Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the was value of the special grant (a) applied for and (b) received by West Mercia Police in each of the last five financial years including 2026-27.

The Police Special Grant is contingency funding held by the Home Office to support policing with the additional costs of unexpected additional events or complex investigations.

Home Office publishes the applications and decisions taken on Special Grant; data up to 2023/24 can be found at the link below:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/police-funding-special-grant-applications

In 2024/25 the West Mercia PCC requested £3.3m of Special Grant funding for the additional costs of Operation Lincoln and was awarded £1.5m.

In 2025/26 the West Mercia PCC requested £2.9m and was awarded up to £1.7m.

A request for funding in 2026/27 has been received and a decision will be confirmed in due course.