Police and Crime Commissioner Joy Allen has written to MPs across County Durham and Darlington, urging them to back calls for a fairer funding settlement for Durham Constabulary. She warned that local communities should not be expected to keep paying the price for a funding formula that leaves the force at a disadvantage and fails to reflect the growing demands and realities of modern policing.
In response, North Durham MP Luke Akehurst has secured a Westminster Hall debate today to put the spotlight on police funding in the North East and press the case for a fairer settlement for the region’s forces.
The PCC’s intervention comes at a time of growing concern about the strain on frontline policing across the North East. Recent events, including the tragic deaths of PC Matthew Blades and PC Tom Clough and subsequent disorder in Middlesbrough and Durham, highlighted both the dangers officers face and the increasing pressures placed on already stretched police forces.
The latest Government Inspections of Durham Constabulary support her argument, identifying a need for increased capacity in ‘back office’ roles such as professional standards, performance and safeguarding, all of which the PCC recognises are important roles, but take officers off the streets, nonetheless.
The facts are stark. Durham Constabulary, Northumbria Police and Cleveland Police have over 600 fewer officers (headcount) than they had in 2010. Durham alone remains around 120 officers below its 2010 strength, and the impact of that shortfall is increasingly being seen.
“In reality, due to the fact that we have severely limited funding and officer numbers, we are in a position where we have to rob Peter to pay Paul,” said the PCC.
In the absence of a funding reset, the Constabulary has, in some cases, had to redeploy warranted officers from operational frontline roles into critical back-office and specialist functions to ensure compliance with HMICFRS inspection findings, maintain appropriate governance arrangements and strengthen safeguarding activity.
Luke Akehurst MP said: “Less officers on the street means we are seeing increasing and unmanageable demand on remaining officers. Since 2010, Durham Constabulary alone has seen a 9% reduction in its workforce.
“I support the PCC in her campaign for fairer funding and am taking this to Parliament to highlight the need across the region”.
In addition, today’s officers are not only responding to crime and anti-social behaviour. They are tackling organised crime networks, protecting vulnerable victims, investigating online offences, responding to mental health crises, safeguarding exploited children and searching for missing people. Policing has changed dramatically, but funding has failed to keep pace.
This inevitably creates operational challenges, as it can result in officers being moved from visible frontline, neighbourhood and response policing roles to address organisational and statutory requirements. In effect, the force is having to balance competing priorities with finite resources, ensuring inspection recommendations are addressed whilst continuing to meet public expectations around neighbourhood visibility and emergency response.
In recent months alone, Durham Constabulary has faced an 11% increase in 999 calls and a 14% rise in overall demand. Yet officers and staff have continued to meet emergency response targets and deliver for the public. Their professionalism, commitment and resilience have been exceptional. But there is a clear warning in that success: maintaining performance cannot be used as an excuse for continued underfunding.
There is a limit to how long any organisation can be expected to do more with less.
Serious and organised crime continues to threaten communities across the North East, exploiting vulnerability and causing immense harm. Tackling these criminal networks requires sustained investment in police officers, specialist teams, intelligence capabilities and modern technology, including tools such as drones that are increasingly vital in tracking offenders and protecting the public.
One-off funding injections are not enough. They do not reverse years of underinvestment, nor do they provide forces with the certainty needed to plan, recruit and build long-term resilience.
Joy Allen believes that police funding should be based on crime, risk, demand, deprivation, poverty and the additional challenges of policing large rural areas, not the value of properties in a force area.
The current system creates an uneven playing field, limiting the ability of forces like Durham to raise local income through council tax in the way some other areas can. Had Durham been able to generate the same level of local funding as forces such as Gwent, it could already have restored officer numbers to 2010 levels.
As PCC, Joy Allen believes this funding disadvantage is having a real impact on policing performance and capacity, yet inspections do not always reflect the unique financial pressures facing forces operating in areas of high need and lower tax-raising potential.
Ultimately, communities in County Durham and the North East deserve the same level of protection as anywhere else in the country, and a funding formula that properly reflects modern policing realities.
Without fair funding, the gap between demand and resources will continue to grow. That risks weakening neighbourhood policing, reducing resilience and creating opportunities for criminals to thrive.
She said today: “Our officers and staff run towards danger when everyone else is running away from it. They continue to deliver an outstanding service in increasingly challenging circumstances, but commitment alone cannot fill funding gaps.
“The people of County Durham and the North East deserve policing that is properly resourced for the challenges it faces. Restoring officer numbers, investing in technology and ensuring funding reflects real demand is not asking for special treatment. It is asking for a fair deal.
“I am urging MPs from across County Durham and Darlington to join me in making that case to Government. Together, we must ensure our communities have the policing resources they need and deserve.”
