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Police White Paper Shocks Thin Blue Line

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Police reform white paper

The 2026 Police Reforms White Paper shakes up 200 years of UK policing with radical change.

Following weeks of slow-release yet shocking announcements, the Police Reforms White Paper has finally been released like a nuclear bomb for policing to swallow. It’s called From Local to National: A New Model for Policing.

The government boast they will be the largest shake-up of the police service since it was founded 200 years ago. Things really are moving policing from a local to a national level, in the biggest changes not just in a generation, but since the Duke of Wellington was Prime Minister.

Now the dust has finally settled, I’ve explored what’s in the report, who’s driving it, where the criticisms are coming from, and summarise the key changes. Here you’ll find the most comprehensive summary and insights of the scheme than anywhere else.

In this blog you’ll find highlights of key reforms, breaking through the bluster. I include my video summary of the 106-page report for busy cops (coming soon), my latest podcast discussion breaking down the major bombshells for policing, and a discussion for the implications for officers and staff.

If you thought you had enough to manage with a mass of in-force process and system changes, or even the latest Leadership Review, 2026 has turned those things into just the tip of the iceberg. Any aspiring leaders should take heed. You are putting yourself forward to lead others through this sea of change.

The White Paper is a hard read with so much information buried in the nearly 35,000 words. I’ll soon provide a summary video and discuss the implications in a podcast, so keep an eye on my website and YouTube channel for those.

This is a comprehensive blog, so before we get into it and if you’re short on time, here’s a quick summary of the sections:

The Case for Change?

“The nature of policing has changed dramatically. The demand for police services has grown. Crime now crosses international borders. Public scrutiny has intensified. As a result of these and other factors, an outdated policing system has started to buckle under the strain.” – 2026 White Paper

Home Secretary Mahmood says that “radical reform” is needed because criminals are “outsmarting” cops and policing is not structured properly. The report mentions the need for “radical” reform a lot. It outlines three main problems needing urgent attention, which the reforms aim to solve:

  1. Public confidence in the police is falling.
  2. Police performance has declined and is inconsistent across England and Wales.
  3. Crime is changing radically, and the police are struggling to keep pace.

“The police and partners are spending most of their time responding to crime once it has occurred rather than preventing it from happening in the first place… Crime prevention work remains far too ad hoc, rather than being a core part of the mission of the police or other public services.” – 2026 White Paper

While both the Home Secretary and Policing Minister in media announcements recognise issues like “everyday crime going unpunished”, their ‘diagnosis’ in the White Paper identifies other issues. The report identifies the following items as root causes of policing’s problems:

So not issues like weak sentencing contributing to more crime (rather than “criminals outsmarting police officers”), under resourcing of the front line, or poor morale and retention, and all the other things well-known to those nearer the operational end.

“Over this Parliament and the next we will move to a smaller number of forces. This will save money and provide a more effective response to major crime and serious incidents.” – 2026 White Paper

Reading between the lines though, the main case being made is obviously cost savings. Indeed, the number one reason given for merging forces in the White Paper is saving money. The desire is less back-office spending between fewer forces, less duplication and management costs, and centralised procurement.

Worth the Cost? 200 Years for a 1% Saving…

“The money saved will be reinvested in local frontline policing.” – 2026 White Paper

While not explicitly stated as part of ‘the case for change’, the big thing everyone knows is driving this is the desire to reduce costs and make efficiencies for investment elsewhere (e.g. into the declining local policing functions). Amalgamating back-office functions, IT systems, etc.

As a reminder, these are the biggest reforms to policing since before Queen Victoria was crowned. But there’s been no apparent analysis of the £ cost versus £ benefits (or even a simple annualised comparison). E.g. “This will cost £200 million per year to 2030 to implement, but we’ll save £500 million per year thereafter”. Nothing.

There’s simply no indication of the total costs / investment, nor the expected savings. The whole thing seems built on assumptions and occasional guesswork, overlaid on an underlying belief that it will probably save money (fingers crossed).

The Guardian reports that its sources estimate it will “cost £500m over three years. Police Chiefs who support it believe the upfront expense will be recouped through savings”. This hearsay is the most information available on the matter.

