Council tax bills are set to rise to pay for police officers as chiefs warned of a growing £1.2 billion financial blackhole.
Frontline officers slammed Chancellor Rachel Reeves for leaving forces “broken”, adding “the cuts will continue and it’s the public who will pay the price”.
And chief constables the Spending Review “falls far short” of what’s needed, adding £300million alone will be spent on Labour’s early prisoner release scheme and plans to increase the number of community sentences.
The Police Superintendents Association (PSA) even accused ministers of failing to keep people safe, with police “spending power” only set to increase by 2.3 per cent.
The Home Office will see its budget squeezed in the coming years despite pledges to recruit more police officers and bring down crime.
Treasury documents show that between 2023-24 and 2028-29, the department’s spending will decline by 2.2 per cent a year.
PSA President Nick Smart said: “It is the first duty of government to keep its citizens safe, yet today we see no evidence of a commitment to doing this. Instead, ensuring public safety will be even more challenging, as demand on police rises, whilst funding does not.
“The Treasury has made its intentions clear – there is no backing or support for police.
“The question must therefore be asked – what is the police mission? Conversations must be had around true police demand, where we can begin to say “no”, and to stop answering calls for service for other agencies who turn to us when they are overwhelmed.
“We cannot continue to be society’s sticking plaster when other services falter.”
Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson Lisa Smart MP said: “The Government is relying on a hidden council tax bombshell to fund their half-hearted rise in police funding as they pass the buck to local families.
“After frontline policing was neglected for years under the Conservatives, local communities deserve better than this sleight of hand.
“The Government must put more bobbies on the beat, with the proper funding to make it happen.”
Chief Constable Gavin Stephens, Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council, said: “Whilst we await further detail on allocation to individual forces, the amount falls far short of what is required to fund the Government’s ambitions and maintain our existing workforce.
“A decade of underinvestment has left police forces selling buildings, borrowing money and raising local taxes to maintain the what we already have, with forces facing a projected shortfall of £1.2bn over the next two years, which is now expected to rise.
“This is against a backdrop of increasing crime rates, with new and escalating threats from organised crime and hostile states, and more offenders being managed in the community as a result of an overstretched criminal justice system.”
Ms Reeves said that despite this, police “spending power” would increase by 2.3 per cent in the coming years.
Tiff Lynch, Acting National Chair Tiff Lynch said: “This Spending Review should have been a turning point after 15 years of austerity that has left policing—and police officers—broken.
“Instead, the cuts will continue and it’s the public who will pay the price.
“As rank-and-file officers kit up for night duty this evening, they’ll do so knowing exactly where they stand in the government’s priorities.
“It is beyond insulting for Cabinet Ministers to call on police to “do their bit” when officers are overworked, underpaid, and under threat like never before.
“They are facing blades and bricks, managing mental health crises while battling to protect their own, and carrying the weight of trauma and financial stress home with them every day.
“The number of crimes allocated to each officer has jumped by a third in a decade. We will lose 10,000 experienced officers a year to resignation by the end of this spending review period – driven out by poor pay and unacceptable working conditions.
“This Chancellor hasn’t listened to police officers. She hasn’t listened to the Home Secretary. She hasn’t listened to the public’s concerns about community safety.
“We await the government’s decision on police pay in the coming weeks. But with this Spending Review, the signs are deeply worrying; the consequences will be even more so. And those consequences sit squarely on the shoulders of the Chancellor and the Prime Minister.”
