Police workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2013
Published 29 January 2014
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2014
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1. Introduction
This release contains statistics on the numbers of police officers, police staff, police community support officers (PCSOs), designated officers, traffic wardens and special constables in post on 30 September 2013 in the 43 police forces of England and Wales and the British Transport Police.
The workforce figures in this release are all provided on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis unless indicated otherwise.
This release is a mid-year update of the annual Police Workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2013 publication. The figures are provisional and finalised figures will appear in the annual release.
See the ‘User Guide to Police Workforce Statistics’ for further information, including a glossary, conventions used and other background information. The data in this release can be found in the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2013’ tables.
2. Key Facts
There were 128,351 police officers in the 43 police forces (of England and Wales) on 30 September 2013, the lowest number since September 2002. In addition, there were 2,875 police officers employed by the British Transport Police and 386 police officers seconded to central services.
The number of police officers in the 43 forces decreased by 3,488 or 2.6% compared to a year earlier, and decreased by 1,233 or 1.0% compared to 6 months earlier. Of the 43 forces, 36 recorded falls, both compared to 12 months and 6 months earlier.
Figure 1 shows that police officer numbers generally increased between September 2004 and September 2009 but have decreased since. The largest fall was in September 2011 but the decreases have slowed more recently.
2.1 Figure 1: Change in the number of police officers at the end of September1 from the previous 12 months
Chart notes
- Police officer numbers for the 43 English and Welsh forces only.
Source: Home Office, ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales, 30 September 2013’ tables.
There were 64,961 police staff (excludes staff contracted out to private companies) in the 43 police forces on 30 September 2013, a fall of 1,299 or 2.0% compared to a year earlier, and a fall of 818 or 1.2% compared to 6 months earlier.
There were 13,552 PCSOs in the 43 police forces on 30 September 2013, a decrease of 859 or 6.0% compared to a year earlier, and a decrease of 653 or 4.6% compared to 6 months earlier.
There were 4,342 designated officers (i.e. investigation officers, detention officers and escort officers; includes contracted out staff) in the 43 police forces on 30 September 2013, a rise of 243 or 5.9% compared to a year earlier, and a rise of 28 or 0.7% compared to six months earlier.
There were 18 traffic wardens in the 43 police forces on 30 September 2013, a decrease of 12 compared to a year earlier, and a decrease of 3 compared to 6 months earlier. Local authorities now employ almost all traffic wardens.
There were 18,068 special constables (headcount) in the 43 police forces on 30 September 2013, a fall of 1,086 or 5.7% compared to a year earlier, and a fall of 943 or 5.0% compared to 6 months earlier.