Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data, at 31 March 2024
Published 19 March 2025
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2025
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/provisional-revision-to-neighbourhood-policing-data-at-31-march-2024/provisional-revision-to-neighbourhood-policing-data-at-31-march-2024
Frequency of release: One-off ad-hoc release
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Home Office responsible statistician: Jodie Hargreaves
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1. Introduction
1.1 Introduction
This is an ad-hoc statistical release of management information to provide provisional revisions to the police officer and police community support officer (PCSO) neighbourhood policing figures originally published in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2024’ statistics (published on 24 July 2024).
In the annual release of the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistics, the Home Office publishes information on the primary function performed by police officers, staff and PCSOs (Chapter 7 of the main release). Data collected is based on the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Police Objective Analysis (POA) categories. While information in the commentary of the statistical release focuses on the number of officers in frontline roles and those dedicated to ‘Local policing’ functions, the accompanying data tables provide additional information on the number of officers and PCSOs in each subfunction, including data on those categorised in ‘Neighbourhood policing’ roles, which is a subfunction of the wider ‘Local policing’ group.
The latest published data, which covers the situation as at 31 March 2024, was published in July 2024.
As part of the Safer Streets Mission the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee aims to recruit an additional 13,000 neighbourhood police personnel over the course of this Parliament. In preparation for this, police forces reviewed their data and raised concerns about the accuracy of their previously published neighbourhood policing figures. In January 2025, the Home Office therefore asked the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) to conduct a data validation exercise on the March 2024 figures. Despite the data being confirmed by contacts in each individual police force ahead of publication in July 2024, this exercise uncovered inaccuracies in the figures.
Data in this release, which has been provided to the Home Office as management information by the NPCC, summarises those provisional revisions to March 2024 neighbourhood policing data.
As defined by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), management information is essential operational data in a relatively raw format that provides transparency about an organisation’s business or operation when they are published. It is published to meet the public interest for transparent information about:
- policy or operational decision making
- how services are performing
Figures in this release are therefore published as ‘Transparency data’ and are not classed as Accredited Official Statistics. The figures in this release have been collected at an aggregate force level, whereas the annual Accredited Official Statistics are collected at an individual level. They are published as provisional revisions to the data, and the Home Office is in the process of collecting the revisions to March 2024 data in the usual format for Accredited Official Statistics and will publish finalised revisions in due course.
Data in this release covers the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis only.
2. Provisional revisions to 1a neighbourhood policing data, as at 31 March 2024
2.1 Introduction
Since the publication of the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ bulletin covering the situation as at 31 March 2024, in July 2024, most forces have requested revisions to their neighbourhood policing figures.
This release provides provisional revisions to the number of police officers and PCSOs in the neighbourhood policing function as at 31 March 2024, based on data collected as management information as part of an NPCC data validation exercise. The Home Office is in the process of collecting the revisions to March 2024 data in the usual format for Accredited Official Statistics and, as such, the figures reported in this release are subject to change.
It should be noted that these revisions relate to the function of police officers and PCSOs only, there has not been a revision to the total number of police officers and PCSOs employed within each Police Force Area (PFA) reported in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ bulletin.
Due to the limited detail collected as part of the management information from the NPCC data validation exercise, this release focuses on revisions specifically to the neighbourhood policing subfunction and does not provide a complete picture of subsequent revisions in other subfunctions. For this reason, at this time the Home Office is unable to provide full revisions to all data tables. Tables F1, F3, F5, F6, F7, and the Functions ‘open data table’, which were published alongside the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin in July 2024, will be updated following the more complete data collection in the usual Accredited Official Statistics format.
Finalised revisions will be published in due course. This will include full updates to the commentary in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical publication, as well as updates to all ‘Function’ data tables and the Functions ‘open data table’ that accompany the main release.
2.2 Summary of provisional revisions
Following the NPCC data validation exercise, a total of 31 forces have amended their neighbourhood police officer figures as at 31 March 2024 and 15 forces have amended their neighbourhood PCSO figures as at 31 March 2024.
Provisional amendments by forces have resulted in a reduction of 2,611 FTE police officers and PCSOs assigned to the neighbourhood policing function. This is comprised of a 2,760 FTE reduction in police officers in the neighbourhood policing category and an increase of 149 FTE PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles. Table 1 shows the scale of the revisions.
