The largest reforms to policing since forces were professionalised two centuries ago have been announced by the Home Secretary, setting out a radical new model designed to strengthen neighbourhood policing while creating a powerful national capability to tackle the most serious and complex crimes.
Outlined in a new white paper, From local to national: a new model for policing, the proposals aim to reset policing’s focus, reduce fragmentation across the system, and ensure the police are better equipped to meet the demands of modern crime.
Central to the reforms is a government review into dramatically reducing the number of police forces in England and Wales, addressing duplication and inefficiency in the current 43‑force model.
Alongside this, a new National Police Service will be established to lead the fight against serious and complex crime. The service will bring together national capabilities currently spread across multiple organisations, including the National Crime Agency, Counter Terrorism Policing, and police air support.
By operating as a single force, the National Police Service will be able to share intelligence, technology, and resources more effectively, helping to tackle crime that is increasingly digital, cross‑border and organised.
A National Police Commissioner will be appointed as the most senior police officer in the country to lead the new service. These reforms are designed to lift the burden on local forces, allowing officers to spend more time on neighbourhood policing, supporting victims, and tackling everyday crime.
The government will also extend its Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, ensuring every council ward in England and Wales has named, contactable officers, strengthening local accountability and visibility.
Victims will benefit from access to world‑class specialist expertise, particularly in areas such as forensics, which will become a national responsibility. With around 20,000 devices awaiting digital forensic analysis at any time, the new service aims to clear backlogs and speed up investigations.
By scrapping outdated procurement models and ending duplication across forces, the reforms are expected to save £350 million, which will be reinvested directly into frontline policing. Under the new system, the National Police Service will procure equipment, IT, and uniforms once on behalf of all forces, delivering economies of scale and better value for taxpayers.
The government will introduce new powers to intervene in failing forces, including restoring the ability to sack poorly performing chief constables.
Police forces will be directly accountable to the public through new national targets, including 999 calls being answered in 10 seconds, officers reaching the most serious incidents in certain time frames, and improved victim satisfaction.
Forces will be graded and results published so communities can compare performance. HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, Fire & Rescue Services will gain statutory powers to issue directions when forces fail to act on recommendations.
To strengthen public confidence, the reforms introduce mandatory national vetting standards, allowing forces to exclude individuals with convictions or cautions for violence against women and girls.
A new Licence to Practise will require officers to renew their professional status throughout their careers, ensuring they maintain the skills needed to tackle evolving criminal threats. Officers who fail to meet required standards, after support and retraining, will be removed from the profession.
The government is making the largest investment in police technology in history, committing over £140 million to new tools including:
- A five‑fold increase in live facial recognition vans, with 50 vans available nationwide
- New AI tools to identify suspects from CCTV, doorbell, and mobile phone footage
- A new Police.AI national centre, expected to free up six million hours a year for frontline policing — equivalent to 3,000 officers
Additional investment will also boost the police response to organised retail crime, with £7 million allocated to dismantle criminal gangs targeting shops.
The reforms include expanded mental health support for officers, including nationwide access to a Mental Health Crisis Line, annual psychological screenings for high‑risk roles, and mandatory resilience training.
The government will also encourage cybersecurity and technology experts to join the Special Constabulary, alongside reforms to reverse a long‑term decline in volunteer numbers.
Ministers say the reforms represent a once‑in‑a‑generation opportunity to modernise policing, strengthen local services, and ensure national threats are tackled with the scale and sophistication they require.
By combining stronger neighbourhood policing with a unified national force, the government aims to deliver a system that is more efficient, more accountable, and better equipped to keep communities safe.
Following the announcement, Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council Constable Gavin Stephens, said:
“This is the most significant change in policing in the last half a century, to get policing ready to fight crime and protect the public over the next half a century.
“The current policing model was designed in the 1960s. The postcode lottery of 43 police forces doing things 43 different ways, alongside a complicated mesh of regional collaborations, national agencies and funding streams, is both inefficient and ineffective.
“The need for significant police reform has been there for more than a decade and is now urgent, in a world where 90 per cent of crime has a digital element.
“We are grateful to ministers for clearly listening to the views of policing and putting together a package of ambitious and far-reaching measures which reflect the voice of our service.
“Police leaders are clear that police reform must have empowering neighbourhood policing at its heart. These reforms will free local crime fighters from admin, bureaucracy, and national distractions so they can focus on protecting the communities they serve, with access to high quality regional and national services to support them when they are needed.
“Communities will still have their bobby on the beat – and the bobby on the beat will be better equipped to fight crime in their local area.
“Policing is committed to working with ministers and other partners to bring this ambitious vision for reform to life over the coming years, alongside our core mission of fighting crime and keeping our communities safe.”
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