Accredited official statistics

Police funding for England and Wales 2015 to 2026

Published 13 August 2025

Applies to England and Wales

Frequency of release: Biannual

Forthcoming releases: Home Office statistics release calendar

Home Office responsible statistician: Jodie Hargreaves

Press enquiries: 0300 123 3535

Public enquiries: policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk

Privacy information notice

Introduction

This release contains information on agreed funding for policing in England and Wales between the financial years ending 31 March 2016 and March 2026. Chapter 3 also contains high level information on funding back to the financial year ending 31 March 2011. The majority of the information contained in this release relates to funding that has previously been announced publicly through a range of government announcements, ministerial statements and official statistics. This publication brings this information together into a single coherent statistical release.

Key findings

For the financial year ending 31 March 2026:

• up to £19,892 million in funding for policing in England and Wales has been agreed

overall funding will increase by:

• up to £1,230 million (6.6%) compared with the previous financial year, in nominal terms
• up to £736 million (3.8%) compared with the previous year in real terms (adjusted for inflation)
• total funding for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) (including government funding and Council Tax precept), will increase in nominal terms by up to £1,121 million (6.8%), when compared with the previous financial year
• overall agreed funding for the financial year ending March 2026 will increase by up to £3,286 million (19.8%) in real terms compared with the financial year ending March 2016

Note: Separate to these annual statistics, the Home Office typically makes year-on-year comparisons between each annual police funding settlement. Due to a difference in scope, such as the inclusion of funding outside of the police funding settlement in these statistics, figures will not match the police funding settlement exactly. The police funding settlement (announced in January 2025) showed that in the financial year ending 31 March 2026, funding would increase by up to £1,149 million compared with the previous year, bringing overall funding up to £19,562 million. More information on how to reconcile between figures in these statistics and the latest police funding settlement can be found in Annex A of this bulletin.

1. Introduction

1.1 General introduction

The overall sum 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. The majority of public funding for police forces in England and Wales is provided by the Home Office and is agreed by the House of Commons on an annual basis at the police funding settlement.

Each year the Home Office produces a police grant report which is published and voted on by Parliament and contains grant funding allocations for the following year to be paid out under the Police Act 1996. The Home Office accompanies publication of the police grant report with a Written Ministerial Statement (WMS), providing context and further information on funding not set out through the police grant report, such as Council Tax precept and direct funding for national policing priorities.

The funding set out in the WMS and the police grant report is collectively referred to as the police funding settlement. A collection of previous WMS and police grant reports can be found on the GOV.UK website.

In addition to central Government funding, PCCs set a local police precept which is part of Council Tax, based on principles set out by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) (for English forces) and the Welsh Government (for Welsh forces) (further information can be found in Chapter 2.2). As a proportion of total funding to PCCs police precept accounts for around 34% and is paid directly by local taxpayers. However, this proportion varies considerably by individual police forces. Breakdowns by Police Force Area (PFA) can be found in Table 4a of the accompanying data tables.

This publication contains analysis of published figures from the police funding settlement, additional out of settlement funding provided through the Home Office’s wider budget, additional funding for the police pay award agreed outside of the police funding settlement, and actual Council Tax precept figures. The funding presented here does not represent the Government’s total investment in the policing system. For example, in 2025 to 2026 funding for arm’s length bodies, cybercrime, forensics, fraud, police productivity and innovation, and tackling exploitation and abuse will be decided as part of the Home Office’s wider budget allocation process.

In addition to the funding presented in this publication, PCCs also receive income from other sources (further information can be found in Chapter 2.2 of the user guide); therefore, the funding considered here does not constitute the whole budget for policing either in a particular PFA, policing body or overall.

The term ‘overall funding’ is used throughout this publication to refer to government funding agreed in the police funding settlement, Council Tax precept and additional out of settlement funding such as the police pay award. The term ‘overall funding’ does not include sources of funding that are outside the scope of this publication as outlined previously.

