Downing Street Halts New Police Funding Plan Over Fears Of Election Backlash

Exclusive: A long-planned new formula for how the police are funded has been put on hold over concern among ministers that it could result in some local services facing spending cuts heading into the next general election.

No.10 and the Treasury have asked the Home Officeto put the brakes on work to produce a new funding formula that officials have been working on for several years, and there is now severe doubt over whether it will see the light of day before the general election, which is anticipated this year, PoliticsHome understands.

The current formula setting out how local police services are funded was first devised in 2006, and there is widespread agreement that it is no longer fit for purpose. In December, the Treasury told MPs on the Public Accounts Committee that it would implement a new funding formula as "soon as practicable", and that it aimed to publish a consultation in Winter 2023.

However, it is believed that Downing Street recently intervened to pause long-term work to produce a new formula over concern it would result in some police services facing financial losses in relative terms and hand opposition parties the opportunity to accuse Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of planning police cuts heading into the next general election. Downing Street and the Treasury wanted to be able to state that no police service would lose out as a result of changes to the funding formula. 

Currently, police services get most of their funding (around 70 per cent) from central government in Westminster, according to the Institute for Government think tank. Ministers give money to police and crime commissioners, who then decide how to allocate it in their local services. Real-term government spending on police services has risen