Starmer pledges 3,000 new neighbourhood police officers by start of 2026

10 April 2025, 15:52

The Prime Minister has announced plans to deploy a “named, contactable” officer to every area as the Government pushes to improve neighbourhood policing with a £200 million investment.

Sir Keir Starmer has said there will be 3,000 new neighbourhood police officers “by the start of next year”.

The plans will also include a “named, contactable” officer for every area as the Government pushes to improve neighbourhood policing with a £200 million investment.

Derbyshire, Yorkshire and Somerset are among the counties to see an increase in officer numbers comprising both police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs).

The Prime Minister told police officers at an event in Cambridgeshire: “I want you to have the tools that you need to do the job that we ask you to do.

“With our neighbourhood policing guarantee, we’ll deliver 13,000 new neighbourhood officers by 2029.

“And today I can announce the first step, 3,000 new neighbourhood officers by the start of next year – all of them visible, on the beat and serving their communities, not stuck behind a desk, or taken away to plug shortages from elsewhere.

“And from this July, so a few months’ time, every neighbourhood will have a named, contactable officer."

This move is part of the government’s broader Plan for Change and Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, designed to "restore confidence in policing and deliver security for working people."

Sir Keir continued: “They’ll have guaranteed police patrols in town centres and hot spots, particularly at peak times like Friday and Saturday nights.

“People will be able to go online and measure how their local neighbourhood team is performing. There will be a range of ways for local residents and businesses to raise their concerns and to demand change from their neighbourhood policing team.”

The government promises that, under these plans, communities "will be safer and trust in local policing will be restored."

“People will be able to go online and measure how their local neighbourhood team is performing. There will be a range of ways for local residents and businesses to raise their concerns and to demand change from their neighbourhood policing team,"

Sir Keir said the “culture of crime that is destroying our communities” must be brought to an end.

He said: “I’m sure you’ve all heard this, but all of my career, whether as a lawyer, a prosecutor or a politician, people have said to me, ‘anti-social behaviour… it’s low-level crime’.

“Well, it isn’t. It really affects individuals, their families and their communities, inhibits what they could do.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the Government is “determined to rebuild neighbourhood policing”.

Also speaking in Cambridgeshire, she said: “So to set out the new neighbourhood policing guarantee today, the named, contactable officers, the additional plans for neighbourhood policing in every region and restoring that principle of officers and PCSOs, who know their local communities, work with local businesses and communities to solve problems and prevent crimes and to target repeat offenders and gather that intelligence to convict criminals and get justice.”

Kemi Badenoch questioned Labour’s figures in its plans to boost the number of neighbourhood police officers.

Pointing to the rise in national insurance contributions, she added: “It is less than the £118 million that the police service is going to be paying for the jobs tax.”

Asked if the Tories could still claim to be the party of “law and order” after police numbers fell under the Conservative government, Mrs Badenoch said: “Yes. Absolutely we can.

“We also brought in 20,000 new police officers after 2019, and one of the things that I emphasise is that we wouldn’t have released prisoners early in the way that Labour have done.”

The Government’s new Police Standards and Performance Improvement Unit will aim to ensure police performance is consistently and accurately measured, to narrow the gap between the best and worst performing forces.

Through the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill, new powers will be given to police so they can better tackle crimes including giving police the power to seize vehicles and go after phone thieves by removing the warrant to search properties where stolen items have been electronically geolocated.

The measures, announced today, include:

• Each neighbourhood will have named, contactable officers to tackle the issues facing their communities, helping to restore trust that policing is working to keep people safe and meaning no community feels ignored when they need help. 
• Every neighbourhood in England and Wales will have dedicated teams who will spend their time on the beat with guaranteed police patrols in town centres and other hotspot areas at peak times such as Friday and Saturday nights. 
• There will be a dedicated antisocial behaviour lead in every force, working with residents and businesses to develop tailored action plans to tackle record levels of antisocial behaviour, which is blighting communities.

'Havoc'

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: "Everyone deserves to feel safe and secure on the streets they call home. It is just about the most basic right that anyone would expect.

"Yet for years crimes such as shoplifting and antisocial behaviour have wreaked havoc on our neighbourhoods. Policing has become reactive, picking up the pieces after crimes have occurred.

"Britain deserves better.

"It should not matter where you live – everyone deserves local, visible policing they can trust, and with our Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will end this postcode lottery, putting prevention back at the heart of policing and ensuring police are back on the streets.

"That’s why our Plan for Change is delivering security for working people in their communities with a return to neighbourhood policing, putting thousands of bobbies back on the beat and keeping people safe."

'Feeling abandoned'

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said: "The heartbeat of our Great British policing tradition is seeing bobbies on the beat, but for too long, too many communities have been feeling abandoned as crime soared and neighbourhood police disappeared, even when local crimes like shop theft, street theft or blatant drug dealing rose sharply.

"That’s why this government is determined to get police back on the beat and into our town centres. 

"It should not matter where you live – everyone deserves local, visible policing they can trust, and with our Plan for Change and Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee we will tackle this postcode lottery and restore policing to our communities."