Police Federation: 40,000 frontline jobs at risk
Updated on 10 September 2010
The Police Federation is warning that 40,000 frontline policing jobs in England and Wales are at risk if the government presses ahead with cutting public spending by 25 per cent, as Simon Israel discovers.
The federation, which represents officers in England and Wales, said London's Metropolitan Police could lose up to 4,000 officers and the West Midlands 1,000.
Greater Manchester had lost 221 officers since last December and North Wales would lose 251 in the next four years.
Several other forces are also making plans to cut jobs. Hampshire Police said today that 1,400 jobs may have to go, with officers included in the staff cull. The force is preparing for cuts of up to £70m over the next four years and about a fifth of its workforce could be affected.
Kent Police are making plans for cuts of 20 per cent, and in a message to staff, Chief Constable Ian Learmouth has said 1,000 civilian and 500 police posts could go. He said he hoped "the majority of these will come through natural wastage and retirement."
Cuts of 25 per cent would force Essex Police to make savings of £45m by 2015. Chief Constable Jim Barker-McCardle has said the force is expecting the reduction to "result in smaller numbers of police staff and officers".
Cambridgeshire Police are making savings of £1.2m. There have been 24 redundancies affecting police support staff rather than officers, a recruitment freeze is in place and 50-60 vacancies have been identified that will not be filled.
Frontline police jobs at risk (source: Police Federation)
London - up to 4,000
West Midlands - up to 1,000
North Wales - 251
Devon and Cornwall - 180
Hampshire - 120 per year
Greater Manchester - already lost 221
Lancashire - 600
Cleveland - 160
Kent - 500
Merseyside - 200
Gloucestershire - 65 per year
Warwickshire - 100
'Christmas for criminals'
Paul McKeever, chairman of the Police Federation, told Channel 4 News it would be "Christmas for criminals", adding: "We expect the home secretary to wake up to the reality that there are going to be real consequences in the future if these cuts are made."
"The reality has come. The cuts are real. They are substantial and it can't but have a detrimental effect on the service we provide."
Vice chairman Simon Reed said: "We've done a survey of our branch boards around England and Wales and what they're telling us is quite bleak.
"Forces will lose potentially hundreds of officers and nationwide that could be anything up to 40,000 officers within the next two, three or four years."
Asked by Channel 4 News how the federation had reached a figure of 40,000 frontline job cuts, a spokesman said: "It's not the most scientific survey, but gives a flavour, a snapshot, based on information we have from a dozen or so forces. I appreciate it's debateable what the reduction will be."
'Don't frighten the public'
The Policing Minister Nick Herbert said: "I understand the Police Federation wants to make its case and protect every job, but we must be careful not to frighten the public. Police forces can make savings. They can become more efficient. They can share services and procure equipment better."
Hampshire's Chief Constable Alex Marshall said the coalition government's budget in June had made it clear that public sector funding would be cut by 25 per cent over the next four years, adding: "A 25 per cent cut in our budget means we will have fewer police officers, PCSOs (police community support offricers) and police staff working for the force, and we will look to achieve any reductions through the natural turnover of staff, but we cannot rule out redundancies."
In a letter to staff, Mr Marshall said: "Most of our funding is rightly spent on employing the 6,700 people who work for the constabulary. If all of the savings come from staff costs then a 25 per cent cut will mean that we can afford to employ about 5,300 people. We will have fewer police officers, PCSOs and police staff."
'It's not rocket science'
The chairman of Hampshire's Police Federation branch, John Apter, said: "It's not rocket science. Fewer officers will mean the force will have to stop doing certain things. The government need to think very hard about the consequences of such damaging cuts. I have sympathy with the chief constable. He is trying to provide a service with his hands tied behind his back."
The Scottish Police Federation fears that the police budget for 2011-12 could be reduced by as much as £88m - the equivalent of losing nearly 3,000 officers. It says that in many force areas this would mean police numbers dropping to levels not seen since the mid-1990s.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland has been asked by the Department of Justice to plan for possible cuts of 5% and 8% year-on-year over the next 4 years.
A statement from the PSNI said: "This exercise has been completed and a paper has been prepared and submitted to the DOJ on 30 July. No budget has yet been set for 2010/11 and we are currently working with the Northern Ireland Policing Board and the Department of Justice to secure adequate funding to deliver an efficient and effective service to Northern Ireland."
Last week, Julie Spence, former chief constable of Cambridgeshire Police, said the reductions could lead to a policing "Armageddon" - with the the police reduced to a "999 emergency service".
The Association of Chief Police Officers has said that the full extent of the cuts will not be clear until the Chancellor's comprehensive review next month, but it was planning for a range of scenarios. If the cuts were at the lower end of the spectrum, reductions in non-staffing costs might be sufficient. If they were at the upper end, "then inevitably this will impact upon the numbers of police staff and officers".
The Association of Police Authorities has pointed out that with more than 80 per cent of the policing budget spent on staff, "it is inevitable that jobs will be affected".