Table 1: Provisional updates to previously published police workforce data (FTE), England and Wales, as at 31 March 2024
| Original figure as published in ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ in July 2024 | Amended figure | Difference | Percentage (%) Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Police officers | 13,424 | 10,664 | -2,760 | -20.6% |
| PCSOs | 6,210 | 6,359 | 149 | 2.4% |
| Total | 19,634 | 17,023 | -2,611 | -13.3% |
Source: Home Office, ‘Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data, 31 March 2024’: Table_1
Notes:
- Amended figures are based on management information.
As a result of forces’ amendments, provisional data shows that as at 31 March 2024, there were a total of 17,023 FTE combined police officers and PCSOs in the neighbourhood policing function. This comprises:
- 10,664 FTE police officers in neighbourhood policing roles
- 6,359 FTE PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles
It should be noted that these revisions relate to a reduction in the number of recorded neighbourhood policing personnel only. The total number of police officers and PCSOs employed within each PFA remains the same.
2.3 Provisional revisions by Police Force Area
Forces cited several reasons for revising their neighbourhood policing data for as at 31 March 2024. These include incorrect categorisation of student officers in neighbourhood policing roles, outdated Human Resources (HR) systems, and incorrectly placing officers in ‘Neighbourhood policing’ (1a) when they would more accurately be aligned with other subfunctions such as ‘Incident (response) management’ (1b).
Student officers
Many forces have revised their neighbourhood policing figure after incorrectly including classroom-based student officers (who were not engaging in neighbourhood policing duties) within the ‘Neighbourhood policing’ (1a) function as default. Student officers should be counted within the neighbourhood policing function only if they are performing such duties. For example, student police officers undergoing a period of supervised training in the field before gaining independent patrol status could be counted. The removal of the previously incorrectly categorised classroom-based student officers from the neighbourhood policing function has contributed to the reductions.
Outdated HR systems
Additionally, forces cited recording errors in outdated or recently updated HR systems for their revisions. Several police forces identified issues in their HR system which meant that although resources had been redeployed, or individuals had operationally changed functions, their function codes had not been updated in HR systems, resulting in the inaccurate inclusion or exclusion of these individuals in the neighbourhood policing function.
Operational models
Due to varying operational models in police forces, as well as different collaboration agreements, some forces were unable to make a clear distinction between certain functions in the police workforce data collection. For example, where officers performed roles that span multiple functions, they could only be recorded against one function in the Home Office data collection, meaning that in some cases the majority of, or all, employees were recorded under one function when in reality they were performing numerous duties. This issue was particularly apparent for the ‘Neighbourhood policing’ (1a) and ‘Incident (response) management’ (1b) functions, where historically forces were asked to categorise officers performing both duties against neighbourhood policing, artificially inflating the numbers.
During the data validation exercise run by the NPCC, forces stated that where officers were in a role that spanned multiple functions, they have now more carefully categorised these officers, leading to some large revisions.
Police officers and PCSOs initially recorded in the neighbourhood policing function have been moved to other subfunctions including ‘Incident (response) management’ (1b), ‘Specialist community liaison’ (1c), ‘Local policing command team’ (1d), ‘Specialist Investigation Units’ (7d), ‘Protecting vulnerable people’ (13c), ‘Professional standards’ (10g), and other ‘Investigation’ (7) functions. Some forces had also incorrectly categorised PCSOs in the ‘Specialist community liaison’ (1c) function, when upon review they were carrying out neighbourhood policing roles. Detailed descriptions of the roles covered by each subfunction can be found in Table_F4 of the data tables accompanying each ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ publication.
Table 2 shows the extent of the revisions in each PFA. A total of 31 police forces have revised their neighbourhood police officer figures resulting in a net reduction in police officers in these roles and 15 have revised their neighbourhood PCSO figures resulting in a net increase. Overall there has been a net reduction in police officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles. It should be noted that whilst there has been a net reduction in the number of neighbourhood policing personnel, the total number of police officers and PCSOs employed within each PFA as reported in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ publication remains the same.
