Fears for police staff roles as West Mercia force announces £8 million budget gap

In a statement on Friday, West Mercia Police, which polices Shropshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire, said it had informed police officers and policing staff that it needed to fill its budget black hole through "reduced spending including reducing police staff roles".  

The statement read: "Earlier this year we shared that our force is, like many other public sector organisations, facing a challenging financial position whilst still ensuring we deliver our core policing service to the people of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire. Yesterday (Thursday, August 14), we shared with police officers and staff that, despite extensive efforts, we still have a budget gap of £8 million that we must address.    

"Significant savings have already been made through redundancies in police staff roles (non-police officer posts), two voluntary schemes for staff to reduce salary costs and a change to PCSOs shift patterns. However, additional savings need to be found through reduced spending including reducing police staff roles."  

The force has not said what policing roles could go or how many jobs will be cut but said they continued to face challenges as a result of "government funding not keeping pace with inflation and a growing demand on our services" and rising pay costs for recently recruited officers. 

"We are also aware of future pressures, which includes things like the recent pay announcement," the statement added. "This situation has been exacerbated by an underestimate this year of the cost of the police officer workforce. This increased cost primarily arises from the combination of sustained uplift in officers in recent years and the number of officers now reaching higher incremental pay points. In essence, our officer cost is higher than was budgeted for.

"Whilst the Police and Crime Commissioner, along with other PCCs and Chiefs around the country, has reached out to the Home Office to stress the financial strain we are under in policing in general, this isn’t a solution for this current situation." 

Chief Constable Richard Cooper said: “Police staff bring a wealth of skills, knowledge and experience, often from the private sector and areas outside of policing and make a huge contribution to the service we deliver and the communities we serve. The difficult decision we have made, to make further police staff redundancies, is certainly not something we would choose to be doing. This decision should not undervalue or undermine the contribution police staff make, and their absence will be sharply felt.  

“Protecting people from harm remains our absolute priority. We absolutely stand by our commitment to the neighbourhood policing guarantee and ensuring our local communities can continue to have confidence in the service we deliver and that we continue to respond to emergencies.”  

Police and Crime Commissioner John Campion added: “This is not a position that I or the public would expect for their police force to be in. However, I want to reassure our communities that action is being taken to address these issues and ensure that the force is able to continue delivering an efficient and effective service and keep communities safe.   

“The Chief Constable and I are making best use of all the resources and flexibilities we have at our disposal. But it is not enough.  

“Let’s be clear. There are wider, fundamental issues around how central funding is distributed to police forces that hasn’t been fixed by the current, or previous, Governments. This unfairness, that I have raised on a number of occasions, has exacerbated the current challenges we face. In addition, there are growing mandates from the Government dictating how we should spend the grant we receive for our police force, communities and their needs.

“I will support the force as they navigate these budgetary challenges, continuing to play my part and ensuring that the communities of West Mercia are kept safe and feel safe.”

Following the news, the Police Federation for West Mercia emphasised the need for greater investment in policing. 

Speaking on behalf of the Federation, Steve Butler said: "This isn’t an opportunity for me to throw the force under the bus. This is a chance for us to once again emphasise the need for a greater investment in policing.

"The saying goes ‘cuts have consequences’, and that is undoubtedly being proven here in West Mercia.

"This is no fault of the force. This is down to years of poor investment in policing. We echo comments from the force, pinning this on the Home Office. The Government needs to listen. If they want the police to perform effectively and efficiently, it is critical that they invest adequately.

"While it might be police staff that will be directly impacted through job losses, we must not forget the wider - and potentially damaging - impact this might have across the force.

"And not forgetting how this will be directly be impacting the public too. That is on the Government, not our force.

"As their Federation, we will continue to support our members throughout what could be an extremely difficult time. We are here, whenever you need us."

The Home Office has been approached for comment.