In addition to the funding streams mentioned previously, this publication also includes pensions annual managed expenditure (AME) funding in Table 1a and 1b. Pensions AME funding is determined retrospectively and is not included within overall funding. Further information can be found in Chapter 5 of the user guide.

The statistics 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 by a particular police force, in any given financial year. For example, since the year ending 31 March 2020, the police funding settlement has included 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 maintenance of the 20,000 additional police officers. The term ‘up to’ is therefore used when referring to government funding to PCCs to reflect that this is the amount that PCCs will receive if they meet the conditions of the ring-fenced grant. Further information about the ringfenced grant is included in Chapter 2.2.

Figures are presented in both nominal terms (not adjusted for inflation) and real terms (adjusted for inflation using published Gross Domestic Product (GDP) deflators).

This publication contains detailed statistics from the financial year ending March 2016 onwards, while overall funding statistics are provided back to the financial year ending March 2011. Due to significant changes in the structure of police funding and policing in the 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. Further information can be found in Annex B of the accompanying user guide.

See the accompanying user guide for more information about the scope of this publication, definitions, and quality considerations.

1.2 Changes in this release

Serious violence funding

Since the year ending 31 March 2021 the police funding settlement has provided funding to the wider policing system (previously known as national priorities funding) for tackling serious violence and drugs/county lines. In previous publications this funding has been presented separately from the rest of the funding for the wider policing system.

In the ‘Police funding for England and Wales, 2015 to 2026’ publication, serious violence and drugs/county lines funding between the years ending 31 March 2021 and 2026 is presented with other wider system funding to match the police funding settlement. A breakdown of wider system funding is provided in Table 3 of the accompanying police funding data tables.

Out of settlement funding

Previous releases have included additional funding provided through the Home Office’s wider budget for tackling serious violence. For the year ending 31 March 2026 other funding streams were included in addition to those for tackling serious violence. This included funding for county lines, operation Alpha, the UK football policing unit, the online hate crime hub, wildlife crime, hotspot policing, police appeals tribunal chair, metropolitan police commissioner pensions, widow’s pensions, modern slavery and organised immigration crime, perpetrator programmes, online police capabilities and hotspot policing – safer streets.

Out of settlement funding is provided as a combined amount and is not broken down by specific funding streams. While this funding is new to the statistical publication, it is not all new to the policing system and as such the increase in overall funding presented here may overstate the actual increase.

1.3 Nominal and real terms analysis

Following user feedback received as a part of the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) accredited official statistics assessment, real terms comparisons (adjusted for inflation) were included from the July 2021 publication onwards. Calculations have been carried out using GDP deflators, as published on 30 June by HM Treasury.

Nominal terms funding is the cash value and does not account for inflation; while real terms funding, which accounts for inflation, uses GDP deflators to present funding in 2025 to 2026 prices. Throughout this release, funding is labelled to make clear where nominal and real terms values have been used.

As police funding statistics are forward looking, the GDP deflators used are based on Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecasts of the GDP deflator for the budget year. The GDP deflators used in this publication reflect the most up-to-date data available at time of publication (the June 2025 deflators published in July 2025). Real terms police funding figures will not be revised based on quarterly changes to GDP deflators, so users should ensure they are using the most appropriate deflator. This is particularly significant where there is likely to be unusual levels of volatility in the OBR forecasts of GDP deflators, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

1.4 Accredited Official Statistics status

These official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) the regulatory arm of the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) in July 2021. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘Accredited Official Statistics’.

Further information about accredited official statistics can be found on the OSR’s website.

1.5 Accountability statement

Our statistical practice is regulated by the OSR which sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to. You are welcome to contact us directly via policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

1.6 User engagement

We want to identify users and uses of the data as well as provide a chance for users to give their suggestions on how the publication can better meet their needs. Users can contact policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk with any feedback about the publication. For more information on user engagement can be found in Chapter 4 of the user guide.

