Police officer uplift, England and Wales, quarterly update to 31 March 2023
Published 26 April 2023
Applies to England and Wales
© Crown copyright 2023
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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-officer-uplift-quarterly-update-to-march-2023/police-officer-uplift-england-and-wales-quarterly-update-to-31-march-2023
Frequency of release: Quarterly
Forthcoming releases: Home Office statistics release calendar
Home Office responsible statistician: Jodie Hargreaves
Press enquiries: 0300 123 3535
Public enquiries: policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk
Introduction
This release contains information on the recruitment of an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales by March 2023.
149,572 officers provisional headcount as at 31 March 2023, England and Wales.
+20,951 (of +20,000 additional officers by March 2023) provisional uplift figure as at 31 March 2023, England and Wales.
Key findings
Provisional data shows that there were 149,572 officers in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales as at 31 March 2023. This was an increase of 21,139 officers on the adjusted baseline (see glossary) of 128,433.
Of these additional officers:
-
20,951 have been recruited from funding for the Police Uplift Programme and contributed towards the target of 20,000 by March 2023 (16% above the baseline)
-
a further 188 additional officers have been recruited through other funding (such as from local council tax precept)
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forces across England and Wales have met the ‘total uplift allocation’ of 20,000 additional officers by March 2023
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of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, 42 have met or exceeded their force’s allocation of additional officers
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the current police officer headcount in England and Wales (149,572 officers) as at 31 March 2023, is the highest number of police officers on record since comparable records began
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the current headcount is 3,542 (2.4%) greater than the previous peak of 146,030 officers in post as at 31 March 2010
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the allocation of 725 additional officers to be deployed to Regional and Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) by March 2023 has been met
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since April 2020, more than 4 in 10 new recruits (43.2%) were female and 11.4% (who stated their ethnicity) identified as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities)
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274,951 applications to become a police officer have been received since October 2019
Figure 1 shows, by month, a steady increase in the number of police officers recruited towards the target of 20,000 by March 2023.
Figure 1: Officers recruited into uplift
Figure 1 shows over the latest quarter (between January and March 2023), there was a net increase of 4,214 uplift officers compared with December 2022. This is the largest quarter-on-quarter increase since the programme began. In the latest quarter, the total number of officers recruited towards uplift increased each month. The majority of the increase over the latest quarter was seen in the month of March, where the headcount of officers recruited towards the uplift increased by 2,407 compared with February 2023. This is the largest month-on-month increase since the programme began. Officer recruitment levels vary by month, showing different seasonal and recruitment patterns of individual forces.
1. Introduction
The current government made a manifesto commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales by 31 March 2023. This quarterly release provides information on the recruitment of these additional officers and data is provided for each of the 43 territorial police force in England and Wales on a monthly basis.
This release also contains information on the demographics of police officers in post as at 31 March 2023 in England and Wales, and of new recruits since April 2020. Following improvements to police force Human Resource (HR) systems to collect a broader range of information on protected characteristics many officers are yet to update their HR records and, therefore data is not currently complete. As such, the diversity section of this release only focuses on the protected characteristics of sex, ethnicity and age, where the data is more complete and reliable. For more information on these changes to force HR systems see chapter 3.3.
In addition, since July 2021, statistics are included in Annex A of this release to provide information on the proportion of officers broken down by sexual orientation and disability status.
This publication has been labelled as National Statistics[footnote 1] by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR), meaning these statistics comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
1.1 Data collection and publication
Home Office statisticians have worked closely with police colleagues working on the Police Uplift Programme to collect and quality assure data for this publication. Data is taken from police forces’ HR systems and is collected on a monthly basis from each of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales.
Data is published on a quarterly basis (January, April, July and October), each year within this recruitment programme. The aim is that each bulletin provides provisional data for the most recent quarter, and finalised data for previous quarters. This publication reports on whether the 20,000 additional officers have been provisionally met as at 31 March 2023. Further information can be found in chapter 3 of this publication.
This is the penultimate (second from the last) release in this statistical series. The final publication in this statistical series will be released in July 2023, alongside the biannual Police workforce, England and Wales statistical bulletin, and will cover finalised data to March 2023. Following that, this statistical series on the police officer uplift will stop, and reporting on the size and composition of the police workforce will continue on a biannual basis in the Police workforce, England and Wales statistical bulletin.
1.2 Revisions
At the time of publication, data for the most recent quarter is provisional and subject to change in future releases, when they will be finalised. Table 1.1 shows revisions made to the headcount of police officers in post, since the last quarterly release.