Table 2: Provisional updates to previously published neighbourhood policing data (FTE), by PFA, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2024
| Police Force Area | Police officer: Original figure | Police officer: Amended figure | Police officer: Difference | Police officer: Percentage difference | PCSO: Original figure | PCSO: Amended figure | PCSO: Difference | PCSO: Percentage difference | Total: Original figure | Total: Amended figure | Total: Difference | Total: Percentage difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avon and Somerset | 271 | 246 | -26 | -9.6% | 267 | 267 | - | - | 538 | 512 | -26 | -4.8% |
| Bedfordshire | 107 | 107 | - | - | 30 | 30 | - | - | 138 | 138 | - | - |
| Cambridgeshire | 221 | 159 | -62 | -28.0% | 22 | 22 | - | - | 244 | 182 | -62 | -25.4% |
| Cheshire | 247 | 172 | -76 | -30.6% | 108 | 107 | -1 | -1.1% | 355 | 278 | -77 | -21.6% |
| Cleveland | 132 | 119 | -13 | -10.1% | 82 | 87 | 5 | 6.1% | 214 | 206 | -8 | -3.9% |
| Cumbria | 101 | 74 | -28 | -27.4% | 27 | 36 | 9 | 34.3% | 128 | 109 | -19 | -14.5% |
| Derbyshire | 154 | 154 | - | - | 185 | 185 | - | - | 339 | 339 | - | - |
| Devon and Cornwall | 270 | 268 | -2 | -0.7% | 144 | 144 | - | - | 414 | 412 | -2 | -0.5% |
| Dorset | 146 | 99 | -46 | -31.8% | 72 | 36 | -36 | -49.7% | 218 | 136 | -82 | -37.8% |
| Durham | 115 | 104 | -11 | -10.0% | 74 | 97 | 23 | 31.3% | 189 | 201 | 12 | 6.2% |
| Dyfed-Powys | 44 | 40 | -4 | -8.6% | 137 | 137 | - | - | 181 | 177 | -4 | -2.1% |
| Essex | 279 | 258 | -21 | -7.5% | 92 | 92 | - | - | 372 | 351 | -21 | -5.6% |
| Gloucestershire | 340 | 117 | -224 | -65.7% | 115 | 114 | -1 | -0.9% | 455 | 230 | -225 | -49.4% |
| Greater Manchester | 666 | 666 | - | - | 290 | 290 | - | - | 956 | 956 | - | - |
| Gwent | 80 | 80 | - | - | 132 | 132 | - | - | 212 | 212 | - | - |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 650 | 544 | -106 | -16.3% | 150 | 150 | - | - | 800 | 694 | -106 | -13.3% |
| Hertfordshire | 363 | 230 | -133 | -36.7% | 139 | 134 | -5 | -3.6% | 502 | 364 | -138 | -27.5% |
| Humberside | 256 | 174 | -82 | -32.0% | 125 | 125 | - | - | 381 | 299 | -82 | -21.5% |
| Kent | 205 | 205 | - | - | 71 | 49 | -22 | -31.2% | 275 | 253 | -22 | -8.0% |
| Lancashire | 241 | 240 | -1 | -0.4% | 190 | 190 | - | - | 431 | 430 | -1 | -0.2% |
| Leicestershire | 285 | 228 | -57 | -20.1% | 129 | 129 | - | - | 415 | 357 | -57 | -13.8% |
| Lincolnshire | 67 | 71 | 4 | 6.0% | 36 | 37 | 1 | 2.8% | 103 | 108 | 5 | 4.9% |
| City of London | 29 | 38 | 9 | 31.1% | 4 | 4 | - | - | 33 | 42 | 9 | 27.3% |
| Merseyside | 675 | 465 | -209 | -31.0% | - | 182 | 182 | [z] | 675 | 647 | -27 | -4.0% |
| Metropolitan | 2,407 | 2,131 | -276 | -11.5% | 813 | 813 | - | - | 3,221 | 2,944 | -276 | -8.6% |
| Norfolk | 229 | 172 | -57 | -25.1% | - | - | - | [z] | 229 | 172 | -57 | -25.1% |
| North Wales | 76 | 76 | - | - | 122 | 122 | - | - | 198 | 198 | - | - |
| North Yorkshire | 132 | 113 | -19 | -14.1% | 120 | 118 | -2 | -1.4% | 252 | 232 | -20 | -8.1% |
| Northamptonshire | 231 | 152 | -79 | -34.3% | 74 | 74 | - | - | 305 | 226 | -79 | -26.0% |
| Northumbria | 499 | 499 | - | - | 64 | 64 | - | - | 563 | 563 | - | - |
| Nottinghamshire | 267 | 213 | -54 | -20.2% | 152 | 152 | - | - | 418 | 364 | -54 | -12.9% |
| South Wales | 200 | 176 | -24 | -12.0% | 349 | 379 | 31 | 8.8% | 549 | 556 | 7 | 1.3% |
| South Yorkshire | 296 | 296 | - | - | 97 | 97 | - | - | 393 | 393 | - | - |
| Staffordshire | 294 | 200 | -94 | -31.9% | 176 | 176 | - | - | 471 | 377 | -94 | -20.0% |
| Suffolk | 208 | 93 | -115 | -55.3% | 27 | 20 | -7 | -25.8% | 235 | 113 | -122 | -51.9% |
| Surrey | 130 | 130 | - | - | 69 | 69 | - | - | 199 | 199 | - | - |
| Sussex | 166 | 166 | - | - | 243 | 243 | - | - | 408 | 408 | - | - |
| Thames Valley | 407 | 274 | -134 | -32.8% | 244 | 244 | - | - | 652 | 518 | -134 | -20.5% |
| Warwickshire | 68 | 68 | - | - | 49 | 49 | - | - | 117 | 117 | - | - |
| West Mercia | 163 | 163 | - | - | 180 | 163 | -17 | -9.5% | 343 | 326 | -17 | -5.0% |