The total budget for police spending in England and Wales and national forces is nearly £20 billion for 2026-27. So according to its most senior supporters, the reforms hope to save (at least?) £200m per year, or just 1% of all police spending.

I’m no expert on projecting financial risk versus reward trade-offs. But it seems taking the most massive risks possible to the fabric of UK policing with such radical changes, to gain (hopefully, somehow) such a minimal 1% reward, doesn’t seem the best return on investment.

Even exactly how the other non-financial benefits of enhanced public service, confidence, time saved, and so on haven’t been clearly articulated, beyond “we’re assuming doing X will lead to Y”. Generic sweeping political statements, broad-brush arguments based on misaligned diagnosis of the issues, and half-hearted beliefs of its senior supporters don’t inspire the most confidence this massive project carrying the most massive risks is worth pursuing.

If anyone could correct this and point to where any tangible cost vs benefit analysis has been done for these reforms, I would be most grateful.

Key Proposals in the Police Reform White Paper

Here’s a quick overview of the main proposals from the government’s White Paper on the biggest police reforms in 200 years:

Now let’s get into some of those key areas in a bit more detail…

Mega-Forces: Merging 43 Forces into… TBC!

“Maintaining 43 independent forces, each with its own leadership, priorities and infrastructure [ranging between 1,000 – 8,000 officers excluding the Met Police], wastes money, produces inconsistent levels of service and creates barriers to collaboration.” – 2026 White Paper

As I reported last year, the creation of ‘mega-forces’ aims to reduce bureaucracy and save money. The government state that this will be a more streamline structure.

“The 43-force model, nearly unchanged in 60 years, is no longer fit for purpose. Some forces are too small to handle complex investigations or major incidents. Duplication of support functions draws money away from neighbourhood policing.” – Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood MP

Mahmood is reported to be privately describing her approach to police reform as “go big or go home”. However, the exact number of forces that the current 43 should be shrunk to, and their remits, has now been deferred to the Summer.

Early talk was 12-15 regions, as I predict in my November regional force map. But now the police reforms report simply says it will “significantly reduce the number of police forces by the end of the next parliament”. Is that a watering down? I guess we will learn following the independent review of force structures, now deferred to report in Summer 2026. The timescale is more relaxed too than the initial proposal of 2030, now 2034.

For this parliament, the government hopes to at least “deliver a pathfinder merger”, presumably to test the waters. That’s not your usual pilot force, but a pilot region. Any takers?

What we do know is that the government “will create new Local Police Areas within each force”. Quite how that is different from the existing LPAs, which are already there to deliver localised, community-focused policing, is yet to be explained. But the area covered by an LPA will “generally be at the level of towns, boroughs and cities”.

“The LPAs will deliver the policing that the public are most likely to call upon: emergency response, local crime investigation and neighbourhood policing at a consistent standard.” – 2026 White Paper

Many point to Police Scotland’s 2013 merger as a warning for others, including significant declines there in public confidence and not maintaining the officer strength intended. Or the amalgamation in the Met Police of 32 boroughs into 12 BCUs, as a cost-saving exercise. Baroness Casey’s review later highlighted that these new structures made it harder for local authorities and residents to hold the Met to account, while the Met’s PEEL performance has declined significantly.

Meantime, it has taken over a decade for a few of the 43 local forces across England and Wales to dabble in notions of ‘strategic alliances’ or ‘collaborations’ to save bureaucracy and costs, to varying levels of success. Multiple processes, IT systems and cultures still persist.

As a reminder, these announcements propose complete mergers of all forces into regional entities within the next 8 years.

“Over this Parliament and the next we will radically reform the structure of policing, significantly reducing the number of police forces.” – Home Office

New National Police Service, AKA ‘British FBI’

“Nationally we will abolish the plethora of existing central bodies and replace them with a new national police force, the National Police Service (NPS)… This represents the biggest reform to the way policing is organised in 200 years.” – 2026 White Paper

Continuing the theme of mergers, the White Paper also sets out the notion of a National Police Service (NPS). Dubbed the ‘British FBI’, this massive entity would incorporate and amalgamate the work of several existing national functions, along with some new ones. Here’s what the NPS will entail / engulf:

It would also provide a single strategic approach for forces on matters like workforce planning, digital, training, technology, and procurement. This aims to remove the need for force-level strategies on such themes in future. Other national coordination functions will also be migrated into the supermassive NPS in a phased approach.