Table 1.1: Summary of officers in post (headcount) revisions
| Month | Headcount of officers in post published in ‘quarter to December 2022’ bulletin | Updated headcount | Difference (headcount) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2022 | 145,714 | 145,706 | -8 |
| Dec 2022 | 145,658 | 145,642 | -16 |
As the police uplift programme came to an end in March 2023, the Home Office and National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) have carried out additional reconciliation to quality assure data provided through the monthly ‘police uplift returns’. This has resulted in revisions to the number of new recruits. Table 1.2 shows revisions made to the number of new recruits since the last quarterly release. The majority of these revisions are from the Metropolitan Police Service, which had included transfers as new recruits towards the start of the programme.
Table 1.2: Summary of new recruits (headcount) revisions
| Month | Headcount of new recruits published in ‘quarter to December 2022’ bulletin | Updated headcount | Difference (headcount) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 2019 | 1,164 | 1,137 | -27 |
| Dec 2019 | 614 | 567 | -47 |
| Jan 2020 | 1,286 | 1,256 | -30 |
| Feb 2020 | 1,123 | 1,109 | -14 |
| Mar 2020 | 2,242 | 2,228 | -14 |
| Apr 2020 | 804 | 732 | -72 |
| May 2020 | 773 | 704 | -69 |
| Jun 2020 | 1,321 | 1,308 | -13 |
| Jul 2020 | 1,574 | 1,553 | -21 |
| Aug 2020 | 768 | 757 | -11 |
| Sep 2020 | 1,006 | 990 | -16 |
| Oct 2020 | 899 | 894 | -5 |
| Nov 2020 | 872 | 869 | -3 |
| Feb 2021 | 871 | 873 | +2 |
| Mar 2021 | 1,519 | 1,517 | -2 |
The number of new recruits by protected characteristics, since April 2020, has also been updated to show these revisions. Data can be found in the accompanying new recruits open data table.
1.3 Additional data sources
The data in this release can be found in the ‘Police officer uplift, England and Wales, March 2023’ data tables. In addition to these data tables, information on the number of police officers (headcount) and new joiners by ethnicity, sex and age group for each month since April 2020 are published in an open data format. Future editions in this series will be available on the statistical collection page ‘Police officer uplift statistics’.
National Statistics on the police workforce, including full-time equivalent (FTE) figures and information on other worker types, are published biannually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin. Information on how the presentation of data differs between the 2 publications can be found in Annex B of this publication.
The Home Office launched the ‘Police Uplift Programme New Recruits Onboarding Survey’ to improve understanding of the retention of newly recruited police officers (officers remaining in positions) and published the Police Uplift Programme New Recruits Onboarding Survey 2021 Report in August 2022 and Police Uplift Programme New Recruits Onboarding Survey 2022 Report in February 2023.
1.4 National Statistics status
This publication was labelled as National Statistics[footnote 1] by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) in October 2022. This means these statistics comply with the Code of Practice for Statistics. For further details about the OSR’s recommendations and actions taken by the Home Office see the Annex accompanying the National Statistics designation letter.
2. Allocations and Baseline
2.1 Baseline
The first release in this statistical series, published on 30 April 2020, set out the methodology for calculating a starting figure (or baseline) against which the recruitment of an additional 20,000 officers would be measured.
While the announcement to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales was made in September 2019, we are not using the police workforce statistics as at 30 September 2019 (published on 30 January 2020) as the initial baseline. This is because most forces already had plans to increase their workforce during the financial year ending 31 March 2020 following recruitment funded by planned local council tax precept increases.
A full explanation of this decision, alongside further details on the baseline methodology, and in-year adjustments made since, can be found in the statistical note ‘Plans for statistical reporting on progress with the recruitment of an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales’, and previous versions of this statistical series.
Throughout the duration of the recruitment programme small adjustments to the baseline figure are expected as externally funded posts move from one organisation to another as a part of organisational re-structuring (such as posts transferring out of a territorial force to the National Crime Agency). The baseline figure for which recruitment of an additional 20,000 officers is measured is 128,433.
Detailed figures for each Police Force Area, including in-year adjustments, can be found in Table B1 of the accompanying data tables.
2.2 Allocations
Funding to support the initial allocation of 6,000 additional officers was given to police forces for recruitment in the year ending 31 March 2021, and an allocation (and associated funding) for a further 6,000 was announced for the year ending 31 March 2022. The second ‘wave’ of the programme included an allocation of 270 officers specifically to tackle Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) and an allocation of 30 officers to City of London Police specifically to ‘uplift’ officers tackling fraud nationally (in addition to the territorial policing uplift allocation City of London Police received).
An allocation (and associated funding) for the final 8,000 additional officers (to bring the total to 20,000) was given to police forces for recruitment in the year ending 31 March 2023. This allocation of 8,000 officers includes 425 officers to SOC (to bring the total number of officers specifically allocated to SOC, including fraud, to 725). As in year 2 of the programme, funding for tackling SOC is shared across the network of Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) hosted within specific territorial forces. The share of SOC officers are included in the total force allocations and monitored regionally in the ROCUs.