| West Midlands | 1,045 | 396 | -649 | -62.1% | 241 | 241 | - | - | 1,286 | 637 | -649 | -50.5% |
| West Yorkshire | 482 | 400 | -82 | -17.0% | 494 | 482 | -11 | -2.3% | 976 | 883 | -93 | -9.6% |
| Wiltshire | 176 | 88 | -88 | -50.0% | 77 | 77 | - | - | 253 | 165 | -88 | -34.8% |
| England and Wales | 13,424 | 10,664 | -2,760 | -20.6% | 6,210 | 6,359 | 149 | 2.4% | 19,634 | 17,023 | -2,611 | -13.3% |
Source: Home Office, ‘Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data, 31 March 2024’: Table_1
Notes:
- Amended figures are based on management information.
- There may appear to be small discrepancies between the totals and the sums of the constituent items as the figures are presented to the nearest whole number but are actually provided unrounded.
- [z] denote not applicable.
Explanations by forces
All forces were asked to provide a rationale for their amendments. Where forces submitted more than minor revisions to their data as part of the NPCC validation exercise, these explanations have been provided below, ordered alphabetically by PFA.
Following the NPCC data validation exercise:
Cambridgeshire revised their neighbourhood police officer figure down by 62 FTE (a 28% decrease) after the force completed an audit of all CIPFA POA codes within their HR system. They found that 58 student officers and multiple other teams had been incorrectly included in the neighbourhood policing function.
Cheshire revised their neighbourhood police officer figure down by 76 FTE (a 31% decrease). The largest proportion of changes contributing to Cheshire’s revised data is in relation to the way the force allocated student officers that were still in the classroom that should not have been coded to neighbourhood policing. The neighbourhood policing figures also included Local Policing Unit commanders, who operate over multiple functions and are not specifically in neighbourhood policing, while conversely the forces’ dedicated neighbourhood inspectors were not included. The force also reviewed some relatively new, specialist assets such as the ‘Drone piloting team’ and allocated them to a better suited code. These changes have resulted in the neighbourhood policing category now including only positions that are expected from frontline, community focused neighbourhood policing officers.
Dorset revised the number of police officers in neighbourhood policing roles down by 46 FTE (a 32% decrease) and the number of PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles down by 36 FTE (a 50% decrease). The force revised the figures to ensure that only those officers and PCSOs dedicated to neighbourhood policing functions were included. They excluded those in functions that do not contribute to neighbourhood policing including specialist functions, investigative resources, and patrol, which had previously been included in the neighbourhood policing category in error.
Durham revised the number of PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles up by 23 FTE (a 31% increase). This is due to Durham identifying that several PCSOs were incorrectly coded as designated investigation officers in the forces’ HR system.
Gloucestershire revised the number of police officers in neighbourhood policing roles down by 224 FTE (a 66% decrease) to ensure that only those officers and PCSOs dedicated to neighbourhood policing functions are included. Specialist functions, investigative resources, and patrol had previously been included in the neighbourhood policing category in error. The inaccuracy of the original data appears to be primarily related to the unique post identifiers in a recently implemented HR System, which Gloucestershire are looking to update.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight revised the number of police officers in neighbourhood policing roles down by 106 FTE (a 16% decrease) after finding that the 650 FTE neighbourhood officers originally reported included 106 FTE police students in their initial 18-week training period.
