The number of police officers in England and Wales has fallen by 1,213 in six months and is now 16% below its 2009 peak, official figures have shown. The latest Home Office statistics put the number of officers in the 43 police forces in England and Wales on 30 September last year at 121,929, down from 123,142 on 31 March last year and from 144,353 in 2009.

In evidence submitted to the police remuneration review body last week, the Home Office made clear that no more central funding would be available for the pay settlement, describing the recruitment and retention of officers as “stable”. But Labour said that was out of touch with reality, given the figures.

The shadow policing minister, Louise Haigh, said: “Once again we see how out of touch the Conservatives are with the lives of people across this country. Over 1,200 officers lost in just six months, more than 21,000 in total under this Tory government, against a backdrop of the highest rises in recorded crime in a decade.



“And yet ministers apparently think everything’s fine. Labour in government will add 10,000 police officers and provide the resources they need.”

The Metropolitan police force, the biggest in England and Wales, accounted for more than half of the fall in officers, with 646 fewer in September last year than in March.

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The biggest reduction in percentage terms (4.2%) was experienced by North Yorkshire, which had 58 fewer officers than at the beginning of the period, followed by West Midlands, which had a net loss of 221 officers (3.3%).

Senior police figures have warned that insufficient funding and resources are leaving their officers overstretched in the face of rises in violent crime and a continuing terrorist threat.



Labour said the Home Office’s direct grant funding for local forces in 2018/19 represents a real-terms cut of £119m compared with the previous 12 months. Almost a quarter (£27m) of the real-terms cut will be borne by the Greater London authority, according to the party’s analysis.

The government counters that police funding will increase by up to £450m in the next financial year, although £270m of the extra cash is to be funded by a £12 increase per household in council tax bills.

A National Police Chiefs’ Council spokesman said: “Police chiefs recognise that the policing settlement for this year is better than last year and we have welcomed the potential to increase resources. However, differences in the makeup of funding between forces mean that the increase in budgets will vary between 1.6% and 3.6%, and forces are still facing difficult choices.

“The impact on police officer numbers cannot be assessed until force budgets are finalised when police chiefs and commissioners will jointly review their options.”

A Home Office spokeswoman said “traditional crime” was down by almost 40% since 2010 and that the funding settlement for next year would give forces “the resources they need to respond to changes in demand”.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, will announce on Wednesday that, in a bid to reduce the impact of government police cuts, he is to invest another £60m annually to fund an extra 1,000 officers. He accused the government of failing in its duty to protect the public and urged it to “urgently invest” in boosting police numbers.

“I want to be clear: this alone will not reverse the rise in crime we are seeing in London and across the country,” said Khan. “It will merely enable us to keep our heads above water for the next two years.”