A proportional split of the total funding to support the police uplift was made across forces based on the police funding formula and this was used to allocate the 20,000 additional police officers across police forces. Forces that receive a larger proportion of funding through the police funding formula have therefore been allocated a larger number of uplift officers to recruit. Outside of this methodology, City of London Police were provided an additional 30 officers, as mentioned above, to strengthen the national response to fraud. Information on the allocations given to individual police forces can be found in Table B1.
2.3 What counts as uplift?
Each police force has a baseline figure and allocation for recruitment by March 2023 (Table B1). Police forces are required to backfill any leavers throughout the duration of the programme, as well as recruiting the additional officers allocated to them through the uplift funding before the recruitment goals can be met. Detailed information on police officer leavers are published in the biannual Police workforce, England and Wales statistical bulletin.
Additional recruitment through local funds
Forces may also choose to recruit additional officers through local funds (such as council tax precept). Where this is the case, and within each financial year, additional officers counting towards uplift are recruited first, and then further additional recruits count towards locally funded officers. Table U3 contains information on locally funded officers.
3. Officer uplift to 31 March 2023
As at 31 March 2023, provisional data shows that there were 149,572 officers in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. This is an increase of 21,139 officers against the adjusted baseline (128,433). Of these additional officers, 20,951 are through the uplift programme (a 16% increase on the adjusted baseline), and the remaining 188 through local funding (see chapter 2 for further details).
Allocations to forces include a combined total of 725 officers specifically to tackle Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) to be achieved by the end of the 3-year programme (March 2023). This includes 30 officers to City of London Police specifically to strengthen the national response to fraud. Funding for tackling SOC is shared across the network of Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs). ROCUs require more experienced police officers and therefore forces will release existing police officers to ROCUs and replace them with the additional officers recruited via the Police Uplift Programme to ensure overall workforce growth. The allocation of 725 additional officers deployed to Regional and Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) by March 2023 has been met.
Collection of data for the monitoring of uplift started in October 2019. Figure 3.1 shows how officer numbers have steadily increased every quarter, to 149,572 as at 31 March 2023 (up from 145,642 as at 31 December 2022). The current police officer headcount in England and Wales (149,572 officers) as at 31 March 2023, is the highest number of police officers on record since comparable records began. The current headcount is 3,542 (2.4%) greater than the previous peak of 146,030 officers in post as at 31 March 2010.
Figure 3.1 shows officer numbers have increased in 36 of the 42 months since September 2019, with the exceptions being December 2020, 2021 and 2022; April 2021 and 2022; and July 2022 where total officer numbers dipped slightly compared to the previous month. This is due to more leavers than joiners in the months at the end of the calendar year and start of the financial year, and in July 2022. Further information on how recruitment levels can vary throughout the year is included in chapter 3.1.
Figure 3.1: Number of police officers1, 31 March 2019 to 31 March 2023, England and Wales
Source: Table U1
Note:
- Data for the most recent quarter (January to March 2023) is provisional and subject to change in future releases of this statistics series, when they will be finalised.
3.1 Officers counting towards uplift
Recruitment from funds raised through council tax precept in each year of the programme (as well as recruitment funded by other means) is taken into account when calculating the number of uplift officers. This ensures officers funded through means other than the uplift programme are not counted towards the 20,000 target.
Table 3.1 shows the number of officers in England and Wales at the end of every month for which programme data has been collected. The table also shows how this figure relates to the adjusted baseline, and how many additional officers are through the uplift programme.
