Accredited official statistics

Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2025

Updated 23 July 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 is an end-year update of the Police workforce, England and Wales publication series, containing information on police workers in post on 31 March 2025. This release also provides detailed information on police workers, such as protected characteristics (including age, sex and ethnicity breakdowns), joiners, leavers, length of service, promotions, long-term absences, limited duties, and the functions that workers perform.

Key findings

• the total paid police workforce (including officers, staff, police community support officers and designated officers) as at 31 March 2025, was 235,753 full-time equivalent (FTE), a decrease of 0.2% on the previous year (236,229 FTE)
• this decrease was driven by a fall in police officers (down 0.9%) and PCSOs (down 3.3%), however, there was an increase of 1.3% in the number of staff and designated officers.
• as at 31 March 2025 there were 146,442 FTE officers in post in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, a decrease of 0.9% on the March 2024 peak of 147,745 officers (down 1,303 FTE)

Figure 1: Year on year change in FTE police officer numbers, as at 31 March 2010 to 2025, England and Wales

• in headcount terms, there were 148,452 officers (headcount), a decrease of 1,316 officers (0.9%) compared to March 2024
• Accredited Official Statistics cover March and September snapshots only, on both an FTE and a headcount basis; however, based on management information collected by the National Police Chief’s Council, which is available on a headcount basis only, there has been a small decrease of 84 officers (or 0.1%) compared to June 2024, when the new Government took office
• excluding transfers, 7,865 FTE police officers joined the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2025, a decrease of 1,614 FTE (or 17.0%) on the previous year
• police officer joiners in the year ending 31 March 2024 and 2025 are lower compared to recent years, reflecting that the Police Uplift Programme recruitment drive concluded at the end of March 2023 and that any increase in neighbourhood policing personnel under the NPG (for which funding starts from April 2025) is not reflected in the statistics presented in this release
• excluding transfers, 8,795 FTE police officers left the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2025, a decrease of 285 FTE (or 3.1%) on the previous year
• the police officer leaver rate (leavers as a proportion of those in post at the start of the year) was 6.0%, 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous year and 0.6 percentage points lower than 2023
• the leaver rate for police officer voluntary resignations in the year ending 31 March 2025, at 3.2% is slightly lower than the previous year (3.4% leaver rate for voluntary resignations)
• 3,431 police officers (headcount) leaving the police service in England and Wales had less than 5 years’ service, accounting for 38% of leavers in the year ending 31 March 2025
• police officers voluntarily resigning from the service were more likely to be newer officers, with 67% of all police officers voluntarily resigning having less than 5 years’ service
• in England and Wales, 46,991 officers (headcount) had less than 5 years of service as at 31 March 2025, which accounted for 32% of all police officers
• over the last few years, as recruitment levels have increased due to the Police Uplift Programme, the number and proportion of officers with fewer than 5 years of service has also risen; as at 31 March 2016 (when data collection on length of service began), 18,262 officers (headcount) had less than 5 years of service accounting for 14% of all police officers
• there were 17,175 FTE police officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles as at 31 March 2025, a 1.3% increase (214 FTE) from 31 March 2024 when there were 16,961 officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles
• the 17,175 FTE neighbourhood policing personnel is comprised of 11,104 FTE police officers and 6,071 FTE PCSOs
• there were 52,839 FTE female police officers in the 43 police forces on 31 March 2025, making up 36.1% of police officers in England and Wales, the highest number and proportion of female officers since comparable records began in March 2003
• there were 12,089 FTE ethnic minority (excluding White minority) police officers in the latest year, making up 8.5% of police officers in England and Wales, the highest proportion of ethnic minority (excluding White minority) officers since comparable records began in March 2003
• there were 6,305 FTE police officers on long-term absence in the 43 forces in England and Wales, equivalent to 4.3% of all officers, higher than the rate of 4.0% in the previous year

1. Introduction

1.1 General introduction

This release contains statistics on the numbers of police officers, staff, designated officers^{[footnote 1]} , police community support officers (PCSOs), special constables and police support volunteers (PSVs) in post on 31 March 2025. The statistics cover all the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. Data from the British Transport Police (BTP) and the National Crime Agency (NCA) is provided in the accompanying data tables, though their figures are largely excluded from analysis within this report and do not count towards the England and Wales total (which relates to the 43 territorial forces only).

Unless otherwise stated, total workforce figures quoted in the bulletin include those on career breaks or other forms of long-term absence, as well as those seconded into police forces from other forces or central services. It excludes those seconded out from forces to central services. The workforce figures in this release are all presented on a full-time equivalent (FTE) basis unless indicated otherwise. The accompanying data tables provide the same information on a headcount basis.

The user guide to police workforce statistics contains further information, including a glossary, conventions used, and other background information. It contains further information on the quality and limitations of the various data sets, and the ways in which the Home Office engages with users of the statistics.

The data in this release, can be found in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025’ data tables and the accompanying open data tables.

1.2 Changes to the police workforce statistics release

Since initial publication of the 31 March 2024 figures, in July 2024, Cumbria Constabulary requested to amend their PCSO and police staff figures as part of routine revisions. Their headcount and FTE of PCSOs has increased by one and their FTE and headcount of police staff has decreased by one. The initial figure for Cumbria was 41.52 FTE PCSOs (45 headcount) and 611.80 police staff (711 headcount). Cumbria have provided an updated figure of 42.52 FTE PCSOs (46 headcount) and 610.80 FTE police staff (710 headcount).

Additionally, Durham Constabulary has revised their police officer figure since the initial publication in July 2024. During the data validation exercise detailed in section 7.2, Durham requested to change the function code of a police officer to ‘Police and crime commissioner (PCC) commissioned services’ (11g). Individuals in function group 11 are excluded from force strength figures as they are considered to be directly supporting the PCC’s office. As such, their officer strength figure has decreased by one FTE and one headcount. The initial figure was 1,365.69 FTE police officers (1,372 headcount). Durham has an updated figure of 1,364.69 FTE police officers (1,371 headcount).

The data tables accompanying the 31 March 2025 edition of the ‘Police workforce’ statistical release and the open data tables have been updated to reflect amended figures for Cumbria and Durham.

Revisions to neighbourhood policing data

The main commentary for previous editions of this release provided information on the primary function performed by police officers, staff and PCSOs (section 7), focusing on the number of officers in frontline roles and those dedicated to ‘Local policing’ functions, while the accompanying data tables provided 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. More information on functions data and data quality can be found in section 7.

Following the announcement by the government in December 2024 of the plan to increase neighbourhood policing personnel by 13,000 as part of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG), this release now includes specific commentary on neighbourhood policing in section 7.

In response to the announcement, police forces reviewed their as at 31 March 2024 neighbourhood policing function 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. This exercise uncovered inaccuracies in the figures and resulted in forces provided provisional revised data. This provisional revised data was published on 19 March 2025 in the ‘Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data, at 31 March 2024’ ad-hoc release, and at that time the Home Office committed to publishing final revised data in July 2025. This publication meets that commitment.

Further detail on the reasons for these revisions are provided in section 7. Finalised figures for the number of officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles for as at 31 March 2024 and the position as at 31 March 2025 are also presented in section 7. Alongside future releases of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical series, the Home Office will also provide a 6-month update on achievement towards the 13,000 increase in neighbourhood policing personnel.

As part of this release, and following the thorough data validation exercise, the functions open data tables have also been revised.

Student counting rules

During the data validation exercise to improve neighbourhood policing data, forces were asked to provide an explanation for changes made to their 31 March 2024 data. One common theme was that some forces had recorded student officers who were still in training as being assigned to a neighbourhood policing function. This led to the Home Office issuing updated guidance on how students should be recorded, namely that if a student is still in classroom-based training, their function code should be recorded as ‘Other’.

Recuperative and adjusted duties

Information on the number of officers on recuperative and adjusted duties has been published annually since 31 March 2015. In previous years forces have provided information separately on the number of officers on recuperative duties and the number of officers on adjusted duties. However, following consultation with forces, the Home Office has expanded the collection to include instances where officers are on both recuperative and adjusted duties at the same time to allow for a more complete picture.

Police assaults data

Previously, this statistical bulletin included information on assaults on police officers using data from the police recorded crime series (these are recorded as assault with or without injury on a constable).

Assaults on officer data was provided annually, however more timely data is provided quarterly by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and therefore should be accessed via the ONS website.

Police assaults data published by the ONS provides a count of recorded assaults but does not provide further information such as the circumstances preceding an assault or the body part that was injured during the assault, or demographic information relating to police officers who are injured. To cover these gaps, the Home Office has developed a new row-level police assaults data collection, which also covers PCSOs and police staff. This data has been collected for the first time for the year ending 31 March 2025. As many fields are voluntary and forces are in the process of making changes to their systems to capture this information, Home Office analysts will make an assessment on the quality of the data returned by forces in due course, including a decision on whether to publish the data this year.

1.3 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). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, impartiality, quality and value in Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled ‘Accredited Official Statistics’.

Given the known issues around the quality of the data, statistics in this release on length of service, of both officers in post and of leavers, are designated as Official Statistics, and not Accredited Official Statistics. Further information can be found in the relevant leavers and length of service chapters.

1.4 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.

2. Headline workforce figures

Key findings

• as at 31 March 2025 there were 235,753 FTE police workers (including officers, staff, designated officers and PCSOs) employed by the 43 territorial forces in England and Wales, a decrease of 0.2% on the previous year
• this is 8,744 FTE less than the peak of 244,497 FTE paid police workers in March 2010^{[footnote 2]}
• as at 31 March 2025, there were 146,442 FTE officers in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, a 0.9% decrease from the peak of 147,745 FTE officers in March 2024
• in addition, there were 2,852 FTE police officers employed by the BTP in England and Wales^{[footnote 3]}, 5,617 FTE officers in the NCA in England and Wales , and 340 FTE police officers on secondment to central services^{[footnote 4]}

2.1 Total police workforce

As at 31 March 2025, there were 235,753 FTE workers (including officers, staff, designated officers and PCSOs) employed by the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales (Table 2.1), a decrease of 476 FTE, or 0.2%, compared with a year earlier (when there were 236,229 workers).

Table 2.1: Police workforce, as at 31 March 2024 and 2025, England and Wales

Rank	2024	2025	Change (number)	Percentage change (%)
Chief officer	245	263	+17	+7.1
Chief superintendent	370	372	+2	+0.5
Superintendent	1,064	1,057	-7	-0.6
Chief inspector	2,166	2,196	+30	+1.4
Inspector	6,834	6,902	+68	+1.0
Sergeant	22,090	22,427	+337	+1.5
Constable	114,976	113,225	-1,751	-1.5
Total police officer ranks	147,745	146,442	-1,303	-0.9
Police staff and designated officers	80,917	81,996	+1,080	+1.3
Police community support officers	7,568	7,315	-253	-3.3
Total police workforce	236,229	235,753	-476	-0.2
Special constabulary	6,118	5,534	-584	-9.5
Police support volunteers	7,211	5,844	-1,367	-19.0

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: workforce open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes British Transport Police.
2. Chief officer includes assistant chief constables, deputy chief constables and chief constables, and their equivalents in the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police.
3. Special constables and PSVs do not have contracted working hours, so their numbers are provided on a headcount rather than FTE basis.

In terms of police ranks, as at 31 March 2025, compared to the previous year, there were decreases in the number of constables and superintendents. Increases were seen in all other ranks. Amongst the other paid worker types, the number of police staff (including designated officers) increased (by 1.3%), and the number of PCSOs decreased (by 3.3%) compared with the previous year. Amongst the unpaid workforce, the volume of both special constables and PSVs decreased (by 9.5% and 19.0% respectively).

Figure 2.1 shows the long-term trend in police workforce numbers, broken down by worker type. Workforce numbers had been increasing to 2010, then decreased in each year before reaching a low point in 2017. Between 2018 and 2024 the previous downward trend reversed with the total police workforce (all officer and staff types) increasing each year. In the latest year, the total workforce decreased slightly by 0.2% (or 476 FTE) compared to the previous year and is down 3.6% on the previous peak of 244,497 in March 2010.

