Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the police funding formula in meeting the needs of rural police forces.

The majority of public funding for police forces in England and Wales is provided by the Home Office and is agreed by the House of Commons on an annual basis at the police funding settlement. Each year the Home Office produces a Police Grant Report which is published and voted on by Parliament and contains grant funding allocations for the following year to be paid out under the Police Act 1996. The funding formula used for distributing Home Office Police Main Grant divides funds between different activities that the police undertake. A portion of total funding is also distributed according to population sparsity, to address the specific needs of rural forces. A copy of the most recent Grant Report for 2026-27 has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and can be found online:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6979db5b316fd8f8015520ad/E03528744_-_HC_1638_-_Police_Grant_Report_2026-27_BOOKMARKED.pdf

The Police Reform White Paper confirmed that we will review the formula once the implementation of police reform is underway so that the new formula reflects the new police force structures.

Reviewing the funding formula is an opportunity to review and update the factors that drive relative demand on modern police budgets for all forces – whether rural, urban or a blend of the two. Next steps of this review will be set out after the Independent Review of structures has reported.