Table 3.1: Headcount and uplift position, by month, England and Wales
| Month | Headcount as at the end of the month | Adjusted baseline | Officers counting towards uplift recruitment | Additional officers under precept | Total change from adjusted baseline |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2019 | 127,562 | 128,434 | -872 | - | -872 |
| Nov 2019 | 128,351 | 128,434 | -83 | - | -83 |
| Dec 2019 | 128,596 | 128,434 | +162 | - | +162 |
| Jan 2020 | 129,305 | 128,434 | +871 | - | +871 |
| Feb 2020 | 129,913 | 128,434 | +1,479 | - | +1,479 |
| Mar 2020 | 131,576 | 128,434 | +3,142 | - | +3,142 |
| Apr 2020 | 131,858 | 128,434 | +3,424 | - | +3,424 |
| May 2020 | 132,200 | 128,434 | +3,631 | +135 | +3,766 |
| Jun 2020 | 133,131 | 128,434 | +4,379 | +318 | +4,697 |
| Jul 2020 | 134,197 | 128,434 | +5,201 | +562 | +5,763 |
| Aug 2020 | 134,425 | 128,434 | +5,333 | +658 | +5,991 |
| Sep 2020 | 134,879 | 128,434 | +5,867 | +578 | +6,445 |
| Oct 2020 | 135,215 | 128,434 | +6,305 | +476 | +6,781 |
| Nov 2020 | 135,623 | 128,434 | +6,877 | +312 | +7,189 |
| Dec 2020 | 135,247 | 128,434 | +6,623 | +190 | +6,813 |
| Jan 2021 | 136,206 | 128,434 | +7,439 | +333 | +7,772 |
| Feb 2021 | 136,676 | 128,434 | +7,823 | +419 | +8,242 |
| Mar 2021 | 137,690 | 128,434 | +8,772 | +484 | +9,256 |
| Apr 2021 | 137,614 | 128,434 | +8,854 | +326 | +9,180 |
| May 2021 | 137,989 | 128,434 | +9,229 | +326 | +9,555 |
| Jun 2021 | 138,573 | 128,434 | +9,823 | +316 | +10,139 |
| Jul 2021 | 138,759 | 128,434 | +9,979 | +346 | +10,325 |
| Aug 2021 | 139,318 | 128,434 | +10,526 | +358 | +10,884 |
| Sep 2021 | 139,920 | 128,434 | +11,076 | +410 | +11,486 |
| Oct 2021 | 140,125 | 128,434 | +11,277 | +414 | +11,691 |
| Nov 2021 | 140,351 | 128,434 | +11,446 | +471 | +11,917 |
| Dec 2021 | 139,938 | 128,434 | +11,058 | +446 | +11,504 |
| Jan 2022 | 140,700 | 128,453 | +11,787 | +460 | +12,247 |
| Feb 2022 | 140,963 | 128,453 | +12,035 | +475 | +12,510 |
| Mar 2022 | 142,505 | 128,453 | +13,566 | +486 | +14,052 |
| Apr 2022 | 141,844 | 128,453 | +12,905 | +486 | +13,391 |
| May 2022 | 142,177 | 128,453 | +13,231 | +493 | +13,724 |
| Jun 2022 | 142,747 | 128,453 | +13,779 | +515 | +14,294 |
| Jul 2022 | 142,690 | 128,453 | +13,717 | +520 | +14,237 |
| Aug 2022 | 142,972 | 128,453 | +13,991 | +528 | +14,519 |
| Sep 2022 | 144,346 | 128,453 | +15,333 | +560 | +15,893 |
| Oct 2022 | 145,482 | 128,433 | +16,563 | +486 | +17,049 |
| Nov 2022 | 145,706 | 128,433 | +16,787 | +486 | +17,273 |
| Dec 2022 | 145,642 | 128,433 | +16,737 | +472 | +17,209 |
| Jan 2023 | 146,944 | 128,433 | +18,024 | +487 | +18,511 |
| Feb 2023 | 147,464 | 128,433 | +18,544 | +487 | +19,031 |
| Mar 2023 | 149,572 | 128,433 | +20,951 | +188 | +21,139 |
Source: Table U1, Table U2, Table U3
The main milestones in the 3-year programme are as at 31 March 2021 (additional 6,000 officers), 31 March 2022 (a total of 12,000 additional officers), and 31 March 2023 (20,000 additional officers in total). As at 31 March 2023, forces exceeded the 20,000 additional officer target by 951 nationally across England and Wales; 20,951 additional police officers as at 31 March 2023 have been recruited from funding for the Police Uplift Programme. This is an increase of 4,214 additional officers on the number recorded at the end of the previous quarter (16,737).
Nationally forces have met the total uplift allocation to recruit 20,000 additional officers in England and Wales by March 2023, and 42 of the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales met or exceeded their force’s allocation of additional officers. One force, the Metropolitan Police Service, did not meet its total uplift allocation. The force missed its allocation of 4,557 additional officers, by 1,089 (23.9%).
The number of officers in each police force by month can vary depending on fluctuations in recruitment and retention. Some forces run the majority of their recruitment at a particular point in the year as it may be more efficient to do so, whereas other forces may choose to recruit more consistently and continuously throughout the year. These decisions will vary depending on the size and composition of the force and the number of new officers they are seeking to recruit. Therefore, while this release reports on the position of each force at the end of each month, up to the final milestone of March 2023, it should not be used to compare the progress of one force against another nor should it be used to project future recruitment profiles nationally.
Detailed figures on the uplift position of each Police Force Area, can be found in Table U2 of the accompanying data tables.
