value of funding provided is based on a three 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 figures 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: Funding to cover part of the costs of increased employer pension contributions for police officers and some police staff as part of a revaluation of public sector pensions.

Police capital grant: Funding to PCCs for capital expenditure, provided for financial years up to the year ending 31 March 2022 only. Since the financial year ending March 2023, PCCs will 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 Grant: Funding provided to PCCs to support emergency services collaboration, improvements to police ICT 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).

Police live services: Investment costs for national law enforcement IT systems including the Police National Computer, Police National Database and Childhood Abuse Identification Database.

Police Now: Police Now is a charity supporting the recruitment of police officers through graduate schemes. From the year ending 31 March 2021 onwards, funding was provided for increased capacity for the Police Now programmes to assist the recruitment of 20,000 additional officers.

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 (ESMCP); Home Office Biometrics; National Law Enforcement Data Programme; National Automatic Number Plate Recognition Service (NAS) 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.

Police Uplift Programme Grant: This funding was first announced by HM Treasury as part of the 2019 Spending Review, as an in-year grant to commence the recruitment of new officers as part of the first year of the Police Uplift Programme. Part of the grant was awarded to forces whilst the remainder was allocated to support the Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Police Uplift Programme. Announced as part of the financial year ending March 2021 Police Funding Settlement, a ringfenced grant associated with the recruitment of new officers as part of the first year of the Police Uplift Programme was created. For the financial year ending March 2024, £275 million has been ringfenced (with the remaining PUP investment included within core grant funding to PCCs), force allocations will be released in line with maintaining their recruitment target.

Police Uplift Programme: Funding for the national programme supporting the recruitment and maintenance of 20,000 additional police officers.

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.

Safer Streets Fund: Enables 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 for future police programmes, overseen by the Police Science, Tech and Research 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.

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

Special grant capital: Capital contingency funding.

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.

6. Real terms comparisons

Following user feedback received as a part of OSR assessment of the statistics, real terms comparisons were included from the July 2021 publication onwards. Calculations have been carried out using GDP deflators, national statistics published quarterly by HM Treasury.

As police funding statistics are forward looking, the GDP deflators used are based on Office for Budget Responsibility 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 OBR forecasts of GDP deflators, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

7. Police force and regional breakdowns

Government and precept funding provided to PCCs is included by Police Force in Table 4a and 4b accompanying the publication. This includes core funding, Council Tax grants, NICC 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 NUTS level 1 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics) totals (further information can be found on the ONS 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.

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

During the review of the statistics by OSR 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 these statistics, such as the publication of precept figures in April and the publication of updated 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 figures in this publication are agreed as a part of the annual police funding settlement. As such, many of 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 figures are agreed with His Majesty’s 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 Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Welsh Government on the distribution of specific grants such as DLUHC Council Tax grants.

A provisional police grant report and accompanying Written Ministerial Statement are published in December, outlining these above figures as well as providing further background information on the calculation and distribution of specific grants.

Typically, a four-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 instead used. Figures for England are published each March or April by DLUHC 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 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 Police 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 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 and June.

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 complete sense checks on the DLUHC 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 Police 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 the user guide begin in June.

Real terms comparisons cannot be produced until the publication of updated GDP deflators by HMT 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 HTML web pages 1 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) as shown on the pre-release access list.

E. Follow-up work

A wash-up meeting is held on process of publication where actions are agreed for next year and lessons learned recorded.

Any user feedback is also reviewed on an ongoing basis.

The published dataset is used for Parliamentary Questions, Freedom of Information and other enquiries (until following publication).

Annex B: Police funding before financial year ending March 2016

It is difficult to make direct comparisons between current police funding figures 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 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 funding from within or outside the police funding settlement announced each year to Parliament. 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 year ending March 2016 are therefore not included in this publication. Table 5 provides a high-level view 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 of 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 2021 provided an overview of the key 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 since January 2012. In 2017, a Combined Authority mayor with PCC functions was introduced in Greater Manchester, fulfilling the role of the PCC there. Similarly, in 2021, the responsibility of exercising the functions of the Police and Crime Commissioner in West Yorkshire transferred over to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Policing reform

Before 2002, training of new police officers was the responsibility of the Home Office. Responsibility then passed to an independent police training body - Central Police Training and Development Authority (CENTREX). CENTREX and the information technology body Police Information Technology Organisation (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), established as a Non-Departmental Public Body. NPIA 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 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 2015. In the financial year ending 2014, the Police Innovation Fund was introduced and continued until the financial year ending March 2017, when the Police Transformation Fund (PTF) was introduced. Both are funded from the main police settlement and both provide funding to develop capabilities. The police’s share of Airwave, the emergency services communication service, was funded separately by the Home Office between the financial years ending 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 Police and Crime Commissioners has changed significantly over time. Until the financial year ending March 2014, a significant part of core police funding was paid by the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG, now renamed Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities), based on their own relative needs-based formula. This funding transferred to the Home Office in the financial year ending March 2014. 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.

Rule 2 grant was introduced in the financial year ending March 2007 as a non-ring-fenced grant and was an amalgamation of five specific grants which were not distributed on the basis of the police funding formula: Rural Police Fund (funding for forces with large rural areas, from the financial year ending March 2002 until the financial year ending March 2007); Forensic DNA grant (started in April 2000 to expand the National DNA Database until all of the ‘known active offending population’ were covered); Integrated Police Learning and Development Programme; London and the south east allowances (supported the payment of London and SE allowances and free police travel in London); and the Special Priority Payment Scheme (started in 2002, providing funding for additional recruitment and retention payments to front line and operational police officers).

From the financial year ending March 2012, Rule 2 grant has been consolidated into core grant funding. Basic Command Unit (targeting high crime areas and funded by specific grant from the financial year ending March 2004 to the financial year ending March 2011) were also consolidated into core grant funding the same year. Additionally the Crime Fighting Fund, a specific grant paid between the financial years ending March 2001 to March2011 to encourage community activism and to support innovation by the voluntary sector to reduce substance misuse and offending by young people was also consolidated at the same time.

A number of other specific grants have been consolidated into core police grant since the financial year ending March 2012, including Community Support Officers grant (Funding for Community Support Officers focusing on anti-social behaviour and low-level crime) and the Neighbourhood Policing Fund (supported dedicated neighbourhood policing teams between 2005 and the financial year ending March 2013).

Royal Parks grant funding transferred into the police settlement in the financial year ending March 2016, becoming part of the National and International Capital City (NICC) grant (see glossary). 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.

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 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 financial year ending March 2013 scheme 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 2024. Local Council Tax support (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 Government grants are paid from within the Home Office police settlement, apart from Council Tax freeze grants funding for the London police forces which are received through DLUHC’s local government finance settlement. 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 force areas receive ring-fenced pensions 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 number of: retired officers and survivor benefits in payment; 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

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 (NCS) which was initially funded by a levy on police forces, but from April 2002 was directly funded by the Home Office. In 2006, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (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; and 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.

SOCA was replaced by the National Crime Agency in 2013. The National Crime Agency is a Non-Ministerial Government department and is funded outside of the police settlement. However, since the financial year ending March 2017, the National Crime Agency 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 National Crime Agency also absorbed the formerly separate Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP 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; and 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 and for West Yorkshire this role is fulfilled by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority. Police forces in all other police 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. See explanation in the latest Police Grant Report. ↩