The Home Office has released details of how the first tranche of new police officers will be allocated to forces in England and Wales.

Home Secretary Priti Patel made the announcement following the second meeting of the National Policing Board which took place yesterday. (8 October)

The breakdown provides the number of officers each force will increase by in the year 2020-21 totalling 6,000.

The allocation is based on the existing police funding formula.

They are as follows:

Police force area	First-year recruitment target
Avon & Somerset	137
Bedfordshire	54
Cambridgeshire	62
Cheshire	90
Cleveland	72
Cumbria	51
Derbyshire	85
Devon & Cornwall	141
Dorset	50
Durham	68
Dyfed-Powys	42
Essex	135
Gloucestershire	46
Greater Manchester	347
Gwent	62
Hampshire	156
Hertfordshire	91
Humberside	97
Kent	147
Lancashire	153
Leicestershire	89
Lincolnshire	50
London, City of	44
Merseyside	200
Metropolitan Police	1,369
Norfolk	67
North Wales	62
North Yorkshire	58
Northamptonshire	57
Northumbria	185
Nottinghamshire	107
South Wales	136
South Yorkshire	151
Staffordshire	90
Suffolk	54
Surrey	78
Sussex	129
Thames Valley	183
Warwickshire	41
West Mercia	93
West Midlands	366
West Yorkshire	256
Wiltshire	49
England and Wales total	6,000

 

John Apter, National Chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales who attended the meeting said: “Investment in policing is long overdue and for the first time we now have the actual number of officers each local force will increase by in the next year.

“These figures have been based on the current funding formula models and while this method is not perfect, it is the only solution available to deliver the numbers quickly in year one – but there will be winners and losers.

“We now need to ensure that the formula is revisited for future years to ensure a fairer allocation of officers across all forces, but this is certainly a positive start and will provide a much-needed boost to my members and the communities they serve.”

Home Secretary Priti Patel said: “The public are clear they want to see more police officers on their streets, whether they live in the city or the countryside. This is the people’s priority and it is exactly what the Government is delivering.

“Every single police force in England and Wales will be able to recruit additional officers this year to help keep all of our communities safer.”

The Government had previously pledge to recruit 20,000 officers over the next three years.

The latest Home Office announcement does not make any reference to the 2,000 officers it committed to recruit before March 2020.

It follows the Home Secretary’s commitment to provide £10m of ring-fenced funding to allow for a wider roll-out of Taser for officers which she made last week.