3.2 All new recruits
Not all new recruits will be counted as progress towards uplift, as forces must maintain their baseline by recruiting to backfill any leavers. The number of new recruits therefore exceeds the number of officers counting towards uplift, as some of these were recruited to backfill leavers, or to achieve other recruitment commitments. Figure 3.2 shows the total number of new recruits per month since data collection began in November 2019 (accurate data for all forces was not available prior to that). These figures include all new recruits, a combination of officers recruited under precept funding, those recruited against uplift, as well as others recruited to backfill any leavers. However, these figures do not include those returning to the police service after a period of absence and do not include transfers between forces and should not be used to work out the actual number of leavers. Detailed information on police officer leavers is published in the biannual Police workforce, England and Wales statistical bulletin.
Figure 3.2 shows, since November 2019, there have been 46,505 new recruits to the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales, with 5,771 of these joining in the latest quarter (January to March 2023). In March 2023 there were 2,667 new recruits, the highest number of new recruits in a calendar month since the programme began. Officer recruitment levels vary by month, showing the different recruitment patterns of individual forces. In the months of April and December levels of recruitment are lower, showing a seasonal trend of fewer joiners at the start of the financial year and at the end of the calendar year (coinciding with the Christmas period). Data for individual police forces can be found in the data tables that accompany this publication.
Figure 3.2: Number of police officer recruits, by month, England and Wales
Source: Table U4
Note:
- This data does not include those returning to the Police Service after a period of absence, or transfers.
3.3 Diversity
Information on protected characteristics
As part of the initiative to improve data on the police workforce, the Home Office, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) and the College of Policing have been collaborating in developing National Standards for Workforce Data. The data standards use existing harmonised standards set out by the Government Statistical Service and aim to bring more standardisation within policing for the collection of data on protected characteristics (and some other demographic information). The variables currently covered by the Standards are: Ethnicity, Age, Religion or Belief, Disability, Sexual Orientation, Gender, Sex, and Gender Reassignment.
Information on protected characteristics is self-reported by officers on police force HR systems. Recent changes to police force HR systems to align with the new data standards have allowed all staff the opportunity to review existing records and declare further information on protected characteristics. As many officers are yet to update their HR records, data against some of the protected characteristics is not currently complete.
As at 31 March 2023, all officers had recorded information on their sex and age, and there was a relatively high completion rate for information on ethnicity (97.1% complete as at 31 March 2023). As such the diversity section of this release focuses on the protected characteristics of sex, ethnicity and age only, where the data was more complete and reliable. Annex A of this release includes information on the proportion of officers broken down by sexual orientation and disability status.
The Home Office and NPCC continues to work with police forces to encourage all staff to enter this information and improve the quality of data collected on protected characteristics. We therefore expect to see increases in the proportion of officers where their protected characteristics are known, as HR records are updated. Whilst the final publication in this statistical series will be released in July 2023, following that, this statistical series on the police officer uplift will be retired, and reporting on the size and composition of the police workforce will continue on a biannual basis in the Police workforce, England and Wales statistical bulletin. We expect to see improvements to the quality and completeness of protected characteristics in future Police workforce, England and Wales statistical bulletins.
Information on sex and gender
Following the expansion of the data collection to align with the new data standards, the Home Office and NPCC became aware that forces were inconsistent in the reporting of gender data, with most forces instead reporting on sex. The NPCC continues to work closely with forces to ensure greater consistency in the reporting of sex and gender.
Data on the legal sex and gender of all officers in post at the end of each quarter, and of new recruits has been collected since 1 April 2020. Data on sex is collected under 2 categories (‘male’ and ‘female’). As at 31 March 2023, the sex of all officers in post has been recorded on police force HR systems. While this chapter focusses on the legal sex of officers only (as this data is most complete), data on gender is available in the data tables, but are less well complete (48.5% complete as at 31 March 2023).
Data on the legal sex of new recruits and officers in post prior to April 2020 is published annually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, the latest of which covers the period to 31 March 2022.
Information on ethnicity
Until May 2021, data on ethnicity was collected aggregated to 5 broader categories (White, Black, Asian, Mixed, Other and ‘prefer not to say’) aligning with the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Census 2011 classification. Since May 2021 (when the new data standards were implemented), data on ethnicity has been collected at the more detailed level, using the ONS Census 2011 18+1 ethnic groups. Furthermore, since December 2022, data on ethnicity has been collected aligning to the ONS Census 2021 19+1 ethnic groups. For officers in post as at 31 March 2023, the data is available in Table U6b.
Data on the ethnicity of all officers in post at the end of each quarter, and of new recruits has been collected since 1 April 2020. Relatively high proportions of officers in post had recorded their ethnicity on police force HR systems (97.1% as at 31 March 2023).
Data on the ethnicity of new recruits and officers in post prior to April 2020 is published annually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, the latest of which covers the period to 31 March 2022.
