The Government's 'Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee' has been thrown into question by Stuart Anderson MP, who is calling for fairer funding for rural areas. The Government has announced an extra £100 million to boost police numbers by 13,000 in this parliament. It includes recruiting 3,000 more officers this year.
Yet, analysis has shown a significant shortfall in funding remains - with the increase amounting to just £7,000 per head. It is also wiped out by April's hikes in employer's National Insurance Contributions (NICs), which adds £118 million to statutory employment costs.
Each force has been allocated a budget based on the Police Funding Formula, which Stuart has said needs updating with a rural uplift. On 10th April, it was announced that West Mercia is receiving £3.1 million.
Ministers have said this will be enough to recruit an extra 31 police officers, 20 Police Community Support Officers, and 15 Special Constables. However, forces have said the numbers will be made up by reallocating already existing staff.
As reported in March, only 3,000 of the 13,000 pledged increase will be newly recruited officers. Another 3,000 will come from internal workforce reshuffling. Meanwhile, a remaining 7,000 will be recruited from Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) and volunteer special constables.
West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner has revealed the Force will only be able to recruit 12 new officers with the funding it has been given. The Commissioner added that 19 officers will be moved from "back-office roles" into frontline policing and replaced by new civilian staff.
Home Office officials said: "This approach is designed to deliver an initial increase to the neighbourhood policing workforce in a flexible manner, adaptable to local contexts and varying critical demands."
Stuart has previously called out the disparity in funding for police, which he said is exacerbated by the additional challenges of policing rural areas like South Shropshire. In August, he called for a rural uplift to the funding formula in recognition of this.
In March, he then called for further funding after it was found the NICs hikes will leave West Mercia with a £11.3 million deficit. He added that the £4.2 million needed to cover increases to NICs represents the equivalent of over 80 police officers.
Under the previous government, the number of police officers rose to 149,769 – the highest number of since comparable records began in the year ending March 2003. This helped it to cut neighbourhood crime by 54 per cent during its time in office.
Stuart Anderson MP said:
"The last government boosted police officer numbers to a record high, with an extra 330 recruits for West Mercia. The new government promised to keep this momentum going. Yet, its hike in employer's National Insurance Contributions has created a significant shortfall in funding that risks recruitment plans. Its 'Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee' has now been thrown into question, since more than half of promised recruits for West Mercia are already working for the police force. Ministers must urgently rethink their approach to ensure our police have the resources they need to improve their presence and protect our communities in South Shropshire and beyond."