Figure 2.1: Police workforce, by worker type, as at 31 March 2003 to 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table H3

Notes:

1. Excludes British Transport Police.

In addition to the 235,753 FTE paid police workers as at 31 March 2025, there were 5,534 special constables (headcount) and 5,844 PSVs in the 43 police forces in England and Wales. Special constables and PSVs do not have contracted working hours so their numbers are provided on a headcount rather than an FTE basis.

2.2 Police officers

There were 146,442 FTE police officers in the 43 police forces as at 31 March 2025 (148,452 in headcount terms). On an FTE basis, officer numbers as at 31 March 2025 are down 1,303 FTE, or 0.9%, compared to the previous peak of 147,745 FTE police officers in March 2024. On a headcount basis, officer numbers are down 1,316, or 0.9%, as at 31 March 2025 compared to the previous year (from 149,768 to 148,452). Accredited Official Statistics cover March and September snapshots only, on both an FTE and a headcount basis. However, based on management information collected by the NPCC, which is available on a headcount basis only, there has been a small decrease of 84 officers (or 0.1%) compared to June 2024, when the new Government took office.

Whilst the majority of forces (27 forces) saw a decrease in officer numbers between March 2024 and 2025, the decline can largely be attributed to the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) who saw a decrease of 1,022 FTE. The other 26 forces decreased by a combined total of 586 FTE. The remaining 16 forces increased officer numbers by a combined total of 305 FTE giving an overall decrease of 1,303 FTE.

As at 31 March 2025 there were 241 FTE police officers per 100,000 resident population in the territorial police forces in England and Wales. The MPS had the highest rate of officers per population, at 373 FTE, while Lincolnshire had the lowest at 150 FTE officers per 1,000 resident population.

While not included in the headline figures, the BTP employed 2,852 FTE police officers in England and Wales, a decrease of 2.0% compared to the previous year (down by 59 FTE). In addition, there were 5,617 FTE NCA officers in England and Wales^{[footnote 5]}, and a further 340 FTE police officers seconded out to central services^{[footnote 6]}.

Figure 2.2 shows changes in the number of police officers, compared with the previous year, in the 43 territorial forces from 2010 to 2025. Between 2010 and 2018 there were year-on-year decreases in the number of officers, this was followed by an upward trend in officer numbers between 2019 and 2024 (when recruitment relating to the Police Uplift Programme was ongoing). The decrease in police officer numbers between March 2024 and March 2025 is the first year-on-year decline in police numbers since March 2018. Any changes related to the additional 13,000 increase in neighbourhood policing personnel under the NPG will not yet be reflected in these statistics as funding for the 13,000 came into effect on 1 April 2025, after the reporting period covered in this release.

Figure 2.2: Change in the number of police officers (FTE), as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2025, compared with the previous twelve months, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table H3

Notes:

1. Excludes British Transport Police.

2.3 Other worker types and volunteers

Figure 2.3 shows the trend in the number of other police workers and special constables since 31 March 2010. Between 2010 and 2017, there was also a downward trend in the number of police staff and designated officers. Since the year ending March 2017, there has been an upward trend in the number of police staff and designated officers up to 81,996 FTE in the latest year, an increase of 1,080 FTE (1.3%) compared to March 2024 (when there were 80,917 FTE staff and designated officers). Current numbers of police staff and designated officers are 1,440 FTEs below the peak recorded in March 2010 of 83,436 FTE.

PCSOs fell by 3.3% (253 FTE) compared to the previous year (from 7,568 to 7,315). The decline in PCSO numbers may be partly due to PCSOs joining as police officers as part of forces’ officer recruitment.

Special constables fell by 9.5% (a headcount of 584) compared to the previous year (from 6,118 to 5,534). Special constable numbers may be falling due to specials joining as part of the paid ranks within the police service.

Figure 2.3: Police staff and designated officers, PCSOs, and special constables, as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table H3

Notes:

1. Excludes British Transport Police.

3. Joiners

Key findings

In the year ending 31 March 2025:

• 7,865 FTE police officers joined the 43 police forces in England and Wales (excluding transfers) a decrease of 1,614 FTE (or 17.0%) on the previous year when 9,479 FTE officers joined the police service
• police officer joiners in the year ending 31 March 2024 and 2025 are lower compared to recent years reflecting that the Police Uplift Programme recruitment drive concluded at the end of March 2023 and that any increase in neighbourhood policing personnel under the NPG (for which funding starts from March 2025) is not reflected in the statistics presented in this release

3.1 Introduction

This chapter presents statistics on the number of joiners to the police service in England and Wales.

Data on joiners is based on the number of workers who joined the police service (or force) during the financial year and is based on FTEs. Joiner rates are calculated by dividing the number of FTE joiners during the financial year by the total number of FTE workers as at the end of the year (31 March). This indicates how many of those employed by the force at the end of the year joined during the year.

There are several routes via which officers can join the police:

Standard direct recruit: individuals joining the police for the first time, including via Direct Entry, Fast Track and Police Now schemes. This also includes those who were PCSOs and other police staff who are joining as a police officer.

Re-joining: individuals who have previously left the forces and have since re-joined.

Previously special constable: individuals who are joining as a police officer having previously been a special constable.

Transfer: individuals joining from one of the other 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, or another non-Home Office force (for example, the BTP).

Further information on the routes via which officers join the police can be found in the user guide.

Data by Police Force Area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on joiners in each financial year, from the year ending March 2007 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area, worker type, rank, sex, ethnicity and joiner type can be found in the accompanying joiners open data table.

3.2 Police officer joiners

In the year ending 31 March 2025, 7,865 FTE police officers joined the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales (excluding transfers). The volume of joiners was 1,614 FTE below levels seen the previous year (a 17.0% decrease) when 9,479 FTE officers joined the police service in the year ending 31 March 2024. While lower than levels seen in recent years (between April 2019 to March 2023), the number of police officer joiners in the latest year were similar to levels seen in the years prior to the start of the Police Uplift Programme as shown in Figure 3.1.

Figure 3.1: Police officer joiners1 (FTE), years ending 31 March 2007 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: joiners open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes those transferring in from other police forces.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

Between the years ending 31 March 2007 and 2019, the majority (fluctuating between 60% and 80% each year) of officer joiners (including transfers) had been new recruits joining for the first time (Figure 3.2). During the years ending 31 March 2020 to 2023, due to the Police Uplift Programme, there was a higher proportion of recruits as standard direct recruits, at around 85% of officer joiners (including transfers). Following this period of high recruitment, the proportion of standard direct recruits decreased slightly. In the most recent year, the proportion of standard direct recruits was 83% of officer joiners (including transfers).

Figure 3.2: Police officer joiners (FTE), by route of entry, years ending 31 March 2007 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: joiners open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes British Transport Police.

3.3 Other worker type joiners

The number of PCSO joiners fell sharply to the year ending March 2011 and has remained at relatively low levels since (Figure 3.3). Excluding transfers, the number of police staff and designated officer joiners decreased by 14.9% in the year ending 31 March 2025 when compared with the previous year. The number of new special constable joiners (headcount) has steadily declined in recent years and this trend continued in the latest year, which saw a 20.5% decrease in special constable joiners compared with the previous year.

Figure 3.3: Other police worker joiners (FTE), years ending 31 March 2007 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: joiners open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes those transferring in from other police forces.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

4. Leavers

Key findings

In the year ending 31 March 2025:

• 8,795 FTE police officers left the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales (excluding transfers), a decrease of 285 FTE (or 3.1%) on the previous year when 9,080 FTE officers left the police service
• the leaver rate (leavers as a proportion of those at the start of the year), which takes into account the size of the workforce at the start of the year, was 6.0%, 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous year (6.2%), and 0.6 percentage points lower than the peak in 2023 (6.6%)
• of police officer leavers in the year ending 31 March 2025, the most common reason for leaving was voluntary resignation (53.1% of leavers)
• the leaver rate for police officer voluntary resignations was 3.2%, slightly lower than the previous 2 years (3.4% in 2024 and 3.3% in 2023) but higher than voluntary resignation rates prior to 2023
• in the year ending 31 March 2025, 8,987 police officers left the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales (excluding transfers) in headcount terms, of which 28% (2,501) had between one and 5 years’ service, and a further 10% (930) had less than one years’ service
• of police officers leaving via voluntary resignation in the year ending 31 March 2025, 67% had less than 5 years’ service and a further 14% had between 5 and 10 years’ service, the remaining 19% of officers that left via voluntary resignation had accumulated 10 years’ service or more

4.1 Introduction

This chapter presents statistics on the number of leavers from the police service in England and Wales.

Data on leavers is based on the number of workers who left the police service (or force) during the financial year and is based on FTE. Leaver rates are calculated by dividing the number of FTE leavers during the financial year by the total number of FTE workers at the end of the previous year (as at 31 March). This indicates how many of those employed at the start of the current year left during the year.

These leaver rates are a good indication of turnover within the police but are not precise as individual workers cannot be tracked. Some workers may join and leave the force during the same year and will only be captured in the denominator (those employed at the end of the previous year). This is particularly the case for those worker types with higher turnover, such as special constables.

There are several routes via which officers can leave the police:

Death: those who have died, either on active duty or otherwise.

Dismissal or contract termination: individuals who have been required to resign, made compulsorily redundant, or have had their contract terminated. While these figures will include dismissals for misconduct, they are not exclusively misconduct cases, as they also include redundancies and contract terminations.

Medical retirement: individuals who have retired on ill health grounds.

Normal retirement: individuals who have retired, not on ill health grounds.

Transfer: individuals leaving to join one of the other 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, or a non-Home Office force (for example, the BTP).

Voluntary resignation: individuals who resign. Special constables, who leave to join the regular constabulary, or have been inactive for more than twelve months, are included here.

Voluntary exit schemes: individuals who leave under voluntary exit schemes, voluntary redundancy schemes or voluntary severance.

Up to the year ending 31 March 2023, voluntary resignations included workers who chose to resign or leave under voluntary exit schemes. A voluntary exit scheme is legally a dismissal. Therefore, in the year ending 31 March 2024, voluntary exit schemes were separated out from voluntary resignations. The number of individuals leaving via voluntary exit schemes is low. It’s therefore likely this change will have a minimal impact on comparability of data over time. Further information on the routes via which officers leave the police can be found in the user guide.

Data by Police Force Area as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on leavers in each financial year, from the year ending March 2007 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area, worker type, rank, sex, ethnicity and leaver type be found in the accompanying leavers open data table. In addition, whilst data on length of service of officers in post has been collected since 2016 onwards, length of service accumulated at the time of leaving was collected and published for officers for the first time for the year ending 31 March 2024. Data on length of service at leaving (for police officers only) can be found in the accompanying length of service open data table.

4.2 Police officer leavers

In the year ending 31 March 2025, 8,795 FTE police officers left the 43 territorial police forces (excluding transfers) (Figure 4.1), accounting for 6.0% of officers employed by the forces at the start of the year (Figure 4.2).

Compared with the previous year there was a decrease of 3.1% in the number of officers leaving the service (down 285 FTE officers from 9,080). The leaver rate, which calculates leavers as a proportion of those in post at the start of the year, was 6.0%, 0.2 percentage points lower than the previous year (6.2%), and lower than the peak in 2023 (6.6%). The year ending March 2021 saw a dip in both the number of leavers and the leaver rate, possibly due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Figure 4.1: Police officer leavers (excluding transfers), years ending 31 March 2010 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: leavers open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes those transferring out to other police forces.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

Figure 4.2: Police officer leaver rate (excluding transfers), years ending 31 March 2010 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: leavers open data tables’

Notes:

1. Leaver rates are calculated by dividing the total number of leavers (excluding transfers) during the financial year by the total number of workers as at 31 March of the previous year.
2. Excludes those transferring out to other police forces.
3. Excludes British Transport Police.

The number of officers leaving the police, in each of the last 6 years, is shown in Table 4.1 by reason for departure, and the leaver rates are shown in Table 4.2.

