Police force reveals plan to axe all its PCSOs

Essex Police has revealed plans to make all 99 of its PCSOs redundant in an effort to balance its budget.

The force - and its police, fire and crime commissioner - also proposed cutting 65 other staff roles and reducing the pay of all other officers.

Essex Police said it had been given "inadequate" funding from government and was faced with a budget shortfall of £5.3m.

The Home Office said forces across England had been provided with the resources they needed to "keep communities safe".

"We cannot ignore the fact the government settlement is not enough to meet pay and inflationary pressures," said police, fire and crime commissioner Roger Hirst.

"We have to balance the need to respond to local policing and crime priorities with the wider financial pressures on the service and on households."

He said the proposals were subject to a consultation.

PCSOs, or police community support officers, are paid employees but only share some of the powers that police officers have.

They can hand out fixed-penalty notices and take alcohol from a person under the age of 18, but must ask a police officer to arrest someone.

Essex Police employs about 3,755 officers and Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington warned in December that he may be forced to cut 200 roles.

He said at the time the force had "squeezed the lemon pretty dry".

Under the proposals announced on Tuesday, the force said all "non-critical building and technology projects" would be stopped.

The southeast allowance and detective allowance would be removed, which would mean every officer would face a pay reduction.

Hirst has also proposed increasing its council tax precept - which would mean a 5.66% rise for Band D properties, equivalent to 27p per week.

The force said even after this increase and after identifying £8m in "efficiency savings" it still meant there was a £5.3m shortfall for the 2025-26 financial year.

Hirst and Mr Harrington said they had been in conversation with the Home Office in a bid to secure a "fairer" funding deal, but to no avail.

"I've said repeatedly for the last few months that all I want is fair funding for a force that is already efficient," added Mr Harrington.

"Our plans do, regrettably, impact our entire workforce in some way and whilst those plans are unpalatable on every level, I have tried my best to be fair to all.

"We all want more officers on our streets but these things can't happen without the appropriate funding and sadly there is just not enough money in the pot."

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are ensuring we deliver on our safer streets mission, with an extra 13,000 neighbourhood police officers, community support officers and special constables, all of whom will play a vital role in bringing visible policing to our streets."

They pointed out that Essex Police's funding for 2025-26 was £431.1m, which was £24.9m more than in 2024-25.

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