Share your views on police force mergers

The government is carrying out an Independent Review of Police Force Structures having confirmed its intention to merge the current 43 forces across England and Wales into larger forces as part of reforms.  The proposals put forward could see 43 forces reducing to as few as 12 regional forces.

The Government has published a White Paper on Police Reform in which it argues that the demands on modern policing have become increasingly complex and increasingly require collaboration across borders. The Government thinks that the current model of 43 independent forces is fragmented, each with its own leadership, priorities and infrastructure, creating inconsistent levels of service and barriers to collaboration.

Yes, the Home Office previously proposed merging forces in 2006. Plans did not go ahead due to the government not providing funding and restricting the Council Tax rises needed for implementation. There was also little support locally as well as increasing complexities in merging operational models which would likely delay implementation.

We don’t yet know what this means for Thames Valley Police as it will be dependent on the outcome of the review. However, if forces are reduced to 12 regional forces Thames Valley could become part of a larger regional South East force together with Hampshire and the Isle of White, Kent, Surrey and Sussex.

The government argues in its White Paper that moving to fewer and larger forces will:

• Save money through reduced duplication and management costs,
• Provide a more effective service in specialist areas such as major crime, roads policing and firearms,
• Help ensure more consistency in the service the public receive from the police,
• Equip local policing with a greater ability to surge resource and respond to major events,
• Make it easier to coordinate and collaborate across forces nationally.

The types of concerns voiced by some opposing the proposals include:

• A weakened connection between police and local communities with reduced responsiveness,
• High costs of force mergers may impact local policing budgets, and the service local communities received, with a significant amount of time passing before any cost benefits are realised,
• Resources may be prioritised in urban areas leaving rural communities more vulnerable to crime,
• Decision making may become more centralised with less accountability to local communities.

Police forces receive a proportion of funding through the Council Tax policing precept, set by the PCC for each local authority area.

The merging of police forces would require a Council Tax equalisation across the force area. If a regional force were to be formed therefore, it is possible that the policing precept could increase in some areas.

One of the reasons why the proposals weren’t implemented in 2006 was because of Council Tax equalisation across a wider area.

With the abolition of PCCs in 2028, the Government has said that the setting of the police budget and police precept will transfer to newly-formed police and crime boards (in areas without a mayor or areas where mayoral boundaries are not co-terminus with police force boundaries).

The Government has not yet provided information on how this would work in terms of the merging of police forces.

The Independent Review of Police Force Structures is expected to report back to the Home Secretary in the late Summer. The review will make recommendations on:

• The most effective number of police forces across England and Wales
• How local policing can be optimised through Local Policing Areas (LPAs) in the new model
• How new governance arrangements (Policing and Crime Boards) should operate within larger forces
• The most effective number of police forces across England and Wales
• Which forces are best suited to form part of pathfinder mergers this Parliament, in advance of the full merger programme.
• How a move to significantly fewer forces should be delivered to:
  • minimise operational disruption
  • maintain best practice
  • ensure delivery costs can be minimised and offset through efficiencies in later years

These proposals form part of the wider reform agenda. The PCC will collate your responses and feedback the information to the Government to form part of their wider review. We will share updates with you on our website.

• CoPaCC report – Thames Valley OPCC has commissioned CoPaCC to provide a preliminary examination of the potential implications of the Police Reform White Paper on Thames Valley’s communities. The brief was to focus primarily on the White Paper’s proposals for force mergers, and on changes to policing governance.
• Home Office – White Paper – From local to national: a new model for policing
• Home Office – Independent Review of Police Force Structures, Terms of Reference
• Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC) – APCC submission to the Independent Review of Police Force Structures
• The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) – Police reform

The Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Barber, has recently written to the Home Secretary regarding the potential impact of police force mergers on residents in the Thames Valley.