HMICFRS identifies significant stress on police forces

National Police Chiefs’ Council Chair, Chief Constable Sara Thornton said:

"Police forces are determined to spend their money with efficiency and to innovate to adapt and improve our services. HMICFRS’s report on efficiency shows we are making good progress with most forces improving their efficiency and 32 forces graded as either good or outstanding. We’ve made £1.6bn efficiency savings in the last five years and predict we’ll save another £0.9bn in the next five. This is at a time when HMICFRS recognises policing is under significant stress from rising demand and reported crime that is increasingly complex with force budgets due to fall in real terms over the next three years.

“HMICFRS cites sophisticated analysis of demand, effective tools to help manage it and ambitious and impressive collaborative plans. While some forces require improvement in this area, HMICFRS recognises that forces with particularly difficult financial positions have more limited opportunities to invest to improve efficiency.”