Improved productivity could ease financial pressure on Met

Increasing officer productivity through innovation and investment could ease the tough choices required by the Met, the London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee has found.

The independent Policing Productivity Review, commissioned by the previous Government and published in November 2023, identified 26 recommendations that its authors say could, if implemented in full, free up approximately 38 million hours of police time each year within five years - equivalent in operational terms to around 20,000 additional officers across the UK.

However, the National Audit Office found that HM Treasury withdrew the investment funding originally provided to implement the Review from 2025-26, and the Home Office technology budget to support productivity was cut from £105 million in 2024-25 to £50 million in 2025-26.¹

The London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee has today written to the Mayor, calling on him to lobby the Government to seek restoration of this funding and secure sustained investment to support the delivery of productivity improvements across policing.

The Committee is also encouraging the Met to take part in the next iteration of the Home Office Police Activity Survey, or to develop an in-house method to track neighbourhood policing productivity. Home Office Police Activity Survey data (not including the Met) shows that within participating forces, neighbourhood officers spend on average 18 per cent of their time on patrol.

Neil Garratt AM, Chair of the London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee, said:

“The Policing Productivity Review had recommendations that, if implemented, could free up approximately 38 million hours of police time each year within five years - equivalent in operational terms to around 20,000 additional officers.

“We are all acutely aware of the pressures facing the Met, and a number of ‘tough choices’ which have led to a reduction in visible policing on our streets.

“We also heard in our investigation how data from other police forces show that neighbourhood officers are spending on average 18% of their working time actually on patrol.

“Though these figures do not include London, they demonstrate how threadbare neighbourhood policing has become when funding is limited and inefficiency creeps in. They demonstrate the importance of the Met exploring new and more productive ways of working, freeing up officer time, and getting neighbourhood police back on the streets.”

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