Table 4.1: Police officer leavers (FTE), by route of exit (where known), years ending 31 March 2020 to 2025, England and Wales

Year ending 31 March:	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Normal retirement	4,169	3,429	4,134	3,956	3,240	3,198
Voluntary resignation	2,363	1,996	3,433	4,575	5,058	4,668
Medical retirement	377	357	303	363	335	425
Dismissal or contract termination	163	169	180	222	364	423
Death	69	67	67	73	81	76
Voluntary exit scheme3	[x]	[x]	[x]	[x]	1	6
Total (excluding transfers)	7,141	6,018	8,117	9,189	9,080	8,795
Transfer	1,405	1,024	1,186	1,348	1,202	1,155
Total (including transfers)	8,546	7,043	9,303	10,537	10,282	9,950

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: leavers open data tables’

Notes:

1. In the year ending March 2023, there were 3 FTE police officer leavers where the reason for leaving was not stated which have been excluded from the table.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.
3. Voluntary exit schemes were collected in the year ending 31 March 2024 onwards; [x] has been used to indicate where data is not available.

Table 4.2: Police officer leaver rates, by route of exit (where known), years ending 31 March 2020 to 2025, England and Wales

Year ending 31 March:	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025
Normal retirement	3.4%	2.7%	3.1%	2.8%	2.2%	2.2%
Voluntary resignation	1.9%	1.5%	2.5%	3.3%	3.4%	3.2%
Medical retirement	0.3%	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%	0.2%	0.3%
Dismissal or contract termination	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%	0.2%	0.2%	0.3%
Death	0.1%	0.1%	0.0%	0.1%	0.1%	0.1%
Voluntary exit scheme4	[x]	[x]	[x]	[x]	0.0%	0.0%
Total (excluding transfers)	5.8%	4.7%	6.0%	6.6%	6.2%	6.0%
Transfer	1.1%	0.8%	0.9%	1.0%	0.8%	0.8%
Total (including transfers)	6.9%	5.5%	6.9%	7.5%	7.0%	6.7%

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: leavers open data tables’

Notes:

1. Leaver rates are calculated by dividing the total number of leavers (excluding transfers) during the financial year by the total number of workers as at 31 March of the previous year.
2. In the year ending March 2023, there were 3 FTE police officer leavers where the reason for leaving was not stated which have been excluded from the table.
3. Excludes British Transport Police.
4. Voluntary exit schemes were collected in the year ending 31 March 2024 onwards; [x] has been used to indicate where data is not available.

Between the year ending March 2010 and 2020, the majority of officers leaving the service (excluding transfers) did so via normal retirement, which had typically accounted for around 60% to 70% of leavers annually (Figure 4.3). In more recent years, since the year ending March 2020, there has been a noticeable change in the proportion of officers leaving by other reasons. The proportion of officers leaving the service via normal retirement has been decreasing since the year ending March 2020, although in the most recent year the proportion of normal retirements is the same as the previous year (36% of leavers). This decrease in the number of officers leaving via normal retirement has been driven by an increase in voluntary resignations. The number of voluntary resignations has been increasing since the year ending March 2018 but in the most recent year there was a decrease, with 4,668 FTE police officers leaving via voluntary resignation in the year ending March 2025 down from 5,058 FTE in the year ending March 2024.

Excluding transfers, the leaver rate (leavers as a proportion of those employed by the forces at the start of the year) for police officers leaving via voluntary resignations was 3.2%, slightly lower than the previous year when the leaver rate for police officers via voluntary resignations was 3.4%.

With the exception of the year ending March 2021 when the leaver rate dropped, thought to be linked to the COVID-19 pandemic, the leaver rate for voluntary resignations has been on a general upward trend since the year ending March 2012, when it was as low as 0.8%. The leaver rate for police officer voluntary resignations in the year ending March 2025 (at 3.2%) is slightly lower than the previous year (3.4%).

Figure 4.3: Police officer leavers, by route of exit, years ending 31 March 2010 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: leavers open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes those transferring out to other police forces.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

Further information on the ethnicity and sex of police joiners and leavers can be found in chapter 8 and chapter 9 respectively.

4.3 Length of service of police officer leavers

Length of service accumulated within policing at the time of leaving was collected for the first time covering the year ending 31 March 2024. This information is available for police officers only and is collected on a headcount basis.

Statistics on length of service are labelled as ‘Official Statistics’ rather than ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ due to a number of data quality issues. Some forces have reported problems extracting length of service data from their Human Resource (HR) systems. Where officers have transferred from another force, or changed roles within a force, some constabularies record the length of service based on the date the officer started their current role (rather than the date the officer joined the police service). This is likely to skew the data towards shorter service periods and under-record longer periods of service when individuals have moved posts or forces.

While these issues will have less impact on the national picture, they are likely to have more of an effect on further breakdowns of the data, such as by force, or rank of officer. While the findings in this section should be considered with caution, they give a reasonable indication of the picture at the national level, but users should be wary of making force comparisons.

In the year ending 31 March 2025, 8,987 police officers left the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales (excluding transfers) in headcount terms, of which 28% (2,501) had between one and 5 years’ service, and a further 10% (930) had less than one years’ service (Figure 4.4). In total, 3,431 officers (headcount) leaving the police service in England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2025 had less than 5 years’ service, accounting for 38% of leavers. This is higher than the proportion of officers in post at the start of the year with less than 5 years’ service (32% as at 31 March 2024). Further details on the length of service of officers in post can be found in section 5. A further 26% (2,350) of officers that left the police service had a length of service of 25 years or more.

Figure 4.4: Length of service of police officer leavers, year ending 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table JL6

Notes:

1. Excludes those transferring out to other police forces.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

4.4 Length of service of police officer leavers: by reason for leaving

There are differences in the length of service accumulated based on the reason for leaving the police service (Table 4.3).

In the latest year, of the 3,237 police officers (headcount) leaving the service via normal retirement, over half (54% or 1,764 police officer leavers) had accumulated between 20 and 30 years’ service and a further 34% (1,086) had 30 years’ service or more. This reflects the fact that most police officers are entitled to receive a full pension after 30 years of service. Just 12% of police officers leaving via normal retirement had less than 20 years’ service.

Officers leaving via medical retirement also had a longer length of service profile. Of the 436 police officers leaving the service due to medical retirement, the majority (92%) had 15 years’ service or more whereas just 2% had less than 5 years’ service.

In contrast, the majority of the 4,806 police officers (headcount) leaving via voluntary resignation were newer officers with less experience. 3,208 (67% of all police officer voluntary resignations) had less than 5 years’ service, down from the previous year (3,714 or 72% of all police officer voluntary resignations). Breaking this down further, 920 (19% of all police officer voluntary resignations) had less than one years’ service and a further 962 (20% of all police officer voluntary resignations) had between one year and less than 2 years’ service. The remaining 19% of officers leaving via voluntary resignation had accumulated 10 years’ service or more.

Officers leaving due to dismissal or contract termination also tended to have fewer years of service. Of the 426 officers (headcount) leaving via this route, 168 had less than 5 years’ service (39% of officers that left via this route), and a further 102 officers (24%) had between 5 and 10 years’ service. A total of 84 officers that left due to dismissal or contract termination had 20 years’ service or more which accounted for 20% of police officers leaving via this route; of which just 0.5% of officers leaving due to dismissal or contract termination had 30 years’ service or more.

Table 4.3: Length of service of police officer leavers, by route of exit, year ending 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Length of service	Normal retirement	Voluntary resignation	Medical retirement	Dismissal or contract termination	Death	Voluntary exit schemes	Total (excluding transfers)
Less than 1 year	4	920	-	5	1	-	930
1 year to less than 5 years	29	2,288	7	163	12	2	2,501
5 years to less than 10 years	38	678	11	102	10	-	839
10 years to less than 15 years	45	270	18	32	5	2	372
15 years to less than 20 years	271	340	90	40	18	1	760
20 years to less than 25 years	753	212	183	69	17	1	1,235
25 years to less than 30 years	1,011	45	120	13	13	-	1,202
30 years or over	1,086	53	7	2	-	-	1,148
Total	3,237	4,806	436	426	76	6	8,987

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table JL6

Notes:

1. Excludes those transferring out to other police forces.
2. Excludes British Transport Police

4.5 Other worker type leavers

Of the other paid worker types, both police staff (including designated officers) and PCSOs saw a decrease in the number of FTE workers leaving the service across the 43 police forces in England and Wales compared to the previous year (Figure 4.5). The number of police staff and designated officer leavers decreased by 550 FTE compared to the previous year, from 8,151 FTE leavers in the year ending 31 March 2024 to 7,601 FTE leavers in the year ending 31 March 2025. The number of PSCO leavers decreased by 163 FTE compared to the previous year, from 1,180 FTE leavers in the year ending 31 March 2024 to 1,017 FTE leavers in the year ending 31 March 2025.

Figure 4.5: Other police worker leavers, years ending 31 March 2010 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025; leavers open data table’

Notes:

1. Excludes those transferring out to other police forces.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

In the year ending 31 March 2025 of the paid police worker types, PCSOs had the highest leaver rate (excluding transfers), at 13.4% (Figure 4.6); this is a decrease on the previous year, when the leaver rate for PCSOs was 15.1%. This higher leaver rate in the previous year may be linked to PCSOs leaving their post to join the police officer ranks. Excluding transfers, police staff and designated officers combined had a leaver rate of 9.4%, a 1.0 percentage point increase on the previous year (when the leaver rate was 10.4%).

Figure 4.6: Leaver rates by police worker type (excluding transfers), year ending 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: leavers open data tables’

Notes:

1. Leavers rates are calculated by dividing the total number of leavers (excluding transfers) during the financial year by the total number of workers as at 31 March of the previous year.
2. Excludes those transferring out to other police forces.
3. Excludes British Transport Police.

5. Length of service

Key findings

In the year ending 31 March 2025:

• 46,991 police officers (headcount) had less than 5 years of service, which accounted for 32% of all police officers; breaking this down further, 5.0% (7,452 officers) had less than one year of service, and a further 5.4% (8,038) had experience of at least one year but less than 2 years
• the number and proportion of officers with less than 5 years of service has been increasing from 14% of all police officers in March 2016 (when data collection on length of service began), to 32% of all police officers in the latest year

5.1 Introduction

This chapter presents statistics on the length of service of officers in England and Wales. Data in this chapter refers to the situation as at 31 March 2025 and is on a headcount basis.

Statistics on length of service are labelled as ‘Official Statistics’ rather than ‘Accredited Official Statistics’ due to a number of data quality issues. Some forces have reported problems extracting length of service data from their HR systems. Where officers have transferred from another force, or changed roles within a force, some constabularies record the length of service based on the date the officer started their current role (rather than the date the officer joined the police service). This is likely to skew the data towards shorter service periods and under-record longer periods of service when individuals have moved posts or forces.

While these issues will have less impact on the national picture, they are likely to have more of an effect on further breakdowns of the data, such as by force or rank of officer. While the findings in this chapter should be considered with caution, they give a reasonable indication of the picture at the national level, but users should be wary of making force comparisons.

Data by Police Force Area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on the length of service of officers in post, as at 31 March, from 2016 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area and length of service can be found in the accompanying length of service open data table.

5.2 Police officer length of service: as at 31 March 2025

In the 43 forces in England and Wales, the number of officers with less than 5 years’ service, as at 31 March 2025 was 46,991 (headcount), which accounted for 31.7% of all police officers. Breaking this down further, 5.0% of all officers (7,452 officers) had less than one year of service, and a further 5.4% (8,038) had experience of at least one year but less than 2 years. As at 31 March 2024, the number of officers with less than 5 years’ service was 53,108 (35.5% of all police officers that provided their length of service) and, of these, 9,141 officers (6.1% of all police officers that provided their length of service) had less than one years’ service.

Patterns in the length of service data tends to reflect recruitment trends over time. Relatively low levels of recruitment between the years ending 31 March 2011 and 31 March 2013 meant that the number of officers with between 10 years and less than 15 years’ service, as at 31 March 2025, were relatively low (Figure 5.1). Over the last few years, coinciding with increased recruitment, the number and proportion of officers with fewer than 5 years’ service has also risen. The accompanying data tables include further breakdowns of individuals with fewer than 5 years’ service.

Of all police officers, 8.7% had been in the service between 10 years and less than 15 years, and 14.5% had been in the service between 15 years and less than 20 years.

Only 896 officers had served for 30 years or more, accounting for 0.6%. This reflects the fact that most police officers are entitled to receive a full pension after 30 years’ service, leading to many officers retiring at that point.

