ANALYSIS: In the latest in our series of articles on the policing workforce in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett reviews the official data for the 2022/23 financial year, and explores some of the resulting challenges facing police forces – including the significant reduction in staff and PCSOs, the struggles for some around retention and resignations, and how to adapt to the ‘new normal’.

ANALYSIS: When the Government announced its intention to recruit an additional 20,000 officers in under four years, there were many who doubted it could be done, but the target has been surpassed by some way; with headcount grown by 20,951 from the November 2019 baseline, and only one force – the Metropolitan Police – failing to recruit its allocation, Ian Wiggett takes a deeper look at what all this means for the service.

ANALYSIS: Three years ago, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the ambitious Uplift plan to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers by April 2023, and despite significant political upheaval since, the Government remains ‘determined’ to keep to its pledge; in the last of this current series on UK police workforce structure, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett assesses whether that target will be met, and what comes next.

ANALYSIS: In the fourth in our latest series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the unique opportunity offered by the Uplift recruitment programme to increase diversity, the relatively small change that has resulted, and the more noticeable shift in workforce profile to a service that has become younger and less experienced.

ANALYSIS: In this third article in our latest series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales – and with the Government and current Home Secretary Suella Braverman remaining committed to the Uplift target of 20,000 new police officers by April 2023 – Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the ‘churn’ of officers joining and leaving the service, the increasing number of resignations, and the marketplace for inter-force transfers, and considers the implications of these factors for the service.

ANALYSIS: In this second article in our latest series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at police staff and police community support officer numbers, and the overall resource picture; while the public and politicians focus on the amount of police officers, forces are complex organisations, and overall capacity and capability depends on the combined staffing picture.

ANALYSIS: In this new article in our continuing series focusing on police workforce development in England and Wales, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the varying effects the Uplift recruitment programme has had on police officer numbers across different forces, and how potential new challenges around funding could significantly impact on some forces’ ability to meet both workforce and performance targets.

ANALYSIS: Recent upward trends in the size of the police workforce are welcome, but bring potential issues to be addressed down the line; in the latest in his series examining workforce changes, Ian Wiggett flags up how new training needs will emerge, why development opportunities are unlikely to keep pace with demand and ambitions – and that it really is true, officers are, indeed, getting younger.

ANALYSIS: The UK Government’s ‘Uplift’ initiative to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales is well underway, but the challenge of balancing new recruits with those leaving posts means not all forces are expanding at the same rate; in the latest in a series of articles on the police workforce, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at the key issues of service leavers and joiners, the pandemic effect and the need for more accurate data.

ANALYSIS: Policing in England and Wales is now over half way through the UK Government’s ‘Uplift’ initiative, designed to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by April 2023, but while the programme is already delivering significant workforce growth, not all forces or roles are experiencing the same expansion; in this second in a series of articles on the police workforce, Policing Insight’s Ian Wiggett looks at changes in the numbers of police community support officers and police staff, and what that means for the total workforce picture.

ANALYSIS: Almost two years after Prime Minister Boris Johnson pledged to recruit an 'Uplift' of 20,000 additional police officers, latest workforce figures show that the officer headcount has increased significantly; but in this first in a series of articles looking at the changing police workforce, Policing Insight's Ian Wiggett explains why a return to 2010 staffing levels will need to be more than just a numbers game, and how Government attempts to 'level up' could still leave a landscape of inequality.

ANALYSIS: A quarter of all police officers in England & Wales now have less than five years’ service, and one in 10 is in their first year in the job; in the second of two articles examining the changing nature of the policing workforce, Ian Wiggett reveals the dramatic shift in length of service and experience, the risks and opportunities it creates, and how forces can respond.

ANALYSIS: While the most recent police workforce statistics in England & Wales show a steady rise towards the UK Government's 20,000 officer uplift target, the figures also reveal growing numbers of officers resigning from the job mid-service; in this first of two articles, Ian Wiggett explores the national and regional trends, their impact, and what forces can do about police officer retention.

ANALYSIS: For the final article in our series on police workforce numbers in England & Wales, Ian Wiggett revisits his first article, which forecast likely officer numbers for each force in 2023, to take into account data just published by the Home Office that clarifies the calculations used to measure progress in recruiting the planned 20,000 uplift in officers.

Analysis: In the fourth article of our series looking at police workforce numbers in England and Wales, Ian Wiggett examines the current police funding formula and how it increases disparity between forces, impacting decisions, including recruitment.

Analysis: Mixed teams of officers and staff are commonplace in UK policing, but civilian staff numbers have fallen significantly while police officer numbers are set to swell by an additional 20,000. In the third article of this series, Ian Wiggett examines the implications this shift towards more officers will have for policing.

Analysis: During austerity, some UK police forces lost over 50 per cent of their PCSOs and more than a quarter of their police staff employees. In the second article in our series on the nature of the UK's police workforce, we examine how the change in police staff and PCSO numbers over the past decade reflects a shift in attitudes towards civilianisation, outsourcing of staff and PCSOs.

Analysis: A decade of falling police officer numbers in England and Wales has been a continuous focus of concern. In a new series of articles Ian Wiggett analyses where the cuts have been felt the deepest and the implications for the workforce mix. This first article looks at how police officer numbers and the total size of the workforce have changed for each force since 2010 and what the picture is likely to look like in 2023.