Northumbria Police to axe most police community support officers

PCSOs engage with communities and help tackle local issues such as anti-social behaviour

A police force plans to axe the majority of its community support officer jobs to help pay for extra frontline officers.

Northumbria Police will lose 95 PCSOs and cut 41 empty positions, leaving 60 in post, as part of £12m budget cuts.

Labour Police and Crime Commissioner, Kim McGuinness, said the force could not afford to keep them all while adding 134 police officers to the beat.

The force said it must "adapt to new ways of working".

Some staff will be redeployed to fill other vacant roles while others will be made redundant, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

PCSOs, who are paid up to £29,000 a year at Northumbria Police, are tasked with engaging with communities to offer a visible presence and help tackle local issues such as anti-social behaviour - but they do not have the same powers as a police officer, such as the power to arrest.

They are described on the force's website as "an important part of the policing family".

Ms McGuinness, whose elected job is to hold the Chief Constable and the force to account, as well as setting its budget, said it faces "overwhelming cost increases" as a result of inflation and other challenges.

"More than £12m is needed to offset these costs. I have urged the Home Secretary to help us meet the costs but that request has been turned down.

"The problem here is budgets - we simply don't have the resources to both increase police officer numbers and keep all PCSOs and that's because government will not fully fund Northumbria Police."

Ms McGuinness recently imposed a hike of almost 10% in the police precept added to households' council tax bills to help pay for a "restructure of neighbourhood policing".

A Home Office spokesperson said: "We are dedicated to giving the police the resources they need to tackle crime. Locally elected PCCs must determine how best to fund their local forces through council tax.

"In 2023-4 we're providing a record funding of £17.2bn across the country. This includes up to £354.8m for Northumbria Police, a £12m increase on last year."