2. Nominal terms funding for policing since the financial year ending 31 March 2016

2.1 Overall agreed funding for policing in the financial year ending 31 March 2026 (nominal terms)

For the financial year ending 31 March 2026, an allocation of up to £19,892 million has been agreed in funding for policing in England and Wales. This represents an increase of up to £1,230 million (6.6%) compared with the previous year, in nominal terms.

This total consists of wider system funding and capital funding. Resource funding includes government funding to PCCs; police precept; wider system funding; additional out of settlement funding; and counter-terrorism police funding. Capital funding is provided outside of funding to PCCs and includes further funding for capital projects, such as technology programmes. Figure 2.1 below shows the funding for each of these areas for the financial year ending 31 March 2026.

Figure 2.1: Overall agreed annual funding (£billions) for policing, financial year ending 31 March 2026 (nominal terms)

Source: Home Office, ‘Police funding for England and Wales, 2015 to 2026: data tables’; Table 1a

Notes:

1. Numbers (1) to (6) in the legend correspond to lines marked (1) to (6) in Table 1a of the accompanying data tables, indicating how the different elements of funding sum to the overall total. Table 1a provides a further, more detailed breakdown of these funding streams. Refer to the glossary in the accompanying user guide for full definitions of each funding stream.

Of the 5 main funding areas, government funding to PCCs will see the largest nominal increase, by up to £713 million (6.5%) compared with the year ending 31 March 2025. Council Tax precept and counter terrorism policing funding will also see increases (7.2% and 12.9% respectively) in nominal terms, whilst wider system funding and capital funding will decrease (by 13.0% and 4.3% respectively).

2.2 Nominal funding for PCCs in the financial year ending 31 March 2026

When considering total funding for PCCs (government funding and Council Tax precept), funding will increase in nominal terms by up to £1,121 million (6.8%) in the year ending 31 March 2026 when compared with the previous financial year.

Council Tax referendum principles are set each year for PCCs in England by the MHCLG. These set a level above which an increase in the Band D bill level triggers a local referendum. The principles for the latest financial year were that an increase above £14 for an equivalent Band D property would trigger a local referendum. All PCCs chose to increase their precept level by £14 this year. Council Tax in Wales is a devolved matter, with local authorities responsible for the setting, collection and enforcement of Council Tax. PCCs in Wales are therefore not subject to the referendum principles which apply in England when setting their Council Tax Band D bill levels.

In the year ending 31 March 2026 government funding to PCCs, which makes up the largest proportion of overall police funding (58.5%), will see an increase of up to £713 million (6.5%) in nominal terms when compared with the previous financial year. This is driven by a nominal increase of £295 million (3.2%) in core grant funding, the introduction of £200 million for the neighbourhood policing grant and the introduction of £230 million to support forces with the cost of the changes to employer National Insurance contributions as set out by the Chancellor in the Autumn Budget.

These trends are not necessarily reflective of funding received by individual forces. Breakdowns by Police Force Area are provided in Table 4a of the accompanying data tables.

Officer maintenance ringfence grant

The Home Office provides funding to forces to support the maintenance of police officer numbers, this includes via the Officer Maintenance Ringfenced Grant (which is a successor to the Police Uplift Programme (PUP) grant).

For the financial year ending 31 March 2026, £376.8 million will be available to forces to maintain officer numbers. This funding will be distributed as follows:

• £270.1 million will be ringfenced funding, which PCCs will be able to access, as in previous years, by demonstrating that they have maintained their officer numbers
• £106.7 million will be paid to forces who have received additional recruitment allocations in 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025; this funding will be provided as an additional recruitment top up grant; it will be unconditional, and the funding distributed according to how much additional recruitment forces were allocated
• £75 million has been released from the ringfence for 2025 to 2026 to top-up core grant to all police forces

Neighbourhood Policing grant

In January 2025 the government announced £200 million for the year ending 31 March 2026 to kickstart the delivery of 13,000 new neighbourhood police personnel.

2.3 Other funding in the financial year ending 31 March 2026 (nominal terms)

In addition to funding provided to PCCs for territorial policing, the Government also provides funding for the wider policing system, counter terrorism policing and capital projects.

