Police forces across England and Wales are set to receive a funding boost of up to £798 million next year, in a move the Home Office says will help tackle crimes affecting high streets and local communities, including shop theft and antisocial behaviour.
The additional investment will take total police funding to £19.5 billion in the next financial year, representing a 4.3 per cent cash increase and a 2 per cent rise in real terms. The majority of the funding will be directed to local forces, with an extra £746m intended to allow them to prioritise neighbourhood-level crime.
The announcement comes amid ongoing concerns about shop theft and antisocial behaviour, which continue to place pressure on local convenience stores and wider retail sector. Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed a 13 per cent increase in shoplifting, to nearly 530,000 recorded offenses, by June 2025.
The Home Office said the funding builds on the government’s Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, which has introduced named, contactable officers in every community, increased peak-time patrols in town centres and appointed antisocial behaviour leads in every force.
Ministers highlighted that recent nationwide enforcement activity has already had an impact. The government’s “winter of action”, which followed a Safer Streets summer initiative covering nearly 650 town centres, led to more than 16,000 arrests and fines, primarily for shoplifting and antisocial behaviour.
“We are providing police forces with a significant increase in funding that will allow them to step up their efforts in tackling the crimes that are blighting our communities, including knife crime and antisocial behaviour,” crime and policing minister Sarah Jones said.
“But we know that funding alone will not deliver our ambitions. Police leaders have been crying out for reform, and our upcoming white paper will deliver this to free up officer time and get bobbies back on our streets.”
Alongside neighbourhood crime, funding for Counter Terrorism Policing will rise by at least £52m, taking its total budget to more than £1.2bn.
The Home Office said a final funding settlement, including detailed grant allocations for individual forces, will be published early next year once the police reform white paper is released. The government said the reforms will focus on modernising policing through improved technology, innovation and structures to better protect communities and businesses.