West Midlands Police is ‘ripped off’ as PCC calls for fairer funding

Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster told a meeting of the West Midlands Police & Crime Panel they were “disproportionately disadvantaged” in the way money is allocated by the government.

And he added improvements that had been achieved, such as reducing crime by 12.1 per cent, had been done so “against the odds”.

West Midlands Police received a Government grant of £629.2 million for 2024/25 and has a total budget of more than £650 million.

But Mr Foster said they had 1,300 fewer officers and PCSOs than in 2010 while some rural areas had more staff than at any time in their history.

He met with West Midlands MPs last month to appeal to them to help in changing the funding formula currently in place.

At the meeting on Monday, Mr Foster said: “One of the main reasons I did that was in order to brief them about the state of funding within West Midlands Police and the fact that WM Police is disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to the way national funding is allocated across the country.

“I was issuing a direct appeal to our MPs to them to ensure funding is more fairly allocated across the country because the fact of the matter is there are many police forces across the country from lower crime and rural areas that are far better advantaged when it comes to the way that national funding is allocated as compared with the West Midlands.

“It’s my view the West Midlands has been ripped off and is being shortchanged and has been for many years.

“We still have around 800 fewer officers than we did in 2010 and we still have around 500 PSCOs fewer than we did in 2010.

“In more rural areas, where crime is lower, some forces such as Norfolk, Kent and Surrey have more officers than they’ve ever had in their force history.

“Plainly that is not just, it’s not fair, it’s not equitable. I know those MPs understand policing, crime, and criminal justice are matters of significant importance to their constituents.

“If there is one thing they can do to influence and affect the ability of West Midlands Police’s to prevent, tackle and reduce crime and keep their constituents safe and secure it would be to ensure the reform of that funding formula.

“It’s wholly unacceptable that West Midlands Police receives funding that does not represent the need and demand, threat risk and need and vulnerability within the West Midlands.

“I do believe West Midlands Police has been delivering improvements but the truth is that is against the odds.

“Imagine what West Midlands Police could achieve if they benefited from fair funding.”