In the year ending March 2026 counter terrorism policing funding will total up to £1,160 million (including funding for counter-terrorism pensions), an increase of 12.9% on the previous year in nominal terms.

In addition to funding provided to PCCs the government provides funding to the wider policing system and for capital projects. Wider system funding includes direct government investment at a national level not distributed to PCCs through the usual police funding formula. In the financial year ending March 2026, funding for ‘wider system funding’ will decrease by 13.0% when compared with the previous year (from £909 million to £791 million in nominal terms). Some of the funding that was previously provided to the policing system through wider system funding has instead been provided through the Home Office’s wider budget for the financial year ending 31 March 2026.

A breakdown of wider system funding is included in Table 3 (for the most recent year) and Table 6 (for financial years prior to the year ending March 2026) of the accompanying data tables.

In the year ending March 2026, £123 million for capital funding will be provided, a nominal decrease of £6 million (4.3%) from £129 million in the previous year.

Wider system funding and capital funding are intended to support implementing important policies and projects within policing and therefore the structure of this funding can change substantially each year. Therefore, year on year comparisons for individual funding streams should be interpreted with caution. Final amounts spent in any given year may be more or less than the numbers stated here due to changes during the year.

Since the financial year ending March 2022, PCCs have received all core funding as resource funding but have the flexibility to use this for capital investments. Separate capital funding in the police funding settlement is therefore solely provided to national policing programmes and projects from the year ending March 2023 onwards.

2.4 Overall agreed funding for policing since the financial year ending 31 March 2016 (nominal terms)

Since the financial year ending 31 March 2016, overall agreed funding for policing has increased nominally by up to £7,832 million (64.9%). Figure 2.2 shows the overall total funding for policing each year, by funding stream, in nominal terms.

Figure 2.2: Overall annual funding (£billions) for policing since the financial year ending 31 March 2016 (nominal)

Source: Home Office, ‘Police funding for England and Wales, 2015 to 2026: data tables’; Table 1a

Notes:

1. Numbers (1) to (6) in the legend correspond to lines marked (1) to (6) in Table 1a of the accompanying data tables, indicating how the different elements of funding sum to the overall total. Table 1a provides a further, more detailed breakdown of these funding streams. Refer to the glossary in the accompanying user guide for full definitions of each funding stream.

Overall agreed funding for policing will have increased nominally every financial year since the year ending 31 March 2016.

Since the financial year ending March 2016, government funding to PCCs will see the largest numerical increase, increasing by up to £3,805 million (48.6%) in nominal terms.

Government funding to PCCs remained fairly stable between the financial years ending March 2016 and March 2019. Since then, government funding to PCCs has increased year on year in nominal terms (further information can be found in Chapter 2.2). This increase has been contributed to by the introduction of the pensions grant, the previous government’s PUP funding (now Officer Maintenance ringfence grant), this government’s Neighbourhood Policing grant, as well as National Insurance contribution and in-year funding to support the police pay award.

As a proportion of funding to PCCs (government funding and Council Tax precept funding), Council Tax precept has increased from accounting for 28% of funding to PCCs in the financial year ending March 2016 to accounting for about 34% of funding to PCCs in the year ending March 2026. These proportions can vary by PFA, due to differences in the tax bases in PFAs and local choices about Council Tax precept. Detailed breakdowns of funding by PFA can be found in Tables 4a and 4b of the accompanying data tables.

Despite the decrease in the most recent year, wider system funding will have increased by £343 million (76.4%) in nominal terms, from £449 million in 2016 to £791 million in 2026. Wider system funding will differ from that presented in previous years. Previously wider system funding had included additional funding provided through the Home Office’s wider budget; however, in this release this additional funding is presented separately. Counter terrorism policing funding and capital funding have also increased since the financial year ending March 2016; counter terrorism policing funding by £596 million and capital funding by £2 million.

