Met Police in crisis as 1,000 jobs to be axed amid huge £450m funding gap

London’s police force will begin axing jobs as it tackles a significant funding shortfall – despite New Scotland Yard warning of rising demand on officers. A letter, seen by the Daily Express from the forces’ Deputy Commissioner, has revealed that the UK’s largest police force is warning of ‘serious and immediate financial challenges’. It follows the closure of front desks across London last year, sparking fears of a reduced accessibility of the police around the city.

In the letter, the Deputy Commissioner warns that the Forces budget is ‘under significant pressure’ and references a funding gap of around £450 million last year. He goes on to say that officials now need ‘to close funding gaps of £100m this year’ and ‘potentially face a £125 million gap in 2027/8’.

Both the Mayor of London and the upper echelons of the Met Police Force have long called for an increased funding settlement for the capital’s law enforcement.

Some 3,300 officers and staff have been removed from the force over the past two years, with the letter warning this came ‘despite rising demand and increasing complexity of crime, threats and investigations’.

The Deputy Commissioner writes: “Yet the scale of the financial challenge we face means that over the course of this yeàr, we need to reduce the size of our workforce by around a further 1,000 posts.

“This challenge has built up over time as a result of successive governments’ underfunding of the Met’s capital city responsibilities.”

In the letter, which runs over several thousand words, he maintains that the Forces “priority remains to keep Londoners safe, protect the most vulnerable, and pursue those who pose the greatest threat.”

Gareth Roberts, a Liberal Democrat member of the London Assembly, said: “Sadiq Khan is failing to make the case for a properly funded police service in the capital.

“Yes, there’s been some more money but it barely touches the sides of what’s needed and, as a result, we’re facing yet more cuts to our already stretched police services.

“If Labour want to hold onto the London Mayoralty in 2028 they need to make sure the Met gets the money it needs to protect Londoners.”

London Conservative Party Leader Susan Hall AM said: Today’s update is disappointing, that as the Labour Government begins the early release of prisoners, the Met will begin the work to cut frontline policing as a result of chronic underfunding by Labour.

“It boils my blood that all of grandstanding by the Mayor over the Palantir contract – which was aimed at saving money to prevent these cuts – has not only scuppered any savings but actually cost more as a result of flipflopping, and exacerbated this issue.

“The Mayor will tell you that everything in London is fine, and that we are getting safer, but losing frontline officers puts us all at risk. I am angry for the officers who are simply trying to do their jobs, and I am furious with Lord Khan and the Labour Party for letting this happen at all.”

A Home Office spokesperson said: “This year, the Met will receive up to £4 billion – a 4.7% cash increase on last year.

“This is part of our record £18.4 billion investment in policing including getting thousands more neighbourhood police on the beat, cutting crime and catching criminals.”

A spokesperson for the Mayor of London said: “The Met’s difficult financial situation stems from 14 years of austerity implemented by the previous government, their huge cuts to core Met funding and long-term underfunding of the Met’s capital city responsibilities.

“Since coming to office in 2016, this Mayor has taken tough decisions every year to maximise what he can raise for policing via council tax, bolstering this further with funding from business rates. This has brought City Hall funding for policing to record levels – £1.26bn this year alone, double that provided by the Mayor’s predecessor in his final year in office. This record funding is boosting neighbourhood policing in our communities, introducing new technology – including E-bikes, drones and Live Facial Recognition – to help tackle mobile phone crime, and bearing down on violence against women and girls. Alongside that, the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Unit, hard work of officers and partnership work is helping to drive down homicides and neighbourhood crimes across the capital – building a safer London for all.

“The majority of decisions on the Met’s tough choice proposals this year are still to be made. The safety of Londoners is the Mayor’s top priority and Sadiq will continue to have ongoing discussions with Ministers and the Commissioner about the funding the Met needs to build on the significant crime reductions that have been achieved in the capital.”

A Met Police spokesperson said: “The Met is facing a serious and immediate financial challenge. Demand on policing has become increasingly complex, while funding has not kept pace. We have already delivered more than £1 billion in savings over the past decade, reduced reserves, sold assets and made significant workforce reductions, but we still face substantial financial pressures that require further difficult decisions.

“We have worked hard to protect the areas that matter most to Londoners, including neighbourhood policing, violence against women and girls, public protection and the work to improve culture and standards. However, having already exhausted many options away from the frontline, the scale of the challenge means we are now having to consider choices that will affect the way policing is delivered.

“We have an ambitious programme to bring forward new technology to minimise the impact of these changes as much as possible, but even so we will not be able to keep doing all that we currently do and so we will need to refocus much more on core policing roles and responsibilities.

“Despite this, our priority remains keeping London safe. We will continue to focus our resources on the issues that pose the greatest threat, harm and risk, and on tackling the most dangerous offenders. We will be clear with the public about the decisions we are having to make and the impact they may have, while continuing to work with officers, staff and partners to ensure we deliver the best possible service with the resources available to us.”