Figure 5.1: Length of service of police officers (headcount), as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table JL5

Notes:

1. Where length of service within the police is not known force’s may have used length of service within the current police force instead.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

5.3 Police officer length of service: over time

Over the last few years, as recruitment levels have increased due to the Police Uplift Programme, the number and proportion of officers with fewer than 5 years of service has also risen. As at 31 March 2016 (when data collection on length of service began), 18,262 officers (headcount) had less than 5 years of service accounting for 14% of all police officers. In comparison, as at 31 March 2025, 46,991 officers (headcount) had less than 5 years of service accounting for 32% of all police officers. Between 31 March 2016 and 31 March 2023, the number and proportion of officers with less than 5 years’ service increased year on year, whereas March 2025 saw a fall in both the number and proportion with less than 5 years’ service compared to the previous year (Figure 5.2). The accompanying length of service open data table includes more granular breakdowns of individuals with fewer than 5 years’ service with data presented to one year intervals.

Figure 5.2: Length of service of police officers (headcount), as at 31 March 2016 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: length of service open data tables’

Notes:

1. Where length of service within the police is not known force’s may have used length of service within the current police force instead.
2. Excludes where length of service information was not provided. As at 31 March 2021, length of service was not stated for 37 officers. As at 31 March 2023, length of service was not stated for 13 officers.
3. Excludes British Transport Police.

6. Promotions

Key findings

In the year ending 31 March 2025:

• 3,725 police officers (headcount) received a promotion in 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, a decrease of 2.7% compared to the number of police officer promotions in the year ending 31 March 2024 (3,829)
• of all officers in post at the start of the year, 2.5% received a promotion in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales

6.1 Introduction

This chapter presents statistics on the number of officer promotions in England and Wales.

Data on promotions is based on the number of officers promoted during the financial year and is on a headcount basis. Data is collected by the rank to which an officer is promoted. Officers on temporary promotion and those promoted on transfer from another police force are not included.

Promotions rates are calculated by dividing the number of officer promotions during the financial year by the total number of officers (headcount) at the end of the previous year (as at 31 March). This indicates how many of those employed at the start of the current year received a promotion during the year.

Data by Police Force Area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on officer promotions in each financial year, from the year ending March 2007 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area, rank, sex, and ethnicity can be found in the accompanying promotions open data table.

6.2 Police officer promotions

In the year ending 31 March 2025, 3,725 police officers (headcount) received a promotion in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. This was a decrease of 2.7% in the number of police officer promotions compared with 3,829 promotions in the previous year (Figure 6.1).

The rate of promotions, in the year ending March 2025, saw 2.5% of all officers in post at the start of the year receive a promotion in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. This is a similar rate to the previous year ending March 2024, which saw 2.6% of all officers in post at the start of the year (March 2023) receive a promotion.

As in previous years, most promotions were seen at lower ranks, where the volume of workers is greater, such as constables promoted to sergeants (accounting for 61.8% of all promotions), and fewer promotions were seen in higher ranks, such as chief superintendents promoted to chief officers (accounting for just 1.1% of all promotions). This reflects the hierarchical structure of the police workforce, with fewer opportunities for promotion at the top of the pyramid.

Figure 6.1: Police officer promotions (headcount), years ending 31 March 2010 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table P1

Notes:

1. Officers on temporary promotion and those promoted on transfer from another police force are not included in these statistics.
2. The years ending 31 March 2018, 2019, and 2020 exclude the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), who were unable to provide data. MPS promotions data is therefore shown in blue where available.
3. Excludes British Transport Police.

Further information on the ethnicity and sex of police officer promotions can be found in chapter 8 and chapter 9 respectively.

7. Neighbourhood policing and other functions

Following the announcement of the NPG, including a commitment to recruit an additional 13,000 neighbourhood policing personnel, a data validation exercise was carried out on the Police Workforce Statistics neighbourhood policing data, as at 31 March 2024. The validation exercise took place at the start of 2025 to ensure the Government had accurate data on neighbourhood policing. This resulted in substantial revisions to the 2024 data further details of which can be found in section 7.2. This provisional revised data was published on 19 March 2025 in the ‘Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data, at 31 March 2024’ ad-hoc release, and at that time the Home Office committed to publishing final revised data in July 2025. This publication meets that commitment. Data prior to March 2024 has not been reviewed and updated in the same manner and is therefore not directly comparable with data from 31 March 2024 onwards.

Key findings

As at 31 March 2025 there were:

• 17,175 FTE police officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles, a 1.3% increase (214 FTE) from 31 March 2024 when there were 16,961 officer and PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles
• the 17,175 FTE neighbourhood policing personnel is comprised of 11,104 FTE police officers and 6,071 FTE PCSOs

7.1 Introduction

This chapter provides statistics on the number of police personnel employed in neighbourhood policing roles, which is a sub-function of the wider ‘local policing’ category. It also covers the number of officers in frontline policing roles, according to definition set out by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS). Further details on the model can be found in Annex 4 of HMICFRS’s Value for Money Profiles and the user guide which accompanies this release. Statistics presented in this chapter are based on the function an individual police officer or PCSO spent the majority of their time doing.

Since 2015 the Home Office has based the functions data on the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) Police Objective Analysis (POA) framework, to align with HMICFRS who use the framework’s categories to collect data on police income, expenditure, and funded posts. This change came into effect following an extensive consultation with police forces, HMICFRS and other key stakeholders. The CIPFA POA categories are reviewed annually by the Home Office, HMICFRS and police forces, to ensure that they remain relevant and reflect current policing structures.

Prior to adopting the modernised CIPFA POA framework, between 2012 and 2015 the Home Office reported on functions data using a set of 60 function categories that had remained unchanged during this period.

Data by Police Force Area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on officer, staff and PCSO functions as at 31 March, from 2015 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area, worker type, rank, sex, ethnicity and function can be found in the accompanying functions open data table. Further details on the police functions framework, along with a full list of the functions included in the old and new frameworks, can be found in the user guide.

Improvements to police functions data quality

Since 2015, published Police Workforce statistics on functions data has come with a caveat regarding the subfunctions data (the more detailed function categories). Users were advised that some forces could not make a clear distinction between certain subfunctions and therefore recorded the majority of, or all, employees under one function. This issue was particularly apparent for the ‘Neighbourhood Policing’ (1a) and ‘Incident (Response) Management’ (1b) functions, where an officer’s duties spanned across both functions. Under the CIPFA POA framework, officers who were performing numerous duties can only be categorised under one function.

Following the announcement by the government of the NPG in December 2024, including a commitment to recruit an additional 13,000 neighbourhood policing personnel, the Home Office launched a data validation exercise. All police forces were asked to verify the previously published workforce data published under the ‘neighbourhood policing’ category for March 2024. This resulted in substantial revisions in some forces, which were published as provisional revisions in the ‘Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data, at 31 March 2024’ ad-hoc release. More information on the revisions made are outlined in section 7.2.

Forces cited several reasons for revising their neighbourhood policing data as at 31 March 2024. These included incorrect categorisation of student officers in neighbourhood policing roles, outdated 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), leading to an artificial inflation of the figures. This was also the case for officers in other operational support and investigative functions such as ‘Advanced Public Order’, ‘Local Investigation’ and ‘Uniform Operations’. More detailed explanations can be found in the ‘Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data, at 31 March 2024’ ad-hoc release.

The ‘Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data’ ad-hoc release set out that provisional updates in that release were made based on limited management information, and that a full update to the collection would be made as part of the usual Accredited Official Statistics format and published as part of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical series. This release fulfills that commitment. This has resulted in updates to the functions open data table for March 2024 data.

The careful review of the police functions data, in particular the neighbourhood policing function data and other subfunctions of the ‘Local Policing’ category, and clarification on the counting rules of classroom-based students detailed in section 7.2, has improved the quality of functions data for March 2024 onwards. Due to the varied nature of policing roles, there may not always be a clear distinction between some sub-functions, and there is a level of judgement required by HR teams in categorisation.

As only functions data for March 2024 and 2025 have undergone a comprehensive review, functions data prior to March 2024 is not directly comparable with March 2024 onwards.

Section 7.2 provides detail on revisions made to the neighbourhood policing function for March 2024 data. Annex B provides information on changes made to all sub-functions, including detail on how students still in classroom-based training were recategorised from several ‘local policing’ functions into the ‘other’ function.

Monitoring progress of the 13,000 neighbourhood policing personnel

Updates on the government’s progress towards achieving an additional 13,000 neighbourhood personnel by the end of this Parliament will be published alongside future releases of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin. Detailed analysis on neighbourhood policing, including growth, will be first published in January 2026 as part of the ‘Police Workforce, as at 30 September 2025 bulletin’ and will be updated thereafter every six months alongside the regular March and September ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ statistical releases.

7.2 Neighbourhood policing

In December 2024, under the Safer Streets Mission, the government announced the NPG and a commitment to put 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles. This is intended to ensure that the police are visible in every community, deterring and preventing crime as well as responding to emergencies. Funding for the additional neighbourhood policing personnel commenced on 1 April 2025 and police force delivery plans for the first year have been published on GOV.UK.

To ensure that the government can measure progress on the neighbourhood policing increase, accurate neighbourhood policing data is vital. Therefore, a data audit of the ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ neighbourhood policing functions data was carried out to address inaccuracies relating to officers and PCSOs who performed roles across multiple functions. Under the CIPFA POA framework, forces can only categorise officers under one function and that should be the function in which the officer spends the majority of their time. There was an issue when categorising officers performing numerous duties and was common for those working in ‘Neighbourhood Policing’ (1a) and ‘Incident (Response) Management’ (1b) functions.

The validation exercise on neighbourhood policing functions data led to many forces conducting a full audit of CIPFA POA codes and resulted in revisions to previously published figures. The largest revisions were seen in the neighbourhood policing function, although revisions to other function codes were also made. Details of these revisions can be found in Annex B.

To ensure a timely update of this data, a provisional revision, based on limited management information, was published by the Home Office on 19 March 2025.

Table 7.1 shows that at this stage the number of FTE neighbourhood policing officers was revised down by 20.6% from 13,424 FTE to 10,664 FTE and PCSOs in the 1a function was revised up by 2.4% from 6,210 FTE to 6,359 FTE. Combined, this led to a 13.3% reduction from 19,634 FTE to 17,023 FTE officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood policing roles.

As part of the quality assurance process for the Accredited Official Statistics, Home Office statisticians clarified guidance directly to forces on the categorisation of neighbourhood officers and PCSOs and, additionally, clarification on how to record of classroom-based student officers (who should have a function of ‘other’). Police forces were also reminded that, according to Home Office counting rules, anyone on long-term absence should be recorded in the ‘other’ function.

This process, in addition to routine revisions (for example, updates to HR systems), resulted in a further adjustment to the at 31 March 2024 neighbourhood policing figures as previously published in the provisional revisions release.

Table 7.1 shows that the number of neighbourhood officers in this function has reduced by a further 50 FTE to 10,615 FTE and PCSOs have been revised down by a further 13 FTE to 6,346 FTE bringing the total number of officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood functions as at 31 March 2024 to 16,961 FTE.

Table 7.1: Provisional and final update to previously published police workforce data (FTE), police officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood policing functions, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2024

As at 31 March 2024	Original figure as published in ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ on 24 July 2024	Provisional figure published 19 March 2025	Final figure published in ‘Police Workforce, England and Wales’ on 23 July 2025	Difference between original figure published 24 July 2024 and final figure published 23 July 2025	Difference between provisional figure published 19 March 2025 and figure published 23 July 2025
Police officers	13,424	10,664	10,615	-2,809	-50
PCSOs	6,210	6,359	6,346	136	-13
Total	19,634	17,023	16,961	-2,673	-62

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025; functions open data table’ and Home Office, ‘Provisional revision to neighbourhood policing data, 31 March 2024; Table_1’

As at 31 March 2025, forces recorded 11,104 FTE officers in the neighbourhood function, a 4.6% increase from 31 March 2024. This was largely offset by a 4.3% decrease in the number of PCSOs in the neighbourhood policing function, down to 6,071 FTE. Overall, there was an increase of 214 FTE up to 17,715 FTE.

