The new Increasing Police Productivity report was published last week, following the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) inquiry in November 2025. The PAC called on the Government to work with the National Police Chiefs’ Council to assess the implications of the focus on maintaining police officer numbers, including identifying the impact on personnel and the operational efficiency of forces, and to develop options to improve workforce flexibility.
We support the Committees’ recommendations. In fact, we submitted a response to the inquiry in November, which has been quoted extensively in the report.
In our submission, we explained why the current police approach to workforce planning and people management imposes a significant constraint on police productivity.
Since the inquiry concluded, the Police Reform White Paper has been published. Importantly, it explicitly signals a shift away from headcount as the primary measure of success, placing greater emphasis on capability, productivity and outcomes. This is a welcome direction of travel. However, translating this intent into meaningful improvement will require a fundamental shift in how workforce strategy is designed and delivered across policing.
6 reasons why the police workforce strategy needs to change
1. The current workforce mix within policing drives inefficiency
As noted above, the current officer headcount targets have led police officers to perform roles that could be handled as well or better by police staff. The Police Reform White Paper has moved beyond rigid officer headcount targets, introducing a Neighbourhood Policing target that emphasises community-facing roles and gives forces greater flexibility in how they deploy officers, PCSOs, and staff. We believe there is an urgent need for a police workforce strategy that assesses the appropriate workforce mix and skillsets for the future.
2. Skills gaps are growing, as investments continue to prioritise ‘traditional’ policing skills
The service, supported by the College of Policing, has undertaken significant work to develop policing skills and knowledge. However, recent investments – for example, the development of the Neighbourhood Policing career pathway – still don’t do enough to close critical skills gaps in areas such as digital investigation, cybercrime, and technology improvement (particularly skills to develop and intelligently deploy new digital solutions, automation and AI).
While the Police Reform White Paper recognises the need to modernise workforce capability and strengthen digital and technical skills, these reforms will only succeed if staff at all levels are supported to develop and apply them. A key barrier remains the perception that investing in staff (rather than officers) is ‘risky’ because they may move to higher-paid private-sector roles. This approach does not appear to us to be sustainable, and ultimately, it may be necessary to entirely rethink approaches to both staff pay and training and career paths in these domains.
3. Poor workforce wellbeing is reducing productivity
Wellbeing is a key challenge, leading to growing sickness absence that reduces deployable capacity by £71m-124m a year. The National Police Wellbeing Survey 2025, delivered by Leapwise, highlighted that 45% of the police workforce often or always feel burnt out because of their job (compared to 30% in the NHS), and 46% are emotionally exhausted by their work (compared to 34% in the NHS). These rates are much higher among police officers: with 67% often feeling physically exhausted, and 58% burnt out and emotionally exhausted due to their job.
Many report ‘compassion fatigue’ – i.e. the inability to empathise with victims of crime and colleagues specifically due to the demands of the job. The proportion of police officers on long-term sick leave has increased from 1.5% in March 2021 to 2.2% in 2025 – a 47% increase in the proportion of officers sick for more than 28 days. This means that 3,165 officers are off-duty for considerable periods – with a staffing cost of approximately £52.3-91.6m a year for policing. Additionally, 1.9% of staff and 2.5% of PCSOs were also on long-term sickness absence of more than 28 days, costing the service £18.7-32.7m a year.
4. Rising numbers of officers on adjusted and recuperative duties are adding to pressures on the remaining workforce
Increasing officer numbers on adjusted and recuperative duties poses a growing challenge to police capacity and productivity, particularly with the Police Reform White Paper placing renewed emphasis on deployable strength and visible frontline capacity. There has been an increase in the proportion of officers on adjusted and recuperative duties – from 9.3% in 2022 to 10.6% in 2025. We should not assume that all officers on adjusted and recuperative duties are less productive, though some officers with restricted working time and significant adjustments certainly will be.
However, the trend remains worrying for two reasons. First, our work finds that many officers and staff on recuperative/ adjusted duties do not feel adequately supported to make a full contribution (there are considerable variations across forces in the type and extent of support available to support those on recuperative duties in a sustainable recovery to full duties). Second, this trend combines with growing sickness absence to reduce overall deployable strength and increase workloads for the remaining workforce.
5. Overspending on overtime is reducing productivity in the short and long term
Many forces have high overspends on overtime, and officers are frequently unable to take rest days. Significant overtime budgets are registered, especially in large forces (e.g. estimated 22% of pay costs in GMP and 17% in the MPS), which indicates significant capacity pressures and increased operational risk. While there is no single ‘right’ amount to spend on overtime across the country and short-term spikes are to be expected, our work with forces suggests that overtime rates of 10-15% are typically more optimal. In addition, although data on rest days is not systematically published, there is evidence that in many forces a high number of rest days are owed to officers – an average of 7-10 days owed per officer across GMP, MPS and Norfolk Constabulary. This may be exacerbating wellbeing and burnout issues highlighted above.
6. Resolving conduct matters more quickly could save around £61 million annually
In 2025, 16% of the workforce reported experiencing bullying or harassment in the past 12 months, and 12% reported discrimination within the force. While these incidents are investigated, delays reduce deployable capacity and undermine productivity. Less than half (45%) of conduct matter cases involving police officers were resolved within 3 months in 2024, and 15% took more than 12 months (614 cases, with officers off deployment). For recordable conduct matters – those that represent more serious cases – 43% took over 12 months to resolve (with 692 officers off deployment during this time). This impacts productivity by reducing deployable capacity – costing policing £211m (equivalent to 2,816 officers), and an increase of 146% compared to 2022.
If all cases were resolved within 9 months, this would save policing ~£61m per year through avoided pay during long delays for investigations (as officers could either be deployed or dismissed in a timely way), and ~£144m per year if all cases were resolved within 3 months. The impact of the Police Conduct Regulations 2024 on productivity is open-ended, increasing short-term workload but with opportunities for long-term gains if misconduct processes, early interventions, and organisational alignment are implemented effectively.
Where do we go from here?
The White Paper published last week outlined the Home Office’s vision for ‘the future workforce’, and promised to deliver a national workforce strategy to ensure we have a police force with the skills to meet current and future demands. This will include recognising allied police professionals and non-warranted specialists, with stronger career pathways. Hopefully, the new strategy will give more flexibility to forces to harness innovation and build high-performing teams.
Leapwise works with dozens of police forces across England and Wales on productivity and performance improvements – as well as leadership and culture change. If you want to learn more about our work and how we can help your organisation, get in touch by clicking the link below.