Officer Maintenance ringfence grant

The Home Office provides funding to forces to support the maintenance of police officer numbers, this includes via the Officer Maintenance Ringfenced Grant (which is a successor to the PUP grant). Between the years ending 31 March 2020 and March 2023, during the recruitment phase of the PUP, up to £432 million of funding was provided through a ring-fenced grant, with PCCs able to access this as they progressed towards annual recruitment targets. The nominal size of the ringfence varied each year of the programme, reflecting the different stages of delivery.

The PUP recruitment phase concluded in March 2023 and, since the financial year ending 31 March 2024, an Officer Maintenance Ringfence grant (previously the PUP grant) has been allocated to PCCs, where funding can be accessed upon demonstration that their officer headcount has been maintained in line with the targets set.

For the year ending 31 March 2025, police forces received an Officer Maintenance Ringfence grant of up to £358 million. In addition to the Officer Maintenance Ringfence grant, an additional recruitment top up of £67 million was introduced in the police funding settlement for the financial year ending March 2025. The additional recruitment top up was paid to forces that volunteered to recruit more than their initial uplift target. Combined this is a total of £425 million.

For the financial year ending 31 March 2026, £376.8 million will be available to forces to maintain officer numbers. This funding will be distributed as follows:

• £270.1 million will be ringfenced funding, which PCCs will be able to access, as in previous years, by demonstrating that they have maintained their officer numbers
• £106.7 million will be paid to forces who have received additional recruitment allocations in 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025; this funding will be provided as an additional recruitment top up grant; it will be unconditional, and the funding distributed according to how much additional recruitment forces were allocated
• £75 million has been released from the ringfence for 2025 to 2026 to top-up core grant to all police forces

In-year police pay award funding

In addition to funding announced in the annual police funding settlement, core grant funding to PCCs provided for the financial years ending 31 March 2023 to 2026 also included additional in-year funding for the police pay award.

Due to the timing of the Government’s announcement of additional in-year funding for the police pay award for the year ending March 2026, it has not been possible to provide detailed allocations by PFA in this release, as they have not yet been finalised. Consequently, the statistical series will report only the total additional in-year funding figure for each year, with PFA-level breakdowns to be incorporated retrospectively in the following annual release.

As such, for the first time, this release includes a PFA breakdown of the allocation of the additional £175 million of funding that was announced by the Government in July 2024 to help with the cost of the pay award in the year ending March 2025.

In August 2025 the Government announced an additional £120 million of funding to help with the cost of the pay award in the year ending March 2026. The allocation of this funding by PFA has not been finalised, therefore, force breakdowns of this funding will be reported in next year’s ‘police funding for England and Wales, 2015 to 2027’ publication.

3. Real terms funding for policing since the financial year ending 31 March 2016

3.1 Introduction

Following user feedback received as a part of the OSR accredited official statistics assessment, real terms comparisons were included from the July 2021 publication onwards. Calculations have been carried out using GDP deflators, as published on 30 June by HM Treasury.

As police funding statistics are forward looking, the GDP deflators used are based on OBR) forecasts of the GDP deflator for the budget year. The GDP deflators used in this publication reflect the most up-to-date data available at time of publication (the June 2025 deflators published on 30 June 2025). Real terms police funding figures will not be revised based on quarterly changes to GDP deflators, so users should ensure they are using the most appropriate deflator. This is particularly significant where there is likely to be unusual levels of volatility in the OBR forecasts of GDP deflators, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic.

3.2 Real terms funding for the financial year ending 31 March 2026

When compared with the previous year, overall agreed funding for the year ending 31 March 2026 will increase by up to £736 million (3.8%) in real terms. This increase is largely due to real terms increases in total funding to PCCs of up to £683 million (4.0%).

Government funding to PCCs for the year ending 31 March 2026 will increase by up to £425 million (3.8%) in real terms compared with the previous year. This increase has been driven by the introduction of the Neighbourhood Policing grant and National Insurance contribution. For the year ending 31 March 2026, Council Tax precept will increase by up to £258 million (4.5%) in real terms, compared with the previous year.