Census data
This publication compares to the ONS 2021 Census population estimates following the release of the data in November 2022. The ONS 2011 Census estimated 14.0% of the general population in England and Wales identified as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities). This proportion has increased, the 2021 Census estimates 18.3% of the population identify as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities), an increase of 4.3 percentage points compared to 2011.
Information on age
Following improvements to the completeness of the data, the proportions of both total officers and new joiners since 1 April 2020 have been broken down by age group in the diversity section of these statistics. As at 31 March 2023, all officers had recorded their age on police force HR systems. Data on the age of police staff and a historic time series of police officers by age group is also published annually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, the latest of which covers the period to 31 March 2022.
Diversity of those in post as at 31 March 2023, England and Wales
As at 31 March 2023, in England and Wales there were 53,083 female officers in post, accounting for 35.5% of officers, an increase on last quarter (35.1%). This is the highest number and proportion of female officers in post since comparable records began. By comparison, as at 31 March 2019 (before the programme began) 31.7% of officers were female.
As at 31 March 2023, 12,087 officers identified as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities) in England and Wales, representing 8.3% of those who stated their ethnicity. This is the highest number and proportion of ethnic minority officers in post since comparable records began. By comparison, as at 31 March 2019 (before the programme began) 6.9% of officers who stated their ethnicity identified as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities).
Looking across each individual ethnic group, of all officers in England and Wales who stated an ethnicity: 3.8% identified as Asian, 1.3% as Black, 2.6% as Mixed and 0.7% as ‘Other’. These rates were all lower than the proportion seen in the general population (based on the 2021 ONS Census), as shown in table 3.2.
Table 3.2: Number of officers in post (headcount) as at 31 March 2023, by ethnicity, England and Wales
| Ethnic group | Number of officers (headcount) | Percentage (%) of all officers (not including where ethnicity was not stated) | Percentage (%) of local population based on the 2021 Census population estimates |
|---|---|---|---|
| White | 133,221 | 91.7 | 81.7 |
| Black | 1,900 | 1.3 | 4.0 |
| Asian | 5,472 | 3.8 | 9.3 |
| Mixed | 3,738 | 2.6 | 2.9 |
| Other | 977 | 0.7 | 2.1 |
| Prefer not to say | 2,585 | - | - |
| Unknown | 1,679 | - | - |
Source: Table U6a, ONS 2021 Census
In general, the larger metropolitan police forces with the most ethnically diverse local populations had a higher proportion of officers identifying as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities). For example, the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) had the highest proportion of officers in ethnic minority groups (not including white minorities), with 17.2% as such, an improvement on last quarter (0.2 percentage point). This was followed by West Midlands Police (13.9%), who saw a 0.1 percentage point increase when compared with the previous quarter, and Bedfordshire Police (10.8%) who saw a 0.5 percentage point improvement on the last quarter. However, these proportions still remained below the proportion of residents in each of these areas who identified as belonging to one of these ethnic groups (46.3%, 38.6% and 28.0% respectively) at the time of the 2021 Census.
The MPS and West Midlands Police also appeared amongst the 3 forces with the highest proportion of Black, Asian or Mixed officers when considering each ethnicity group individually. MPS had the highest proportion of officers identifying as Black (3.7%) and Mixed (4.3%). West Midlands meanwhile recorded the highest proportion of officers identifying as Asian (8.9%), with MPS recording the second highest (7.3%). However, these proportions were all below the representation of those ethnic groups in their respective resident populations. The 2021 census estimates show that in the MPS, 13.5% of the local population identified as Black, 20.7% as Asian and 5.7% as Mixed. Meanwhile, 22.9% of the local population in the West Midlands police force area identified as Asian.
North Wales Police and Cumbria Police had the smallest proportion (1.2% and 1.5% respectively) of officers identifying as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities), reflecting the relatively small numbers of these groups’ resident in those areas according to the 2021 Census (3.2% and 2.4% respectively).
Figure 3.3 shows that as at 31 March 2023, over half (59%) of all police officers were aged 40 or under, with 13% of all officers aged 25 and under. Meanwhile, 39% of all officers were between aged 41 and 55 with the remaining 2% aged 56 or over.
Figure 3.3: Number and proportion of police officers, by age group, as at 31 March 2019 and 31 March 2023, England and Wales
Source: Table U9
By comparison, as at 31 March 2019 (before the programme began) 54% of all police officers were aged 40 or under, with 7% of all officers aged 25 and under. However, over this period (between March 2019 and March 2023), officer numbers have increased across all 4 age groups.
