Met Police facing lowest staffing levels in a decade, says chief – BBC News

The Metropolitan Police is heading for its lowest staffing levels in a decade in March next year, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has warned.

Britain’s largest police force is facing a shortage, partly due to inadequate funding and low recruitment, Sir Mark has said.

Plans to reform the force will have to be delayed as the Met faces a £400m budget gap in 2025-26, according to a paper submitted to the London Policing Board.

According to the Home Office, the Met will receive up to £3.5 billion in 2024-25, an increase of up to £125.8 million on the previous year.

The document states that frontline teams are being placed under “high operational pressure” by the large-scale protests in London, which cost £70 million last year, and that there is increasing demand to tackle violence against women and girls.

A £70m application from the Home Office to furlough around 1,000 officers from office jobs was rejected, the report said.

Sir Mark wrote: ‘By March 2025 there will be 310 police officers for every 100,000 Londoners.

“In March 2012, this number of police officers stood at 350. This position is expected to deteriorate and move towards the lowest point in the last ten years.

“This is partly driven by inadequate funding and by low recruitment in recent years due to the rising cost of living in London compared to other parts of Britain, and other challenges.”

Figures in the report show a decline since March 2023, from 342 officers per 100,000 Londoners that year, to 330 in March this year and 310 in March 2025.

The Met was already 1,400 officers below the staffing target set by the Home Office at the end of 2023-2024, and this is expected to fall by a further 1,250 by the end of 2024-2025.

Defense force bosses already have plans to move 300 officers from back-office roles in a bid to close the gap.

The Home Office said the £3.5 billion the Met will receive in 2024-25 includes £185.3 million in recognition of the increased demand the Met is facing from overseeing the capital.

Zoë Garbett, Green member of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, said: “The long-promised, long-awaited cultural reform of the Metropolitan Police cannot wait for another day.

“It is inexcusable that this government is refusing to provide the Met with the resources it needs to continue this urgent work.

“The faster the Met can reform, and the faster the Met can recruit new officers, the faster the Met can work on community priorities.”

Paul Kohler, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate for Wimbledon, said: “These shocking figures show that local forces are being decimated by this Conservative government.

“We have lost thousands of good local officers from our communities and now too many criminals go unpunished.”

Mr Kohler added: “The Liberal Democrats are calling for a return to proper community policing. That is why I successfully took the Mayor to court to stop the closure of Wimbledon Police Station.

“It’s the only way to keep our streets safe. We must give local forces the tools they need to reduce crime.”

Conservative member of the London Assembly Susan Hall said London mayor Sadiq Khan – who has overall responsibility for the force – had failed to meet the government’s officer recruitment targets.

She added that the mayor, on behalf of Labour, had instead increased the number of “pen-pushing bureaucrats in his police and crime office”.

Labor declined to comment.