Table 7.2: Number of police officers and PCSOs (FTE) in the neighbourhood policing function (1a), as at 31 March 2024 and 2025, England and Wales

Worker type	As at 31 March 2024	As at 31 March 2025	Difference	Percentage (%) Difference
Police officers	10,615	11,104	489	4.6
PCSOs	6,346	6,071	-276	-4.3
Total	16,961	17,175	214	1.3

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025; functions open data table’

The majority of forces (28 out of 43) showed a decrease between March 2024 and March 2025 in the total number of neighbourhood policing officers and PCSOs, meanwhile 15 showed an increase. Gwent and South Yorkshire showed the largest percentage decreases (down by 16.7% and 16.4% respectively), whilst the MPS (19.6%) and Kent (18.1%) showed the largest percentage increases in the numbers of police officers and PCSOs in neighbourhood functions.

Differences vary when looking at officers and PCSOs separately. For example, Cleveland saw the largest percentage increase to their neighbourhood policing officers, up by 31.9% in March 2025, but they also recorded a large percentage decrease (21.5%) in the number of PCSOs in the neighbourhood policing function. Similarly, Nottinghamshire had the second highest percentage increase (25.3%) in the number of officers in neighbourhood policing functions but also saw a 14.3% decrease in the number of PCSOs in this category.

The neighbourhood policing functions data has always been of high interest, however information in this chapter did not break down information further than the wider ‘Local Policing’ category due to the data quality issues described earlier (although these breakdowns have previously been available in the accompanying data tables). Now that the neighbourhood policing function data has been improved for March 2024 onwards, this statistical release will transition to focusing on neighbourhood policing function in the main commentary, although changes for the latest year for ‘local policing’ and other wider function groups are presented in section 7.3 below. Local policing functions data, including the subfunctions listed above, continues to be available in the accompanying data tables.

7.3 Changes in ‘local policing’ and other function groups

Neighbourhood policing (1a) comes under the broader CIPFA POA category of ‘local policing’. The other subfunctions which comprise the ‘local policing’ group are ’Incident (Response) Management’ (1b), ‘Specialist Community Liaison’ (1c) and working within the ‘Local Policing Command Team’ (1d).

There were 58,002 FTE police officers recorded in local policing functions as at 31 March 2025, a decrease of 5,082 FTE officers (8.1%) compared with a year earlier when there were 63,084 FTE officers recorded in local policing functions.

The ‘other’ function group also showed a large change at March 2025 from the previous year, increasing by 54.9%, from 6,519 FTE as at March 2024 to 10,098 FTE as March 2025.

Figure 7.1 Change in FTE police officer numbers, by function, as at 31 March 2024 to 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025; functions open data table’

Notes:

1. Excludes British Transport Police
2. Excludes officers where their function was not known function. As at 31 March 2024 there were 65 FTE officers with a function of ‘Not stated’ and zero FTE in March 2025.

The clarification to guidance on how to record the function of students still in classroom-based training is likely to have contributed to the large increase in the ‘other’ function group.

As part of the data validation exercise to the March 2024 neighbourhood functions data (as described in section 7.2), police forces were issued with clarified guidance on how to record the function code of student officers in classroom-based training, that is that they should not be recorded with a (1a) neighbourhood policing subfunction, to reflect that they were not deployable. Additionally, the ‘police workforce data collection was updated for March 2025 with a new field to identify whether an officer or PCSO was a student or not. During the quality assurance stage for this statistical release, forces were asked to ensure that any student in classroom-based training should be recorded with the ‘other’ function. Both updates have resulted in increases to the number of officers and PCSOs recorded in the ‘other’ function for as at March 2024 and March 2025 although this was more significant for March 2025.

As the validation exercise primarily focused on improving the accuracy of the neighbourhood policing functions data at 31 March 2024, the clarification of the guidance to recording students in the classroom should not have had an impact on comparability between 31 March 2024 and 31 March 2025 as forces were following the same counting rules for this specific subfunction. However, other subfunctions data was not as closely scrutinised during the initial data validation exercise and it is possible that March 2024 data for other subfunctions still included students in classroom-based training, whereas they were excluded for March 2025 data as these were identified during the quality assurance checks for this statistical release. Therefore caution should be made when making comparisons between as at March 2025 and previous years for other subfunctions.

7.4 Frontline policing

As explained in section 7.3, between as at March 2024 and as at March 2025, there was a large increase in officers recorded in the ‘other’ function group. Those categorised in the ‘other’ function group are not included in the frontline police numbers. Frontline policing numbers for March 2025 are therefore not directly comparable to data in prior years and caution should be made when making comparisons.

As at 31 March 2025, 90.3% of officers were recorded in frontline roles, the same proportion as last year (90.3%).

Figure 7.1 shows the trend in the number of police officers employed in frontline policing roles as at 31 March, in each year from 2010 to 2025. Figures from 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2014 have been estimated. The underlying figures are presented in the main data tables, along with the number and proportion of police officers recorded in frontline support and business support roles as at 31 March in each year from 2010 to 2025.

As at 31 March 2025, there were 117,270 FTE police officers recorded in frontline policing roles, a decrease of 4,360 FTE officers (or 3.6%) compared with the previous year. The number of FTE police officers in frontline policing roles is similar to 31 March 2022 when there 117,132 FTE police officers.

Figure 7.2 shows that the number of officers in frontline policing roles as at 31 March 2025 is higher compared with March 2015, when there were 110,853 FTE police officers in frontline roles but is below the peak recorded in March 2023 (at 123,465 FTE).

Figure 7.2: Number of frontline police officers (FTE), England and Wales, as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table F5

Notes:

1. Visible operational frontline and non-visible frontline have been added together to give an overall frontline total.
2. Figures for March 2015 onwards have been calculated using HMICFRS’s frontline policing model. Figures for March 2010 to March 2014 have been estimated based on data for a parallel running year (March 2015) where data was collected using both functions frameworks. Further details on these estimates can be found in the user guide.
3. Excludes British Transport Police.
4. Due to a clarification in guidance on how student officers in classroom-based training should be recorded (i.e. classified in the ‘other’ function group), frontline policing data for at March 2025 is not directly comparable with previous years. Further detail can be found in section 7.3.

Table 7.3 shows the trend in the number of police officers recorded in frontline, frontline support, and business support roles as at 31 March, in each year from 2010 to 2025.

Table 7.3: Number of police officers (FTE) recordeded in frontline, frontline support and business support roles, as at 31 March 2011 to 31 March 2025, England and Wales

As at:	Frontline	Frontline support	Business support
31-Mar-10	123,384	6,499	5,670
31-Mar-11	119,729	6,469	4,912
*	*	*	*
31-Mar-12	116,122	5,971	4,161
31-Mar-13	113,009	5,215	3,762
31-Mar-14	111,383	4,706	3,309
31-Mar-15	110,853	4,324	3,528
31-Mar-16	106,411	4,087	3,401
31-Mar-17	105,571	4,114	3,471
31-Mar-18	103,837	4,348	4,428
31-Mar-19	103,347	4,176	4,645
31-Mar-20	108,856	4,140	4,846
31-Mar-21	113,645	4,677	5,749
31-Mar-22	117,132	5,478	5,989
31-Mar-23	123,465	5,699	6,352
31-Mar-24	121,630	6,010	7,086
*	*	*	*
31-Mar-25	117,270	6,426	6,205

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table F6

Notes:

1. Visible operational frontline and non-visible frontline have been added together to give an overall frontline total.
2. Frontline support was previously named operational support under the old framework.
3. Figures for March 2015 onwards have been calculated using HMICFRS’s frontline policing model. Figures for March 2010 and March 2014 have been estimated based on data for a parallel running year (March 2015) where data was collected using both functions frameworks. Further details on these estimates can be found in the user guide.
4. Excludes British Transport Police.
5. Due to a clarification in guidance on how student officers in classroom-based training should be recorded (classified in the ‘other’ function group), frontline policing data for at March 2025 is not directly comparable with previous years. Further detail can be found in section 7.3.

Table 7.4 shows the trend in the proportion of police officers employed in frontline, frontline support, and business support roles as at 31 March, in each year from 2010 to 2025.

Table 7.4: Proportion of police officers (FTE) employed in frontline, frontline support and business support roles, as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2025, England and Wales

As at:	Frontline	Frontline support	Business support
31-Mar-10	91.0	4.8	4.2
31-Mar-11	91.3	4.9	3.7
*	*	*	*
31-Mar-12	92.0	4.7	3.3
31-Mar-13	92.6	4.3	3.1
31-Mar-14	93.3	3.9	2.8
31-Mar-15	93.4	3.6	3.0
31-Mar-16	93.4	3.6	3.0
31-Mar-17	93.3	3.6	3.1
31-Mar-18	92.2	3.9	3.9
31-Mar-19	92.1	3.7	4.1
31-Mar-20	92.4	3.5	4.1
31-Mar-21	91.6	3.8	4.6
31-Mar-22	91.1	4.3	4.7
31-Mar-23	91.1	4.2	4.7
31-Mar-24	90.3	4.5	5.3
*	*	*	*
31-Mar-25	90.3	4.9	4.8

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table F6

Notes:

1. Visible operational frontline and non-visible frontline have been added together to give an overall frontline total.
2. Frontline support was previously named operational support under the old framework.
3. Figures for March 2015 onwards have been calculated using HMICFRS’s frontline policing model. Figures for March 2010 and March 2014 have been estimated based on data for a parallel running year (March 2015) where data was collected using both functions frameworks. Further details on these estimates can be found in the user guide.
4. Excludes British Transport Police.
5. Due to a clarification in guidance on how student officers in classroom-based training should be recorded (classified in the ‘other’ function group), frontline policing data for at March 2025 is not directly comparable with previous years. Further detail can be found in section 7.3.

7.5 Police functions by ethnicity

Each individual police function is categorised into a broader group, such as local policing, road policing and national policing, for example, according to the POA framework outlined in section 7.2 and available in Table F4 of the accompanying data tables.

Within these groups, data is collected on the ethnicity of the officer and proportions in this section are calculated by excluding cases where the ethnicity of the officer was not stated.

As at 31 March 2025, those identifying as White accounted for 91.5% of all officers and 8.5% of officers identified as belonging to a minority ethnic group (excluding white minorities), a similar proportion than the previous year.

Some function groups were more ethnically diverse than others. Just 4.4% of officers working in ‘Road Policing’ identified as an ethnic minority (excluding white minorities), the least ethnically diverse function group. ‘National Policing’ was the most ethnically diverse function group, where 11.2% of officers identified as an ethnic minority (excluding white minorities). Figure 7.3 shows the ethnic split across each policing function group.

Figure 7.3: Proportion of police officers, by ethnic group and function, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table F7

Notes:

1. Proportions exclude cases where the ethnicity of the officer is not stated.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

8. Ethnicity

Key findings

• as at 31 March 2025, there were 12,089 FTE officers from minority ethnic groups (excluding White minorities) in England and Wales, making up 8.5% of the workforce (excluding those who did not state their ethnicity), the same proportion as the previous year
• the proportion of officers identifying as an ethnic minority had been increasing each year since March 2007 (4.7%) to March 2025 (8.5%)
• Black officers made up 1.3% of officers, Asian officers 3.9%, mixed officers 2.6%, and those from another ethnic group made up 0.7%
• representation of minority ethnic officers (excluding White minorities) was lower among senior ranks (chief inspector or above) compared with constables and other ranks – for example, 6.5% of officers of rank chief inspector or above identified as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities), compared with 9.0% of constables
• PCSOs were the most ethnically diverse part of the police workforce as at 31 March 2025 (14.0%) followed by special constables (12.9%)

8.1 Introduction

This chapter presents statistics on the diversity of the police workforce, focusing specifically on ethnicity. It presents information on the ethnicity of worker types, and the ethnicity of officers promoted, joining, and leaving the police service.

Data on ethnicity is now collected using the updated ONS classifications, meaning that Chinese officers are now counted in the wider “Asian” ethnic group, prior to March 2021 they had previously been counted under “Chinese and Other”. While this change makes direct comparisons to previous years for the Asian and Other ethnic groups more difficult, as at 31 March 2025 Chinese officers made up just 0.2% of all officers who stated their ethnicity (312 out of 143,686 officers), so the impact of this change is minimal.

Data by Police Force Area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on the ethnicity of police personnel, as at 31 March each year, from March 2007 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area, worker type, rank, sex and ethnicity can be found in the accompany ethnicity open data table.