Hertfordshire revised the number of police officers down by 133 FTE (a 37% decrease) after the force completed an audit of all CIPFA POA codes within their HR system. They found that 111 student officers and multiple other posts had been incorrectly included in the neighbourhood policing function. The force also moved their rural operational support team into the neighbourhood policing function after it had incorrectly been recorded under ‘Incident (response) management’.
Humberside also revised the number of police officers in neighbourhood policing roles down by 82 FTE (a 32% decrease) after finding that 83 FTE student officers were incorrectly coded as ‘Neighbourhood policing’ rather than ‘Incident (response) management’ (1b) and that 4 FTE officers should have been categorised in the neighbourhood policing function but had been recorded elsewhere.
Merseyside revised the number police officers in neighbourhood policing roles down by 209 FTE (a 31% decrease) and the number of PCSOs up by 182 FTE (having previously recorded no PCSOs in neighbourhood policing). Upon reviewing the data provided for the police workforce census, Merseyside noted that this figure did not include any PCSOs because they had been categorised under 1c ‘Specialist community liaison’. In addition, Merseyside had incorrectly included local public order / neighbourhood tactical teams under neighbourhood policing, when they should have been classified under ‘Advanced public order’.
The Metropolitan Police Service revised their neighbourhood police officer figure down by 276 FTE (an 11% decrease) from 2,407 FTE neighbourhood policing officers to 2,131 FTE following clarification of the Home Office counting rules that tutor constables and tutor sergeants, and those on long-term abstractions should not be included in the neighbourhood policing function.
Northamptonshire’s neighbourhood police officer figure was also revised down (by 79 FTE or a 34% decrease) following the NPCC data validation exercise. The reduction in neighbourhood policing officers in Northamptonshire was a result of coding issues in the as at 31 March 2024 data, which has been corrected during the NPCC data validation exercise.
Staffordshire revised the number of police officers in neighbourhood policing roles down by 94 FTE (a 32% decrease) after finding that the original figure included student police officers who were in training or being tutored, and not deployed specifically to neighbourhood policing.
Suffolk revised their neighbourhood officer figures down by 115 FTE (a 55% decrease) and their neighbourhood PCSO figure down by 7 FTE (a 26% decrease). The force has identified a series of errors in the categorisation of roles, such as the inclusion of student officers in the neighbourhood policing category when they should have been included as category 1b (Incident (response) management). additionally, several of Suffolk’s specialist reassurance teams were included in neighbourhood policing when they should have been recorded as category 1c (Specialist community liaison) and several senior manager posts were included in neighbourhood policing rather than 1d (‘Local policing command team’).
Thames Valley revised the number of police officers in neighbourhood policing roles down by 134 FTE (a 33% decrease) after identifying discrepancies in how neighbourhood policing roles were recorded, following a recent internal review. The issues stemmed from technical limitations and differences between job titles and the detail of roles performed by officers.
West Midlands revised their neighbourhood police officer figures down by 649 FTE (a 62% decrease). Following being placed into ‘Engaged’ status by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire Rescue Services (HMICFRS) in December 2023 (following serious concerns over its investigations and victim outcomes), the force had redeployed a number of neighbourhood resources into ‘Responding to calls for service’ and ‘Investigations’. However, system identifiers on HR systems had not been updated which generated the significant administrative inaccuracy. West Midlands have since been removed from ‘Engaged’ status by HMICFRS.
West Yorkshire revised the number of police officers in neighbourhood policing roles down by 82 FTE (a 17% decrease). The force improved their recording, aligning POA codes more accurately with the roles performed by officers, however this was implemented in April 2024 which meant that some of the POA codes provided originally for the March 2024 Accredited Official Statistics did not reflect the correct position.
Wiltshire revised their neighbourhood officer figures down by 88 FTE (a 50% decrease). The force stated that this was because during a thorough review of the March 2024 police workforce return they identified that individuals in formal training at the time had been included in the return as neighbourhood officers in error. These have since been allocated to the correct category.
It should be noted that these revisions are provisional and primarily based on management information provided by the NPCC. They are therefore subject to change following a more detailed data collection exercise currently being undertaken by the Home Office. Finalised revisions will be published in due course.