Total police funding in 2025-26 is £19.6bn, with approx. 70% of this made up of central government funding and the rest raised through council tax. Government is aiming to put 13,000 additional police officers, police community support officers and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles, paid for by tackling waste through a programme of reform. This includes plans to centralise functions such as procurement and vetting, and greater use of technology to make officers more productive.
The PAC’s 2018 report on the financial sustainability of police forces in England and Wales warned that financial pressures were undermining confidence in the police, which the report found had been severely dented as forces reprioritised work in response to funding cuts. The Committee’s subsequent 2022 report highlighted significant challenges for the Home Office in realising a promised uplift in police numbers.
The National Audit Office (NAO) reports in 2025 on police productivity, with a focus on the Home Office’s approach to supporting police forces to improve. Following the NAO’s report, the PAC will take evidence from senior Home Office officials, with likely topics for scrutiny including current financial constraints facing police forces, and how the Home Office is supporting forces to deliver value for money from funding.
If you have evidence on these issues, please submit here by 23:59 on Monday 10 November 2025.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere. You can request anonymity or confidentiality when you send evidence, but it is the Committee which decides what information to publish and how. It may treat submissions confidentially, even where you have not requested this.
Please note that the Committee’s inquiry cannot assist with individual cases. If you need help with an individual problem you are having, you may wish to read the information on Parliament’s website about who you can contact with different issues.