8.2 Police officers: ethnicity

As at 31 March 2025, there were 12,089 FTE officers who identified as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities) in the 43 territorial forces in England and Wales, a decrease of 60 FTE (0.5%) compared with a year earlier. Officers belonging to a minority ethnic group (excluding White minorities) represented 8.5% of all officers who stated their ethnicity, the same proportion as the previous year. Since March 2007 the proportion of officers identifying as an ethnic minority (excluding White minorities) has increased each year until March 2023, when it remained steady at 8.4% (Figure 8.1). This increase is a result of leavers from the police service predominantly identifying as White, and new recruits being from a more diverse background than their predecessors. However, the proportion of officers belonging to a minority ethnic group (excluding White minorities) remains considerably lower than the 18.3% of the population in England and Wales who identified as such in the 2021 Census^{[footnote 7]}.

Figure 8.1: Proportion of police officers who identified as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities), as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: ethnicity open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes those who did not state their ethnicity.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

Of the 43 forces, the MPS had the most ethnically diverse distribution of officers, with 18.2% identifying as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities). However, this was still well below the proportion of people resident in the capital who identified as an ethnic minority (46.3%) according to the 2021 Census.

The second highest proportion of ethnic minority (excluding White minority) officers was in the West Midlands Police, where 14.7% of officers who stated their ethnicity identified themselves as such (compared with 38.6% of the local population). This force was followed by Bedfordshire Police where 10.7% of police officers identified as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities) compared with 28.0% of the local population. Police forces covering more rural areas (such as Cumbria and North Wales Police) had a less ethnically diverse workforce (around 99% of officers identify as White in these forces) reflecting their resident population within those areas.

As in previous years, levels of under-representation were higher among senior ranks (chief inspector or above) compared with constables and other ranks. For example, 6.5% of officers of rank chief inspector or above identified as belonging to a minority ethnic group (excluding White minorities), compared with 9.0% of constables (Figure 8.2). This is likely to partly reflect a more ethnically diverse cohort of joiners in recent years, many of whom will have joined at constable level.

Figure 8.2: Proportion of police officers who identified as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities), by rank, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: ethnicity open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes those who did not state their ethnicity.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

Of the 12,089 FTE officers identifying as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities), 5,497 (3.9%) identified as Asian or Asian British, 3,732 (2.6%) as mixed, 1,838 (1.3%) as Black or Black British, and 1,022 (0.7%) as belonging to the “other” ethnic group.

8.3 Police officer promotions: ethnicity

Following the implementation of a new HR system in 2018, the MPS were unable to provide data on promotions for the years ending 2018, 2019 and 2020. However, since the year ending March 2021, data has been available for all forces.

Of the 3,725 police officers (headcount) promoted in the year ending March 2025, 3,625 (97.3%) indicated their ethnicity. Of these, 304, or 8.4%, identified themselves as belonging to a minority ethnic group (excluding White minorities). In comparison, in the year ending March 2024, 323 officers identifying from a minority ethnic group (excluding White minorities) were promoted, accounting for 8.7% of all promoted officers (Figure 8.3).

Figure 8.3: Proportion of promotions where the officer promoted identified as minority ethnic (excluding White minorities), years ending 31 March 2010 to 2025, England and Wales (excluding MPS)

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: promotions open data tables’

Notes:

1. Data is on a headcount basis and excludes cases where the ethnicity of the officer promoted is not stated.
2. Excludes the MPS for the years ending 31 March 2018, 2019, and 2020 who were unable to provide data.
3. Excludes British Transport Police.

8.4 Police officer joiners: ethnicity

Excluding transfers, 7,865 FTE police officers joined the 43 police forces in England and Wales in the year ending March 2025, and 7,609 (96.7%) stated their ethnicity. Of these, 772 or 10.1% identified themselves as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities), a decrease on the previous year (10.6%).

The police forces with the largest proportion of joiners (excluding transfers) identifying as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities), were the MPS (28.9%), West Midlands (19.7%), Leicestershire (14.6%) and West Yorkshire (12.3%). Bedfordshire Police also had a more ethnically diverse cohort of joiners than other forces, where 10.7% of new joiners identified as belonging to an ethnic minority (excluding White minority).

8.5 Police officer leavers: ethnicity

In the year ending March 2025, and excluding transfers, 8,525 (96.9%) of the 8,795 FTE officers who left the 43 police forces in England and Wales stated their ethnicity. Of these, 790, or 9.3%, identified as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities), down from 871 FTE or 9.9% in the year ending March 2024.

There was a higher rate of normal retirements amongst White officers, which likely reflects the differing age profiles of different ethnic groups within the police service. For example, due to historically low levels of ethnically diverse recruitment, older officers were more likely to be White, meaning fewer officers from minority ethnic groups are likely to have yet reached retirement age. Rates of voluntary resignations and dismissals (which also included cases where a contract was terminated for reasons other than misconduct) were higher amongst officers who identified as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities) than White officers (Figure 8.4).

Figure 8.4: Number of officers leaving by each exit route per thousand officers, by ethnicity, year ending 31 March 2025 England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: leavers open data tables’

Notes:

1. Leaving rates are calculated as the number of officers leaving via that route in the latest year, as a proportion of officers employed by the forces as at the start of the year (31 March 2023), by ethnic group, per thousand officer.
2. Excludes cases where the ethnicity of the leaving officer is not stated.
3. Excludes British Transport Police.

8.6 Police staff, designated officers, PCSOs, special constables, and police support volunteers: ethnicity

The proportion of workers in other areas of the workforce belonging to a minority ethnic group (excluding White minorities) was higher than for police officers (Figure 8.5). PCSOs were the most ethnically diverse part of the police workforce as at 31 March 2025, with 988 of the 7,081 FTE PCSOs who stated their ethnicity identifying as ethnic minorities (excluding White minorities). PCSOs identifying as ethnic minorities accounted for 14.0% compared with 18.3% of the resident population. This was followed by the special constabulary with 12.9% of special constables identifying as ethnic minorities.

Figure 8.5: Ethnic breakdown of the police workforce, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: ethnicity open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes those who did not state their ethnicity.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

9. Sex

Key findings

• as at 31 March 2025, there were 52,839 FTE female police officers in the 43 police forces, making up 36.1% of police officers in England and Wales, where sex was known
• the proportion of female police officers (36.1%) is up 0.7 percentage points from 35.4% last year
• this represents the highest number and proportion of female officers since comparable records began in March 2003
• females made up 62.8% of FTE police staff and designated officers and 47.0% of FTE PCSOs
• the proportion of females in the special constabulary was the lowest across all worker types, with 24.7% of special constables (headcount) being female

9.1 Introduction

This chapter presents statistics on the diversity of the police workforce, focusing specifically on sex . It presents information on the sex of worker types, and the sex^{[footnote 8]} of officers promoted, joining and leaving the police service.

Data by Police Force Area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on the sex of police personnel, as at 31 March each year, from March 2007 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area, worker type, rank and sex can be found in the accompanying police workforce open data table.

9.2 Police officers: sex

There were 52,839 FTE female police officers in the 43 police forces on 31 March 2025, making up 36.1% of police officers in England and Wales, up slightly from 35.4% last year (Figure 9.1). The number of female officers increased by 508 FTE (1.0%) compared with a year earlier.

As in previous years, of the 43 forces, Cumbria had the highest proportion of female police officers (42.5%), followed by North Wales (41.1%). The City of London Police had the smallest proportion of female officers (25.4%) followed by the MPS (31.9%), and Dorset Police (33.4%).

Figure 9.1: Proportion of female police officers, as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: workforce open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes cases where the sex of the officer is not stated.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

Female officers were more commonly found in constable ranks with most female new joiners coming in at constable level (Figure 9.2).

Figure 9.2: Proportion of female police officers, by rank, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: workforce open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes cases where both the gender and sex of the officer is not stated.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

9.3 Police officer promotions: sex

Of the 3,725 police officers (headcount) promoted in the 43 police forces in the year ending March 2025, 1,329 were female, which accounted for 35.7% of all officers promoted. The number and proportion of female officers promoted is an increase compared to the year ending March 2024 (1,258 females accounting for 32.9% of promotions).

9.4 Police officer joiners and leavers: sex

Excluding transfers, of the 7,865 FTE police officers that joined the 43 police forces in the year to March 2025, 44.2% (3,477 FTE) identified as female, the highest proportion on record, and an increase compared with the previous year when females accounted for 42.8% (4,061 FTE) of all joiners. Between the year ending March 2010 and the year ending March 2020 the proportion of female joiners varied between 30% and 37%.

The proportion of female joiners in the year ending 31 March 2025 (44.2%) was higher than the proportion of current officers that were female as at 31 March 2025 (36.1%). This showed a continued rising trend in the proportion of all officers that were female.

Of the 8,795 FTE officer leavers (excluding transfers) during the year to March 2025, 2,818 or 32.1% were female, compared with 32.0% in the previous year. Most female officers left either via voluntary resignation (61.4% of all female leavers excluding transfers), compared with 49.1% of all male leavers) or normal retirements (30.6% of all female leavers excluding transfers), compared with 39.1% of all male leavers in the year ending March 2025.

9.5 Police staff, designated officers, PCSOs, special constables, and police support volunteers: sex

Figure 9.3 shows, as at 31 March 2025, females made up 62.8% of FTE police staff and designated officers in the 43 forces in England and Wales, and 47.0% of FTE PCSOs. The proportion of females in the special constabulary was the lowest across all worker types, with 24.7% of special constables (headcount) being female.

Figure 9.3: Police workforce by sex, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: workforce open data tables’

10. Age

Key findings

• as at 31 March 2025, most police officers were aged 26 to 40 (45.5% of police officers who stated their age), this was closely followed by those aged 41 to 55 (39.6% of police officers who stated their age)
• a further 12.6% of police officers who stated their age were aged 25 and under and 2.4% were aged 56 and over
• PCSOs and police staff (including designated officers) tended to be older than other worker types, with 19.3% of PCSOs and 25.2% of staff and designated officers aged 56 and over, compared with just 2.4% of officers

10.1 Introduction

This chapter presents statistics on the diversity of the police workforce, focusing specifically on age. It presents information on the age of worker types.

Data by Police Force Area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on the age of police personnel, as at 31 March each year, from March 2007 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area, worker type, rank and age group can be found in the accompany age open data table.

10.2 Police officers: age

As at 31 March 2025, most police officers were aged 26 to 40 (45.5% of police officers who stated their age), this was closely followed by those aged 41 to 55 (39.6% of police officers who stated their age). A further 12.6% of police officers who stated their age were aged 25 and under and 2.4% were aged 56 and over. The age profile is similar to the previous year when 45.4% of police officers were aged 26 to 40, 39.5% were aged 41 to 55, 13.1% were aged 25 and under, and 2.1% were aged 56 and over. As expected, the age profile varied by rank, with a large proportion of older officers in more senior ranks; for example, while just 4 chief officers (1.5%) were aged 26 to 40, over half (50.3%) of constables were in this age group.

Figure 10.1: Age breakdown of police officers, by rank, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: data tables’; table D5

Notes:

1. Excludes cases where the age of the officer is not stated.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

10.3 Police staff, PCSOs, designated officers and special constables: age

Figure 10.2 shows the variation in the age profile of the police workforce. PCSOs and police staff tended to be older than other worker types, with 19.3% of PCSOs and 25.2% of staff and designated officers aged 56 and over, compared with just 2.4% of officers. In contrast, the special constabulary had a younger profile than the paid ranks, with 18.3% of special constables aged 25 and under compared with 12.6% of police officers.

