This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

The government promise to recruit thousands of extra police officers is being jeopardised by delays in the Home Office telling forces how much extra money will be allocated to fund the scheme.

In early September, the Conservatives reversed years of cuts and announced 20,000 new officers over three years at a cost of £750m in the first year.

But the 43 forces in England and Wales who are supposed to recruit 6,000 officers in the first wave still do not know how much money they will receive and how many officers they can afford to recruit.

Government sources expect it may take until December for each police force to learn how much money they will get. Those trying to recruit fear it will delay providing enough officers to tackle the rising level of serious crime.

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In a letter to the home secretary, Priti Patel, the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, warned that the uncertainty may jeopardise and delay officers being recruited and trained.

Khan, who oversees the Metropolitan police, wrote: “You will appreciate that in the absence of confirmation of funding, I am unable to plan effectively for the MPS’s budget for next year. Given recruitment time lines, this lack of clarity is jeopardising the successful and timely delivery of more officers.”

The Met wants 6,000 officers of the 20,000 promised over three years. It is hoping for 2,000 officers in the first wave.

Khan wrote: “I know we are in agreement that it takes a number of months to recruit and train an officer so the opportunity for getting boots on the ground this year is diminishing rapidly.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “We are committed to giving police extra resources to tackle crime, including recruiting 20,000 more officers over the next three years.

“Up to 6,000 of these officers will be recruited by the end of 2020-21 and they will be shared between the 43 police forces in England and Wales.”

The promise of more officers marks an end to the Conservatives’ cuts to the police force since they came to power in 2010.

Conservatives on the London Assembly previously said Khan was “pleading poverty” about the lack of money for police while Met police spending on flights and hotels had increased sharply.

The Conservatives on the Greater London Assembly seized on figures showing £4.6m was spent on flights last year, an increase of 80% compared with £2.5m spent in 2015/16 when Khan came into power. Hotel costs over the same period also increased.

Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the GLA, said: “Time and time again Sadiq Khan has claimed that the government hasn’t given him the money to effectively fight crime, yet on his watch the Met has miraculously managed to more than double their flights and hotels budget. With our streets growing increasingly unsafe, questions will rightly be raised about why this money wasn’t used instead to invest in additional police officers.

“Once again the mayor has proven that he has completely the wrong priorities for London. True to form he has splurged millions on waste instead of keeping Londoners safe, while at the same time shamelessly pleading poverty.”

The Met said the increased costs from protecting the Royals while they were overseas explained the rise.

The Met said: “The increase in flight costs between 2017/18 and 2018/19 is due to an increase in demand, including a significant increase in long-haul travel, with specialist ops and in particular the royalty and specialist protection command, experiencing additional demand.”