Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on financial deficits within police constabularies in England and Wales.

The 2025-26 final police funding settlement provides funding of up to £19.6 billion for the policing system in England and Wales. This is an overall increase of up to £1.1 billion when compared to the 2024-25 settlement and represents a 6% cash terms increase and 3.5% real terms increase in funding.

It is the responsibility of locally elected Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) and Chief Constables to set a balanced budget and to publish information to enable the local public to assess the performance of the police force.

PCCs in consultation with the Chief Constable are responsible for identifying and agreeing a medium-term financial strategy which includes funding and spending plans for both revenue and capital. This strategy should have regard to affordability and take into account multiple years, the inter-dependencies of revenue budgets and capital investments, the role of reserves and the consideration of risks.

The Home Office works closely with the policing sector to monitor force financial pressures, which includes reviewing the published Medium Term Financial Plans.