Planned police funding 'puts pressure' on force

Proposed government police funding "puts pressure" on a plan to increase officer numbers, a police and crime commissioner (PCC) has said.

The Home Office announced on Tuesday that it would pay a grant of £345.5m to Thames Valley Police (TVP) in 2025/26, an increase of £20.1m on 2024/25.

But Matthew Barber said the money would be insufficient to "relieve the pressure" on the force's budget, and would lead to "some difficult decisions".

In April, the force said there were about 5,100 officers serving a population of about 2.4m, the most it had employed since it was established in the 1960s.

Council taxpayers will also stump up £15.7m more to fund the service, bringing their total payment to £276.9m next year, the Home Office said.

But Mr Barber said a total planned budget of £662.4m still "falls short of the increase necessary to maintain current levels of policing, let alone deliver the increases that we would all want to see".

"I want us to grow with our population. We hit a high at the start of the last financial year with more police officers than ever before. That's under threat at the moment," Mr Barber told BBC Radio Berkshire.

"My ambition will always be to grow the force and make sure as many officers as possible can be in the roles that the public will notice – so neighbourhood policing, roads policing – where they will really have an impact on continuing to drive down crime."

The National Police Chiefs' Council's Paul Sanford, who is also the chief constable of Norfolk Constabulary, said Tuesday's announcement by home office minister Dame Diana Johnson presented "real challenges for policing".

Mr Sanford said it would "inevitably lead to cuts across forces".

But Dame Diana said: "We are determined to deliver for the people up and down this country and make good on our promise to reform policing, halve knife crime and tackle anti-social behaviour head on.

"This settlement aims to do just that, providing a significant and substantial increase in funding that will allow polices forces to get a grip on criminality, to make our streets and communities safer."

You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.