PCC challenges Home Secretary
over loss of funding to
Regional Organised Crime Units
Home office failing to support the fight against organised crime
The Home Secretary has been accused of failing in her duty to support the fight against organised crime in the UK.
Despite tough rhetoric the Government is cutting support for police officers on the ground whilst spending nearly one hundred million pounds on their top-down police reform programme.
Home Office civil servants have confirmed the loss of the Regional Organised Crime Unit (ROCU) core grant, which previously provided £26.9m to support police forces for fight organised crime groups – approximately 25% of the ROCU network budget.
Whilst some underspends from the National Crime Agency (NCA) have been found in this year, police forces are already having to provide an extra £2.4m to plug gaps in the current financial year (2026/27).
In a letter to the Home Secretary, signed by a total of sixteen Police & Crime Commissioners, Matthew Barber, PCC for Thames Valley, has said:
“The complete mismatch between the Government’s stated purpose and the actions your department is taking will put police forces under more financial pressure and risk weakening their ability to tackle organised crime groups.”
Earlier this year the Government published the Police Reform White Paper which highlights the growing threat of organised crime. Yet the Home Office have taken £99.3m from the policing budget to fund their police reform agenda, even before a single person is employed by the new National Police Service.
If the Government fail to fill this gap, police forces will have no choice but to make staff redundancies, reduce police officer numbers and cease entire functions within Regional Organised Crime Units.