Counter terrorism policing funding in the year ending 31 March 2026 will increase by £105 million in real terms, from £1,055 million to £1,160 million, compared with the year ending 31 March 2025. Wider system funding and capital funding will decrease in real terms by £142 million and £9 million respectively.

3.3 Real terms funding for the financial years ending 31 March 2016 to 31 March 2026

Compared with the financial year ending March 2016, overall agreed funding for policing will have increased by up to £3,286 (19.8%) in real terms. Figure 3.1 shows the overall funding for policing each year, by funding stream, in real terms.

Figure 3.1: Overall annual funding (£billions) for policing since financial year ending 31 March 2016, (real terms; financial year ending 31 March 2026 prices)

Source: Home Office, ‘Police funding for England and Wales, 2015 to 2026: data tables’; Table 1b

Notes:

1. Numbers (1) to (6) in the legend correspond to lines marked (1) to (6) in Table 1b of the accompanying data tables, indicating how the different elements of funding sum to the overall total. Table 1a provides a further, more detailed breakdown of these funding streams. Refer to the glossary in the accompanying user guide for full definitions of each funding stream.

The increase in overall funding has largely been driven by real terms increases in Council Tax precept of up to £1,783 million (41.7%). Since the financial year ending March 2016 government funding to PCCs has increased in real terms by up to £857 million (8.0%); this increase has been partly driven by the introduction of the pensions grant and PUP grant (now officer maintenance ringfence) in the year ending 2020 and introduction of the Neighbourhood Policing grant and National Insurance contribution in the year ending 31 March 2026. The real terms increase in Council Tax precept and government funding to PCCs will result in an increase of up to £2,640 million (17.5%) in total funding to PCCs.

Since the financial year ending 31 March 2016, wider system funding will increase by up to £174 million (28.1%) and counter terrorism policing funding will increase by up to £384 million (49.4%) in real terms. Whereas capital funding will decrease by £43 million (26.1%) in real terms; this is partly due to all core funding being provided as resource funding since the financial year ending March 2023.

Whilst all 43 of the territorial police forces in England and Wales have seen real terms increases in funding in the financial year ending 31 March 2025 compared with the financial year ending 31 March 2016, the scale of change varies by PFA, due to differences in the allocation of government funding and varying levels of Council Tax between individual PFAs. Detailed breakdowns of funding by PFA can be found in Tables 4a and 4b of the accompanying data tables.

4. Funding for policing before the financial year ending 31 March 2016

4.1 Introduction

The Government regularly reviews how it will fund public services in the years ahead in exercises known as spending reviews. Between spending reviews, the structure of funding for policing can change significantly with specific programmes or policing bodies moving between being funded from within or outside the police funding settlement.

Due to significant changes in the structure of police funding and policing in the financial year ending 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. Further information can be found in Annex B of the accompanying user guide.

Figure 4.1 provides a high-level overview 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 detailed in our user guide.

Figures include wider system funding agreed in the annual police funding settlement, counter-terrorism funding and capital funding as well as government and precept funding for PCCs. Breakdowns of each of these individual funding streams prior to the financial year ending March 2016 are however not included in this publication. This is because the changes to the structure of policing and police funding mean that definitions of these funding streams would not be consistent prior to the financial year ending March 2016. Further information can be found in Annex B of the accompanying user guide.

4.2 Overall agreed funding for policing since the financial year ending March 2011 (nominal terms)

Following a nominal decline in funding for policing between the financial years ending March 2011 and March 2015, funding has grown steadily each year since, as explained in Chapter 2. This has driven an overall nominal increase of up to 54.3% in police funding since year ending March 2011.

4.3 Real terms funding before the financial year ending March 2016

As shown in Figure 4.1, overall agreed funding fell in real terms between the financial years ending March 2011 and March 2015. However, as a result of the recent real terms increases, overall funding in the year ending March 2026 will be at the highest level since the financial year ending March 2011, with a real terms increase of up to £775 million (4.1%), in 2025 to 2026 prices. This, however, is not necessarily reflective of total funding for policing over this period due to the reasons described in Chapter 3.1. Neither is this increase necessarily reflective of funding received by individual PCCs due to changes in funding streams not distributed directly to PCCs (as described in Chapter 4.1).

