Key facts
- There was a 4.8% increase in police officers and a 15.5% increase in police staff employed across the service between 2004 and 2009.
- 13 forces out of 43 reported an overall decrease in officer numbers between 2004 and 2009, ranging between -0.9% to -7%.
- Three forces reported a rise in officer numbers of over 10%.
- Ten forces reported an increase in staff numbers of over 25%.
- In the last financial year, officer numbers rose by 2.9% across the service and staff numbers by 3%.
- 71% of police budgets is spent on police salaries and 16% on pensions, meaning that in total almost 88% is spent on the workforce.
- Central funding to the police service increased by 19% in real terms between 1997/98 and 2008/09.
- The police national grant is expected to increase by 2.7% in 2010/11.
- The future is more uncertain: the Association of Police Authorities estimates that forces may be able to manage a 5% cut in overall spending without reducing uniformed staff budgets; a 10% cut on the other hand would be likely to require forces to reduce these budgets by £260 million, or 5,800 officers.
|
|
|