Data for individual forces can be found in Tables U5-U10 of the accompanying data tables and the number of officers in post by protected characteristic for each month since April 2020 can be found in the accompanying accompanying open data table. Similar data as at 31 March each year is published annually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
Diversity of new recruits since April 2020
Since April 2020 there has been a total of 40,208 new recruits to police forces in England and Wales. Of these, 17,357 were female, making up 43.2% of all new recruits where sex is known. Whilst this remains below their representation in the general population (where females made up 51% of residents in England and Wales) this was a notable increase on levels seen in previous years. The annual workforce statistics for the financial year ending 31 March 2020 (towards the beginning of the police uplift programme) showed 36.9% of new police joiners were female (not including transfers and re-joiners).
With regard to ethnicity, 4,425 new recruits identified as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities), equating to 11.4%. Breaking this down further 1.6% of new recruits identified as belonging to a Black ethnic group, 5.4% to the Asian ethnic group, 3.4% identified as a Mixed ethnicity, and 0.9% identified as belonging to Other ethnic group. This proportion of 11.4% remained below the representation of such ethnic groups in the general population (18.3% according to 2021 Census estimates) but an improvement on the 10.3% (not including transfers and re-joiners) that we reported in the annual workforce statistics for the financial year ending 31 March 2020 (during the early stages of the uplift programme).
Figure 3.4 shows that, of new recruits that self-defined their ethnicity as an ethnic minority (not including white minorities), 47.6% identified as Asian, 30.2% as Mixed, 14.3% as Black and the remaining 7.9% as Other. By comparison, the 2021 Census showed that of those who identified as an ethnic minority (not including white minorities) 50.6% identified as Asian, 15.8% as Mixed, 22.1% as Black and 11.5% as Other.
Figure 3.4: Composition of new recruits identifying as ethnic minorities (not including white minorities), by ethnic group, April 2020 to March 2023, England and Wales
Source: Table U8
Since April 2020, 95.2% of all new police officer recruits were aged 40 or under (and 56.8% of new recruits were aged 25 or under). Only 0.1% of new recruits were aged 56 or over.
Data for individual forces can be found in Tables U5-U10 of the accompanying data tables and the number of new recruits by protected characteristic and by month started within force since April 2020 can be found in the accompanying new recruits open data table. Similar data as at 31 March each year is published annually in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin.
4. Glossary
Baseline: The starting figure against which adjustments will be made (see adjusted baseline). The baseline accounts for people in post at the start of the recruitment drive, and also accounts for any recruitment planned prior to the uplift announcement.
Adjusted baseline: The adjusted baseline is the figure used to track the recruitment of an additional 20,000 officers. The adjusted baseline is the original baseline with in-year adjustments then made to account for externally funded posts that have moved since the calculation of the original baseline.
Counter Terrorism Policing: Counter Terrorism Policing (CTP) is made up officers from police forces across the country. They work to protect the public and our national security, by preventing, deterring and investigating terrorist activity.
Management information: Data provided by police forces from their administrative data sources. These are provisional figures only and are not subject to the same assurance processes as National Statistics.
National Statistics: A status designated to statistics by The Office for Statistics Regulation. National Statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, impartiality, quality and public value, and are fully compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
New recruit: A candidate who is joining the Police Service for the first time. This does not include those returning after a period of absence, nor does it include transfers or those rejoining.
NPCC: National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC). The NPCC brings forces in the UK together to help policing coordinate operations, reform, improve and provide value for money.
Police workforce, England and Wales: These are the established statistics on the police workforce, which have been designated as National Statistics. This release contains statistics on the numbers of police officers, police staff, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs), designated officers, special constables and Police Support Volunteers (PSVs) in post on 31 March and 30 September each year (published in July and January respectively).
Precept: Police funding that is raised via local council tax.
Regional Organised Crime Unit: Regional Organised Crime Units (ROCUs) are regional collaborations of police forces that bring together specialist policing capabilities to tackle the threat from Serious and Organised Crime (SOC).
Serious and Organised Crime: Serious and organised crime is defined in the 2018 Serious and Organised Crime Strategy as individuals planning, coordinating and committing serious offences, whether individually, in groups and or as part of transnational networks. It affects more UK citizens, more often, than any other national security threat and leads to more deaths in the UK each year than all other national security threats combined. It has a corrosive impact on our public services, communities, reputation and way of life.
Uplift: The term used to describe officers who count towards the government’s commitment to recruit an additional 20,000 officers by March 2023. Officers are counted as uplift once the baseline for the respective police force has been exceeded.
5. Annex A: Additional analysis of police officer numbers by protected characteristics
Throughout the uplift programme, the NPCC has collected management information from police forces in England and Wales about new and existing officers to support decision making and for use in these statistics. This has included information on the sex and gender, ethnicity and age of police officers and new recruits.