Figure 10.2: Age breakdown of police workers, by worker type, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: age open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes cases where the age of the worker is not stated.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

11. Long-term absence

Key findings

• as at 31 March 2025, there were 6,305 FTE police officers on long-term absence in the 43 forces in England and Wales (equivalent to 4.3% of all officers) – higher than the rate of 4.0% in the previous year
• of these, 3,165 FTE police officers were on long-term sick leave, which is equivalent to 2.2% of police officers in England and Wales – higher than the rate of 2.0% in the previous year
• as at 31 March 2025, there were 3,003 FTE police staff (including designated officers) on long-term absence in the 43 forces in England and Wales (equivalent to 3.7% of all staff)
• of these, 1,528 FTE staff were on long-term sick leave, which is equivalent to 1.9% of staff in England and Wales
• as at 31 March 2025, there were 326 FTE PCSOs on long-term absence in the 43 forces in England and Wales (equivalent to 4.5% of all PCSOs); of these, 186 FTE PCSOs were on long-term sick leave, which is equivalent to 2.5% of PCSOs in England and Wales

11.1 Introduction

This chapter provides information on the number of police workers on long-term absence, by reason for absence, as at 31 March of each year. Long-term absence is any absence that has lasted for more than 28 calendar days, as at the end of the reporting period (31 March). Reasons for absence include career break, compassionate leave, maternity or paternity leave, sick leave, special leave, study leave, and suspension. Long-term sickness includes any recognised medical condition, physical or psychological, as reported by the officer or a medical practitioner, which has lasted for more than 28 calendar days.

Data by Police Force Area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on long-term absence each year, as at 31 March, from 2007 onwards, broken down by Police Force Area, worker type, rank, sex and absence type can be found in the accompanying absence open data table. Data for police officers has been collected since 2007 whilst data on other worker types (including staff, designated officers and PCSOs) is published as at 31 March 2024 for the first time.

11.2 Police officers on long-term absence

As at 31 March 2025, there were 6,305 FTE officers on long-term absence (for all reasons) in the 43 forces in England and Wales. This equates to 4.3% of all officers in post, slightly higher than the rate of 4.0% in the previous year.

Figure 11.1 shows of officers on long-term absence, 3,165 (50%) were on sick leave, 1,598 (25%) were on maternity or paternity leave, 707 (11%) were on career breaks, and 750 (12%) were suspended. The remaining 85 (1%) were on ‘other leave’ (which includes compassionate leave, study leave, and special leave).

Figure 11.1: Number of officers (FTE) on long-term absence broken down by absence type and sex, as at 31 March 2024, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: absence open data tables’

Notes:

1. In order to be classed as long-term, an officer must be absent for more than 28 calendar days.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

Although females accounted for 36% of police officers in England and Wales as at 31 March 2025, they accounted for 55% of all long-term absentees. However, excluding maternity or paternity leave, females accounted for 40% of all long-term absentees. Although females accounted for a disproportionate amount for many of the absence types (relative to the breakdown of police officers by sex), maternity or paternity leave (99%), and career breaks (54%) were, as expected, the 2 categories in which females accounted for the majority of absences (Table 11.1).

Table 11.1: Proportion of long-term absence by sex, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Absence type	Proportion (%) Female	Proportion (%) Male
Sickness	43.7	56.3
Maternity or Paternity	98.9	1.1
Career break	54.1	45.9
Suspended	11.6	88.4
Other2	39.7	60.3
All long-term absence (excluding maternity and paternity)	40.1	59.9
All long-term absence	55.0	45.0
All police officers	36.1	63.9

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: absence open data tables’ and Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: workforce open data tables’

Notes:

1. Excludes British Transport Police.
2. ‘Other’ leave includes compassionate leave, study leave and special leave.

11.3 Other worker types on long-term absence

Data on other worker types (including staff, designated officers and PCSOs) on long-term absence was published for the first time as at 31 March 2024.

Police staff including designated officers

As at 31 March 2025, there were 3,003 FTE police staff (including designated officers) on long-term absence (for all reasons) in the 43 forces in England and Wales. This equates to 3.7% of all staff in post.

Figure 11.2 shows that of staff on long-term absence, 1,528 (51%) were on sick leave, 1,101 (37%) were on maternity or paternity leave, 193 (6%) were on career breaks, and 146 (5%) were suspended. The remaining 35 (1%) were on ‘other leave’ (which includes compassionate leave, study leave, and special leave).

Figure 11.2: Number of staff (FTE) on long-term absence broken down by absence type and sex, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: absence open data tables’

Notes:

1. In order to be classed as long-term, an individual must be absent for more than 28 calendar days.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

PCSOs

As at 31 March 2025, there were 326 FTE PCSOs on long-term absence (for all reasons) in the 43 forces in England and Wales. This equates to 4.5% of all PCSOs in post.

Figure 11.3 shows that of PCSOs on long-term absence, 186 (57%) were on sick leave, 89 (27%) were on maternity or paternity leave, 27 (8%) were suspended, and 21 (7%) were on career breaks. The remaining 3 (1%) were on ‘other leave’ (which includes compassionate leave, study leave and special leave).

Figure 11.3: Number of PCSOs (FTE) on long-term absence broken down by absence type and sex, as at 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: absence open data tables’

Notes:

1. In order to be classed as long-term, an individual must be absent for more than 28 calendar days.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

11.4 Police officers on long-term sickness

Long-term sickness includes any recognised medical condition, physical or psychological, as reported by the officer or a medical practitioner, which has lasted for more than 28 calendar days.

As at 31 March 2025, there were 3,165 FTE police officers on long-term sick leave in the 43 forces in England and Wales, equating to 2.2% of police officers in England and Wales on 31 March 2025, slightly higher than the rate in the previous year (2.0%).

Figure 11.4: Number of officers (FTE) on long-term sick leave, as at 31 March 2010 to 31 March 2025, England and Wales

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: limited duties open data tables’

Notes:

1. In order for sickness to be classed as long-term, an officer must be absent for more than 28 calendar days.
2. Excludes British Transport Police.

11.5 Police officers on long-term sickness: by rank

There was some variation in sickness levels across ranks, with officers at higher ranks generally having lower levels of sickness; 2.2% of constables were on long-term sick leave, compared with 1.5% of officers of superintendent rank or above. Sickness levels across most ranks are higher compared with the previous year (Table 11.2).

Table 11.2: Proportion (%) of officers (FTE) on long-term sick leave, by rank, as at 31 March 2024 and 2025, England and Wales

Rank	2024	2025
Constable	2.1	2.2
Sergeant	1.7	2.0
Inspector	1.7	1.8
Chief Inspector	1.9	1.8
Superintendent or above	1.3	1.5

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: absence open data tables’ and Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: workforce open data tables’

11.6 Police officers on long-term sickness: by sex

Sickness rates have been consistently higher among females than males with 2.6% of female officers on long-term sick leave, compared with 1.9% of male officers as at 31 March 2025.

Table 11.3: Proportion (%) of officers (FTE) on long-term sick leave, by sex, as at 31 March 2015 to 2025, England and Wales

As at:	Proportion (%) of female officers on sick leave	Proportion (%) of male officers on sick leave
31-Mar-15	2.4	1.4
31-Mar-16	2.5	1.7
31-Mar-17	2.5	1.7
31-Mar-18	2.5	1.7
31-Mar-19	2.4	1.7
31-Mar-20	2.6	1.7
31-Mar-21	1.7	1.3
31-Mar-22	2.0	1.6
31-Mar-23	2.1	1.5
31-Mar-24	2.4	1.9
31-Mar-25	2.6	1.9

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: absence open data tables’ and Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025: workforce open data tables’

11.7 Other worker types on long-term sickness

As at 31 March 2025, there were 1,528 FTE police staff (including designated officers) and 186 FTE PCSOs on long-term sick leave in the 43 forces in England and Wales, equating to 1.9% of staff and 2.5% of PCSOs respectively in England and Wales on 31 March 2025.

12. Limited duties

Key findings

• data from 41 forces (excluding Avon and Somerset and Wiltshire who could not provide data) shows that as at 31 March 2025, there were 4,974 police officers (headcount) on recuperative duties, equivalent to 3.5% of officers in these forces
• data from 42 forces (excluding Avon and Somerset who could not provide data) shows there were 9,882 police officers (headcount) on adjusted duties, equivalent to 6.8% of officers in these forces
• data from 38 forces shows there were 420 police officers (headcount) on both recuperative and adjusted duties, equivalent to 0.3% of officers in these forces

12.1 Introduction

This chapter provides information on the number of police officers on recuperative and adjusted duties as at 31 March each year. Data is presented on a headcount basis and is broken down by sex.

Definitions of recuperative and adjusted duties are provided below.

Recuperative duty: Duties falling short of full deployment, undertaken by a police officer following an injury, accident, illness, or medical incident, during which the officer adapts to and prepares for a return to full duties and the full hours for which they are paid, and is assessed to determine whether he or she is capable of making such a return.

Adjusted duty: Duties falling short of full deployment, in respect of which workplace adjustments (including reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act 2010) have been made to overcome barriers to working. For an officer to be placed on adjusted duties, they must be attending work on a regular basis and be working for the full number of hours for which they are paid (in either a full time or part time substantive role).

In previous years forces have provided information separately on the number of officers on recuperative duties and the number of officers on adjusted duties. However, following consultation with forces, the Home Office has expanded the collection for as at 31 March 2025 to include instances where officers are on both recuperative and adjusted duties at the same time to allow for a more complete picture.

The accuracy of recuperative and adjusted duties data depends on how accurately forces record and maintain this information on their HR systems. Forces may not keep records up to date, particularly for recuperative duties, which tend to be a short-term measure.

The way in which forces interpret the definition of recuperative and adjusted duties can vary; this may affect the consistency of the figures over time and between forces depending on when and who makes this judgement. Comparisons between years and forces should be made with caution.

Data by police force area, as at 31 March 2025, can be found in the accompanying data tables. Data on recuperative and adjusted duties each year, as at 31 March, from 2015 onwards, and broken down by police force area and sex can be found in the accompanying limited duties open data table.

12.2 Police officers on recuperative and adjusted duties

Data from 41 forces (excluding Avon and Somerset and Wiltshire who could not provide data) shows that as at 31 March 2025, there were 4,974 police officers (headcount) on recuperative duties, equivalent to 3.5% of officers in these forces.

Data from 42 forces (excluding Avon and Somerset who could not provide data) shows there were 9,882 police officers (headcount) on adjusted duties, equivalent to 6.8% of officers in these forces.

Data from 38 forces (excluding Avon and Somerset, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, West Mercia and Wiltshire who could not provide data) shows there were 420 police officers (headcount) on both recuperative and adjusted duties, equivalent to 0.3% of officers in these forces.

Of female officers in England and Wales, 4.5% were on recuperative duties and 9.0% were on adjusted duties as at 31 March 2025 (based on 41 and 42 forces respectively). This was higher than the proportion of males on recuperative duties and adjusted duties, which were 2.9% and 5.6% respectively.

Annex A: Additional analysis of police officer numbers by protected characteristics

Introduction

The Home Office, the NPCC and the College of Policing have been collaborating in developing National Standards for Workforce Data. These data standards draw on existing harmonised standards set out by the Government Statistical Service and aim to bring more standardisation within policing for the collection of data on protected characteristics (and some other demographic information). The variables currently covered by the Standards are ethnicity, age, religion or belief, disability, sexual orientation, gender, sex, and gender reassignment. A full breakdown of the standards can be found in the user guide.

Information on their protected characteristics is self-reported by officers on police force HR systems. Recent changes to police force HR systems to align with the new data standards have allowed all staff the opportunity to review existing records and declare further information on protected characteristics. However, many officers are yet to update their HR records and, as such, data is not currently complete.

This annex includes information on the proportion of officers broken down by disability status, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs. Whilst relatively high proportions of officers had not recorded, or preferred not to declare, their disability status, sexual orientation, and religious beliefs (36%, 34% and 32% respectively as at 31 March 2025), the NPCC is working with police forces to encourage all staff to enter this information. We therefore expect the proportion of unknown to decrease in future releases.

Disability

As at 31 March 2025, of police officers (headcount) where the disability status was known, 10.4% declared they were disabled. The proportion of police officers with a disability is lower than the proportion in the general population; according to the ONS 2021 Census 17.8% of the population in England and Wales are disabled^{[footnote 9]}.

Table A1: Police officers by disability status, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2025

	% of all officers (headcount)
Known	63.9
of which: Yes	10.4
of which: No	89.6
Prefer not to say	2.8
Unknown	33.3

Sexual orientation

As at 31 March 2025, of police officers (headcount) where sexual orientation was known, 91.6% declared they were heterosexual or straight, 4.9% declared they were gay or lesbian, and 3.3% declared they were bisexual. The proportion of police officers that declared a sexual orientation of heterosexual or straight was lower than in the general population whilst the proportion of police officers that declared a sexual orientation other than heterosexual or straight was higher than in the general population. According to the ONS 2021 Census (excluding individuals who did not respond) 96.6% respondents in England and Wales declared they are heterosexual or straight, 1.7% as gay or lesbian and 1.4% as bisexual^{[footnote 10]}.

