Police staffing grant to be scrapped amid push for neighbourhood officers

Shabana Mahmood is set to scrap a police staffing grant introduced under Boris Johnson, replacing the measure with ringfenced funding for neighbourhood officers.

The Home Secretary will write to police chiefs on Friday telling them the programme, which provides financial backing for forces if they meet headcount targets, is to be axed.

The Officer Maintenance Grant – previously referred to as the Police Uplift Programme – was brought in following the 2019 Conservative manifesto pledge to recruit an extra 20,000 officers by 2023.

The target was reached but the Labour Government argues the grant has led to forces hiring uniformed officers and then putting them in back-office roles rather than out in communities.

The number of trained police officers in desk-based support jobs has increased by more than 40% to more than 12,600 in the last six years while the total number of officers has increased by around 20% in the same period, according to the Home Office.

The department said a new Neighbourhood Policing Ringfence would be introduced to move more officers into communities as part of its £18.3 billion funding package for policing in England and Wales.

Labour has committed to recruiting 13,000 more neighbourhood policing officers by 2029, with 3,000 extra recruits to be in post by spring next year to tackle crime.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of a “dereliction of duty” by “announcing officers with barely 40% of the funding needed to pay for them”.

“Forces cannot recruit, train, or plan on money that may be pulled back at any moment,” he said.

“The public want more officers, safer streets, and real accountability. The Conservatives rebuilt police numbers once, and we will do it again.

“We will triple stop-and-search, target the hotspots, and hire 10,000 new police officers – fully funded £800 million-a-year law and order plan.”

Austerity 

A Government source said: “The Conservatives devastated neighbourhood policing across the country with a decade of austerity.

“They then tried to desperately recruit more officers to make up their targets, but forces ended up with more officers behind desks doing HR and admin.

“With Shabana Mahmood as Home Secretary, we will put police back where they belong – on the beat, fighting crime and catching criminals in our communities.”