Pledge
“We will [...] put 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles.”
Our verdict
In the first six months following the launch of the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee the number of FTE police personnel in neighbourhood policing roles increased by 2,383—equivalent to 18% of the total target and 80% of the planned first year increase.
The government’s Plan for Change, published in December 2024, promised to “deliver the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee and put 13,000 additional police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles.”
This builds on the Labour Party’s manifesto commitment to “introduce a new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee, restoring patrols to our town centres by recruiting thousands of new police officers, police and community support officers [PCSOs], and special constables.”
The Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee (NPG) performance framework was published in April 2025. It states: “The key headline measure for the NPG is the recruitment of 13,000 additional neighbourhood police officers, PCSOs and special constables into neighbourhood policing roles.”
The framework says this will be delivered by the end of the current parliament in 2029, and that progress towards the target will be measured using biannually-published Home Office statistics.
In February 2026, the government said the baseline for measuring progress towards this target was set as the total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) police officers and police community support officers (PCSOs) in neighbourhood policing (NHP) roles as at 31 March 2025.
This figure on this date was 17,175 (made up of 11,104 FTE police officers and 6,071 FTE PCSOs). That means that to have achieved this pledge, the number of FTE police personnel in NHP roles must be at least 30,175 by the end of this parliament.
Police personnel in training who are destined for an NHP role will be included in the growth figures, as well as personnel deployed into neighbourhood policing from other roles. Policing is devolved in Scotland and Northern Ireland, so this commitment applies to the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales. It does not include the British Transport Police.
We’re monitoring the government’s progress towards the other aims set out in the Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee separately.
Join 72,953 people who trust us to check the facts
Sign up to get weekly updates on politics, immigration, health and more.
Subscribe to weekly email newsletters from Full Fact for updates on politics, immigration, health and more. Our fact checks are free to read but not to produce, so you will also get occasional emails about fundraising and other ways you can help. You can unsubscribe at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy.
We’re currently rating this pledge as “appears on track”.
The government’s target for the first year of the pledge (1 April 2025-31 March 2026) was an increase of 2,972—consisting of 2,584 police officers and 388 PCSOs. It also set a target of 301 additional special constables (on a headcount basis).
Figures published in January 2026 showed that as at 30 September 2025, the number of FTE personnel in NHP roles had increased by 2,383—consisting of 2,187 police officers and 196 PCSOs. The government has not published NHP figures for special constables—we’ve asked the Home Office whether they are included in the target but have not received a response.
This means that in the first six months since the NPG was launched the government has achieved 18% of the total 13,000 increase, and 80% of the target increase for the first financial year.
It’s worth noting that although the number of personnel in NHP roles has increased, over the same period the total number of police officers and PCSOs decreased, by 0.6% and 1.4% respectively.
As we develop this Government Tracker we’re keen to hear your feedback. We’ll be keeping the Tracker up to date and adding more pledges in the coming months.
Progress displayed publicly—so every single person in this country can judge our performance on actions, not words.
Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister – 24 September 2024