Table A2: Police officers by sexual orientation, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2025

	%of all officers (headcount)
Known	65.7
of which: Heterosexual or straight	91.6
of which: Gay or lesbian	4.9
of which: Bisexual	3.3
of which: Other sexual orientation	0.2
Prefer not to say	5.8
Unknown	28.5

Religious beliefs

As at 31 March 2025, of police officers (headcount) where their religious belief was known, 51.3% declared they had no religion – higher than the proportion in the general population; according to the ONS 2021 Census 39.6% of the population in England and Wales have no religion. A further 41.4% of officers declared they were Christian – slightly below the proportion in the general population; according to the ONS 2021 Census 49.1% of the population in England and Wales are Christian^{[footnote 11]}.

Table A3: Police officers by religious beliefs, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2025

	% of all officers (headcount)
Known	67.8
of which: Christian	41.4
of which: Muslim	2.5
of which: Sikh	0.8
of which: Hindu	0.4
of which: Buddhist	0.3
of which: Jewish	0.3
of which: Pagan	0.1
of which: Any other religion or belief	2.9
of which: No religion	51.3
Prefer not to say	5.0
Unknown	27.2

Annex B: Revisions to March 2024 functions data

At the start of 2025, forces were asked to review their March 2024 neighbourhood policing functions data. This followed the government’s announcement in December 2024 to increase neighbourhood policing personnel by 13,000 by the end of this Parliament, as part of the NPG.

To ensure a timely update of this revision, a provisional revision, based on limited management information, was published by the Home Office on 19 March 2025.

As part of the quality assurance process for the Accredited Official Statistics, for this ‘Police Workforce’ statistical release, Home Office statisticians issued clarified guidance directly to forces on categorisation of neighbourhood officers and PCSOs and, additionally, clarification on how to record of classroom-based student officers (who should have a function of ‘other’). Police forces were also reminded that, according to Home Office counting rules, anyone classified as being on long-term absence should be recorded in the ‘other’ function.

The review of the March 2024 neighbourhood functions data, for publication in the March 2025 provisional revisions release, followed by the further quality assurance conducted for this statistical release, led to many forces conducting a full audit of CIPFA POA codes and resulted in revisions to previously published figures. The largest revisions, as might be expected, were seen in the neighbourhood policing function, although revisions to other function codes were also made, as shown in Table B1.

All subfunctions in the ‘local policing’ category were revised from as first published in July 2024. This resulted from more accurate categorisation by forces of officers in these subfunctions. Forces had previously reported that there were difficulties in distinguishing between the (1a) neighbourhood function category and the (1b) incident (response) management category.

The local policing category overall for officers showed a downward revision from 64,565 FTE to 63,084 FTE. Within the local policing category, the neighbourhood function category was revised down by 2,809 FTE for officers from 13,424 to 10,615 FTE. All other subfunctions in the ‘local policing’ category were revised upwards, where officers had been recategorised from the neighbourhood policing function into other functions. Other recategorisations occurred as well, with notable revisions made to the officers in the ‘Other’ category (an increase of 470 FTE), the ‘Advanced public order’ function (an increase of 451 FTE), and the ‘Local investigation/prisoner processing’ function (an increase of 340 FTE).

The large change to the ‘other’ function category occurred in many instances as a result of forces recategorising their student neighbourhood officers who were classroom-based, into the ‘other’ category.

Table B1: Police workforce statistics functions data as at 31 March 2024 – as first published in July 2024 and final data as published in July 2025, England and Wales

Function number	Function name	Officers (FTE): At 31 March 2024 published July 2024	Officers (FTE): At 31 March 2024 published July 2025	Change volume in officers	PCSOs (FTE): At 31 March 2024 published July 2024	PCSOs (FTE): At 31 March 2024 published July 2025	Change volume in PCSOs	Total volume change in police officers and PCSOs
1	Local Policing	64,565	63,084	-1,481	6,889	6,889	-	-1,481
1a	Neighbourhood Policing	13,424	10,615	-2,809	6,210	6,346	+136	-2,673
1b	Incident (Response) Management	44,958	45,565	+608	4	3	-1	+607
1c	Specialist Community Liaison	4,638	4,961	+323	673	537	-136	+187
1d	Local Policing Command Team and Support Overheads	1,546	1,944	+398	2	2	-	+398
2	Dealing with the Public	3,144	3,146	+3	16	16	-	3
2a	Front Desk	101	101	-	-	-	-	-
2b	Central Communications Unit	2,753	2,756	+3	15	15	-	+3
2d	Dealing with the Public Command Team and Support Overheads	289	289	-	1	1	-	-
3	Criminal Justice Arrangements	3,510	3,509	-1	-	-	-	-1
3a	Custody	2,559	2,559	-	-	-	-	-
3b	Police doctors/nurses and surgeons	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
3e	Criminal Justice	737	736	-1	-	-	-	-1
3f	Police National Computer	1	1	-	-	-	-	-
3g	Criminal Record Bureau (now called Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS))	3	3	-	-	-	-	-
3h	Coroner Assistance	22	22	-	-	-	-	-
3i	Fixed Penalty Schemes (Central Ticket Office)	15	15	-	-	-	-	-
3j	Property Officer / Stores	7	7	-	-	-	-	-
3k	Criminal Justice Arrangements Command Team and Support Overheads	166	166	-	-	-	-	-
4	Road Policing	4,215	4,216	+1	178	178	-	+1
4a	Traffic Units	3,925	3,926	+1	142	142	-	+1
4b	Traffic wardens / Police community support officers - Traffic	12	12	-	33	33	-	-
4c	Vehicle Recovery	13	13	-	-	-	-	-
4d	Casualty Reduction Partnership	139	139	-	3	3	-	-
4e	Road policing Command Team and Support Overheads	126	126	-	-	-	-	-
5	Operational Support	8,559	9,048	+489	12	12	-	+489
5a	Operational Support Team	364	377	+13	1	1	-	+13
5b	Air Operations	98	106	+8	-	-	-	+8
5c	Mounted Police	204	204	-	-	-	-	-
5d	Specialist Terrain	152	158	+6	-	-	-	+6
5e	Dogs Section	1,038	1,039	+1	-	-	-	+1
5f	Advanced Public Order	1,521	1,971	+451	-	-	-	+451
5g	Airport and Ports Policing Unit	787	791	+4	11	11	-	+4
5h	Firearms Unit [note 6]	3,880	3,886	+7	-	-	-	+7
5i	Civil Contingencies and Events	515	515	-	-	-	-	-
6	Intelligence	5,314	5,318	+3	1	1	-	+3
6a	Intelligence Command Team and Support Overheads	260	259	-1	-	-	-	-1
6b	Intelligence Analysis / Threat Assessments	1,690	1,690	-	-	-	-	-
6c	Intelligence Gathering	3,365	3,369	+4	1	1	-	+4
7	Investigations	22,217	22,566	+349	20	46	+26	+375
7a	Investigations Command Team and Support Overheads	664	666	+2	-	-	-	+2
7b	Major Investigation Unit	2,352	2,355	+2	-	2	+2	+4
7c	Economic Crime (including Regional Asset Recovery Team)	999	999	-	-	-	-	-
7d	Specialist Investigation Units	573	575	+1	6	6	-	+1
7e	Serious and Organised Crime Unit	2,895	2,897	+2	1	1	-	+2
7g	Local Investigation/Prisoner Processing	14,173	14,513	+340	10	34	+24	+364
7h	Cyber Crime	561	562	+1	4	4	-	+1
13	Public Protection	14,113	14,130	+16	28	27	-1	+15
13a	Witness Protection	550	550	-	2	2	-	-
13c	Protecting Vulnerable People	11,223	11,241	+18	20	19	-1	+17
13d	Monitoring Dangerous and Repeat Offenders	2,023	2,024	-	6	6	-	-
13e	Public Protection Command Team and Support Overheads	317	315	-2	-	-	-	-2
8	Investigative Support	368	368	-	-	-	-	-
8a	Scenes of Crime Officers	27	27	-	-	-	-	-
8b	External Forensic	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
8c	Fingerprint	2	2	-	-	-	-	-
8d	Digital Forensics	193	193	-	-	-	-	-
8e	Other Forensic Services	128	128	-	-	-	-	-
8f	Investigative Support Command Team and Support Overheads	18	18	-	-	-	-	-
9	National Policing	6,453	6,434	-19	-	-	-	-19
10	Support Functions	9,200	9,341	+141	38	41	+3	+144
10a	Human Resources	664	665	+1	15	15	-	+1
10b	Finance	9	9	-	-	-	-	-
10c	Legal Services	9	9	-	-	-	-	-
10d	Fleet Services	6	7	+1	-	-	-	+1
10e	Estates / Central Building	3	3	-	-	-	-	-
10f	Information Communication Technology	240	240	-	-	-	-	-
10g	Professional Standards	1,752	1,758	+6	1	1	-	+6
10h	Press and Media	11	11	-	1	1	-	-
10i	Performance Review / Corporate Development	1,081	1,080	-2	-	-	-	-2
10j	Procurement	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10k	Training	4,454	4,593	+139	19	22	+3	+142
10l	Administration Support	276	274	-2	2	2	-	-2
10m	Force Command	506	504	-2	-	-	-	-2
10n	Support to Associations and Trade Unions	190	190	-	1	1	-	-
10o	Insurance / Risk Management	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
10p	Catering	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
[z]	Other	6,049	6,519	+470	356	357	+1	+471
[z]	Not stated	38	65	+27	-	-	-	+27
[z]	Total	147,746	147,745	-1	7,539	7,568	+29	+28

Source: Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2025; functions open data table’ and Home Office, ‘Police workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2024; data tables’: Table_F1 and Table F3

Notes:

1. Since the publication covering the workforce as at 31 March 2024 was released in July 2024, Durham requested a routine revision to their previously published PCSO data, resulting in an increase in their PCSO figure of 28 FTE. This revisions was incorporated into the January 2025 release. Further details of this revision can be found in section 1.4 of the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales: 30 September 2024’ statistical release.
2. During the data validation exercise detailed in section 7.2 Durham changed the function code of a police officer to ‘Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) commissioned services’ (11g). Individuals in function group 11 are excluded from force strength figures as they are considered to be directly supporting the PCC’s office rather than the force. As such, their officer strength figure decreased by one FTE and one headcount.
3. As part of routine revisions for March 2024 data, Cumbria requested to amend their PCSO and police staff figures as part of routine revisions. This increased their PCSO strength figure by one FTE and one headcount and decreased their staff strength figure by one FTE and one headcount. Further details can be found in section 1.2.
4. [z] has been used to indicate where not applicable.

1. Designated officers are police staff (who are not police officers) employed to exercise specific powers that would otherwise only be available to police officers. Some forces are unable to distinguish designated officers from police staff, therefore, they have been combined to better reflect the situation across all forces. These workers can be separately identified in the open data tables. ↩

2. The paid workforce includes police officers, staff, designated officers and PCSOs and excludes traffic wardens which were employed by police forces up to the year ending March 2020. Prior to year ending March 2020 there were small numbers of traffic wardens employed by the police service reflecting the dominant role of local authorities in parking control. ↩

3. NCA officers include both those warranted with the powers of a police constable or other powers, as well as civilians involved in the investigation of serious and organised crime (non-warranted officers). ↩

4. Secondments to central services are secondments to central government, for example, the Home Office, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), or the NCA. ↩

5. NCA officers include both those warranted with the powers of a police constable or other powers, as well as civilians involved in the investigation of serious and organised crime (non-warranted officers). ↩

6. Secondments to central services are secondments to central government, for example, the Home Office, HMICFRS, or the NCA. ↩

7. Population data from the 2021 Census, based on whole population. Data is available on the ONS website. ↩

8. Where the sex of an individual is not stated but the gender was, gender has been used. ↩

9. ONS, Disability, England and Wales: Census 2021 ↩

10. Sexual orientation, England and Wales: Census 2021 ↩

11. Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021 ↩