As part of the initiative to improve data on the police workforce, a number of changes have recently been made to the NPCC data collection template, particularly around the collection of data on protected characteristics.
The Home Office, the NPCC and the College of Policing have been collaborating in developing National Standards for Workforce Data. The data standards draw on existing harmonised standards set out by the Government Statistical Service and aim to bring more standardisation within policing for the collection of data on protected characteristics (and some other demographic information). The variables currently covered by the Standards are: Ethnicity, Age, Religion or Belief, Disability, Sexual orientation, Gender, Sex, and Gender Reassignment. A full breakdown of the standards can be found in the user guide.
Information on their protected characteristics is self-reported by officers on police force HR systems. Recent changes to police force HR systems to align with the new data standards have allowed all staff the opportunity to review existing records and declare further information on protected characteristics. However, many officers are yet to update their HR records and, as such, data is not currently complete.
This annex includes information on the proportion of officers broken down by sexual orientation and disability status. Whilst relatively high proportions of officers had not recorded their sexual orientation and disability status (40.3% and 42.1% respectively as at 31 March 2023), the NPCC is working with police forces to encourage all staff to enter this information. We therefore expect to see increases in the proportion of officers who have recorded their sexual orientation and disability status, which will be available in future ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins.
As described in the main police uplift statistics there were a total of 149,572 officers in post as at 31 March 2023. The below tables show proportions of these officers, where known, by disability status and sexual orientation as well as the proportion of all officers where this information is currently unknown. Given the incomplete nature of this dataset, any interpretation of data in this Annex should be made with caution.
Table A1: Police officers by sexual orientation, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2023
| Percentage (%) of all officers (headcount) | |
|---|---|
| Known | 59.7% |
| of which: Heterosexual/Straight | 92.0% |
| of which: Bisexual | 3.0% |
| of which: Gay/Lesbian | 4.8% |
| of which: Prefer to self-describe | 0.3% |
| Prefer not to say | 5.6% |
| Unknown | 34.7% |
Table A2: Police officers by disability status, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2023
| Percentage (%) of all officers (headcount) | |
|---|---|
| Known | 57.9% |
| of which: Yes | 8.7% |
| of which: No | 91.3% |
| Prefer not to say | 1.7% |
| Unknown | 40.4% |
6. Annex B: Differences between this publication and Police Workforce, England and Wales Statistics
While this release provides a provisional quarterly update on the number of police officers (headcount) in England and Wales, it is not intended to replace the long running statistical series ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’, which also contains information on other police workers.
This release reports on whether the 20,000 additional officers have been met as at 31 March 2023. This is the penultimate (second to last) release in this statistical series. The final publication in this statistical series will be released in July 2023, alongside the biannual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin, and will cover finalised data to March 2023. Following that, this statistical series on the police officer uplift will be retired, and reporting on the size and composition of the police workforce will continue on a biannual basis in the ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletin
The data released in the biannual ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ has been labelled as National Statistics, and users are therefore encouraged to use the data to analyse long-term trends in police numbers. The biannual release provides a snapshot of officer numbers on both a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis as at 31 March and 30 September each year, as well as more detailed breakdowns on joiners and leavers.
Police workforce, England and Wales
Frequency of release: Biannually (July and January)
Period covered: Data at 31 March and 30 September each year
Workforce covered: Police forces in England and Wales, British Transport Police, and National Crime Agency
Measurement: FTE and headcount
Police officer uplift, England and Wales
Frequency of release: Quarterly (July, October, January, April)
Period covered: Data at the end of the preceding quarter
Workforce covered: Police forces in England and Wales
Measurement: Headcount
The statistics cover all the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales.
In line with the established statistical series used for measuring the size and composition of the police workforce (‘Police workforce, England and Wales’), figures quoted in this bulletin include those on career breaks or other forms of long term absence, as well as those seconded into police forces from other constabularies. It excludes those seconded out from forces to central services (such as the Home Office, the National Crime Agency).
Headcount versus full-time equivalent
Our headline workforce statistics (published biannually) report on officers on both a full-time equivalent (FTE) and headcount basis. However, given that headcount is the most appropriate way to measure and track the recruitment processes which relate to individuals (for example, applications, vetting, assessment centres), this release reports on officers on a headcount basis only. There is a relatively small difference between the headcount and FTE figures. The most recently published police workforce statistics, Police workforce, England and Wales: 30 September 2022, showed that, as at 30 September 2022, the police officer headcount was 144,345 and the FTE was 142,145 (a 1.5% difference). For new recruits, the difference in the 2 measures is likely to be even smaller as most new joiners tend to start on a full-time basis.
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This means that the statistics meet the highest standards of trustworthiness, impartiality, quality and public value, and are fully compliant with the Code of Practice for Statistics. ↩ ↩2