Figure 4.1: Overall annual funding (£billions) for policing since the financial year ending 31 March 2011 (nominal and real terms)

Source: Home Office, ‘Police funding for England and Wales, 2015 to 2026: data tables’; Table 5

Notes:

1. Nominal funding data has been converted to real terms using the latest GDP deflators available at time of publication (the June 2025 deflators published on 30 June 2025). As these statistics are forward looking, GDP deflators have been derived from forecast changes in GDP. During times of economic instability (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) there is increased uncertainty in OBR’s GDP deflator forecasts. This publication will not be updated periodically to reflect any ongoing changes to this forecast. For further information, please refer to Chapter 6 in the accompanying user guide.

Annex A: Reconciling between these statistics and the annual police funding settlement

A.1 Introduction

The latest annual police funding settlement, Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament and Written statements - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament, stated that in the financial year ending March 2026, overall funding would total up to £19,562 million.

As explained in the accompanying user guide, there are a number of differences between these statistics and the police funding settlement. This publication contains analysis of published figures from the police funding settlement, additional out of settlement funding (including the police pay award), and actual Council Tax precept figures. Tables A1 and A2 demonstrate exactly where these differences occur for the financial years ending March 2026 and March 2025 respectively.

Table A1: Funding for policing for the financial year ending 31 March 2026, as described in the ‘Police funding: England and Wales statistics’ and annual ‘Police funding settlement’

Funding stream	Police funding: England and Wales statistics (£ million)	Police funding settlement (£ million)
Total government funding to PCCs	Up to £11,628	Up to £11,508
Of which: grant funding agreed at settlement	Up to £11,508	Up to £11,508
Of which: in-year pay award funding	£120	n/a
Council Tax precept	£6,058	£5,980
Wider system funding	£791	£791
Counter Terrorism policing	£1,160	£1,160
Capital funding	£123	£123
Out of settlement funding	£132	n/a
Total	Up to £19,892	Up to £19,562

Table A2: Funding for policing for the financial year ending 31 March 2025, as described in the ‘Police funding: England and Wales statistics’ and annual ‘Police funding settlement’ (nominal terms)

Funding stream	Police funding: England and Wales statistics (£ million)	Police funding settlement (£ million)
Total government funding to PCCs	Up to £10,914	Up to £10,751
Of which: grant funding agreed at settlement	Up to £10,751	Up to £10,751
Of which: in-year pay award funding	£164	n/a
Council Tax precept	£5,650	£5,607
Wider system funding	£909	£909
Counter Terrorism policing	£1,028	£1,018
Of which: funding agreed at settlement	£1,018	£1,018
Of which: in-year pay award funding	£10	n/a
Capital funding	£129	£129
Out of settlement funding	£32	n/a
Total	Up to £18,662	Up to £18,413

As shown in Tables A1 and A2, at the time of publication of the annual police funding settlement, the exact figure for Council Tax precept was unknown. Therefore, an upper bound estimate was used based on OBR Council Tax base forecasts and MHCLG Council Tax principles. At the time of publication of these statistics, actual Council Tax decisions have been published by MHCLG and Welsh Government.

The police funding statistics also include additional out of settlement funding, provided to policing from the Home Office core budget.

The police funding statistics also include additional in-year funding, agreed outside of the police funding settlement, for the police pay award. In July 2024 the Government announced an additional £175 million of funding for the financial year ending 31 March 2025 for the police pay award, which is broken down to PFA-level for the first time in this release.

In August 2025 the Government announced an additional £120 million of in-year funding in response to the police pay award, for the financial year ending 31 March 2026. The allocation of this funding by PFA has not been finalised, therefore, force breakdowns of this funding will be reported in next year’s ‘police funding for England and Wales, 2015 to 2027’ publication.