The NPS would be led by a new ‘National Police Commissioner’, who will become the most senior officer in the country. Currently, the Met Commissioner fulfils that position. Its structure will include ‘Regional Crime Hubs’, akin to the existing ROCUs.

The NPS is envisaged to provide four key things, as articulated in the White Paper:

  1. A single source of strategic leadership for policing
  2. Setting stronger national standards for consistency
  3. Provide local policing with better enabling and support services
  4. Strengthen ability to tackle terrorism and serious and organised crime

Related to the regional and national mergers, the plans also outline a revision of the current funding formula.

“A new policing system will require a new system of police funding… We intend to review the police funding formula and distribution of funding to local forces.” – 2026 White Paper

Performance Scorecards and Targets are Coming Back!

It seems the return of CompStat style performance management is accelerating. A new Police Performance Framework (PPF) for forces will include several new targets. A Home Office ‘Police Performance Improvement Unit’ will be established to analyse and monitor things. This Unit is modelled on the Police Standards Unit established in the Home Office in 2001,

A set of national policing guarantees and standards will be created, showing the public what service levels they can expect. For example, there will be a ‘Local Policing Guarantee’, which includes attending emergencies within 15 minutes in urban areas and 20 minutes in more rural locations, answering 999 calls in 10 seconds. A national dashboard will be published to compare how forces are performing against key performance metrics.

The graphic above is the Home Office’s summary of the framework and metrics. Most metrics are already monitored by forces, like attendance times, trust, and confidence. The change will be in standardising forces, creating league tables, and having stronger consequences for those forces who fall behind.

Consequences will involve the Home Secretary taking powers to directly intervene in poor performing forces, even sacking Chief Constables in extreme cases. It’s described in the White Paper as “a more hands-on Home Office”.

Those involved with or subject to the PEEL inspections however might feel this is unnecessary. There’s intense pressure generated for a force, and driven by its Chief Officers, whenever the latest HMICFRS inspection report comes out and a massive effort to address any recommendations for improvement made.

Related to performance, there will be a new set of ‘National Strategic Policing Priorities’ (NSPP). These will replace the various Strategic Policing Requirements and integrate other national priorities. The NSPP will be monitored within the new performance framework.

While the HMICFRS will stay as it is in its role of independently assessing force performance, its monitoring will extend beyond its own recommendations for improvement. It will accommodate those of the IOPC and standards set out by the College in future. The HMICFRS will also receive new powers to ‘direct’ forces to comply with recommendations. And this will only apply to local policing bodies, not the national conglomerate.

Licence to Practise

It’s not quite a James Bond worthy tagline. But officers will be forced to hold one nevertheless and renew it throughout their career. It will be administered by the College. The report says this licence will “raise standards and promote professional development”.

“Every police officer needs to remain match-fit to protect their communities. The licence to practise will equip every officer with the skills and capabilities to do the job.” – Crime and Policing Minister Sarah Jones

To hold a licence, officers will have to have completed core training and development, essential leadership training, and there will be standards to adhere to in areas like VAWG and neighbourhood policing. The licence is seen by the Home Office as “an enabler for embedding a culture of CPD”.

Such annual licences already exist for nurses, doctors, and solicitors. Costs here are range from around £140 – £500 per year to the individual. An estimate for police officers would be around £200 – £300, though cost details are not included in these reforms.

This licence is just one of many radical reforms to create what the report defines as “a more capable workforce”. Others are a national workforce strategy, mandated leadership standards, responding to the Leadership Commission, more flexible entry/exit for officers and staff, consider the pay structure, and a package of wellbeing support.

No doubt tied to this licence are the plans to introduce a “digital training passport” for all officers and staff, to monitor learning and development.

Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee

The neighbourhood guarantee has already been established, but is emphasised in this police reform white paper. The 13,000 additional officers into neighbourhood functions is the big ticket item. But there’s also a focus on reducing neighbourhood abstraction, increasing the use of problem solving, responding to neighbourhood queries within 72 hours, among other objectives here.

“Neighbourhood policing has been perceived as a discretionary function rather than an operational necessity, resulting in variation in its implementation across forces.” – 2026 White Paper

Increased patrols in town centres and hotspots has already been developed in forces towards these ends over the past year. Showing who the local officer is and publishing the local priorities aims to improve transparency and accountability for local areas. And for these areas, the government ambition is to ensure alignment between police force and council geographies.

“Ultimately we aim to have neighbourhood areas aligned with local council wards.” – 2026 White Paper

Direct Entry Inspectors

The government will introduce a Direct Entry route for Inspectors. The Home Office claims this will allow forces to hire “exceptional leaders from sectors outside policing to step up the fight against crime” and increase diversity. Those candidates could also then apply for fast track to Superintendent.

“…Forces lack the expertise they need to keep up with criminals. Yet archaic hiring rules stop forces bringing in the brightest and the best. Forces will now be able to hire the best talent so we can step up the fight against crime and keep the public safe.” – Crime and Policing Minister Sarah

This sounds like the much-derided Direct Entry Superintendent scheme many in policing will remember, just with extra steps. That scheme was quietly dropped in 2020 following very little engagement from forces or benefits.

As part of the White Paper, the government will also develop with policing a pathway for recruiting (junior) officers into different specialisms early on.

Abolition of PCCs

“We will abolish Police and Crime Commissioners, transferring police governance in 2028 to Strategic Authority Mayors and local council leaders through Policing and Crime Boards. Over time, these Boards will then be adapted to provide the governance of future fewer, larger police forces.” – 2026 White Paper

We saw in prior announcements how PCCs will be scrapped, with Mayors or Policing and Crime Boards made up of locally elected councillors. The latter mirrors the pre-PCC Police Authority model, though the White Paper does not intend to make the mistakes of the past.

“This is not a return to the bureaucratic, invisible, committee-based oversight of policing that existed prior to PCCs, and Boards will be more agile than previous police authorities.” – 2026 White Paper

Given the fact that PCCs present the main political obstacle to the ambition of regional forces, this PCC abolition now seems more of a means to that end.

“It is harder to achieve national coordination and collaboration in a system with 86 decision-makers (Chief Constables and PCCs).” 2026 White Paper

The PCC model will be abolished at the end of PCCs’ current term of office in May 2028. Police governance functions are then planned to transfer to “existing local government structures”. This is expected to save a proportion of the current £93m of such annual governance costs across the 43 forces.

“We believe that transferring oversight of policing to local government has many advantages, not least because Strategic Authority Mayors and council leaders sit across a range of policy areas and budgets. This makes them better positioned to promote collaboration across services such as health, employment support and housing to prevent crime.” – 2026 White Paper

Interestingly, these local Mayors or Councillors will also be setting the priorities for each Local Policing Area. That’s a massive shift away from the current autonomy of Chief Officers in forces.

Greater Use of AI and Facial Recognition

“Crime is changing fast. Modern crime demands new skills: spotting misinformation, tackling deepfakes, and responding to threats powered by AI.” – 2026 White Paper

There’s a big focus on future technology, particularly with the creation of a new Centre for AI in Policing, dubbed “Police.AI”, by Spring 2026. The investment here is earmarked as £115m over the next three years, mainly to boost productivity but also forms a big basis to their renewed focus in crime prevention. There’s also an impetus towards greater use of facial recognition. There will be a new regulatory framework for this, to ensure AI is deployed ethically and responsibly.

“Laws written to deal with public disorder on the street are now being applied to deal with online disputes, often involving offensive language. The public have been left wondering whether the police have drifted too far from their core mission.” – 2026 White Paper

In its launch of the White Paper, the Home Office claims the rollout of AI will make policing more efficient and “free officers from paperwork, delivering up to 6 million hours back to the frontline every year – the equivalent of 3,000 police officers.”

Officer Wellbeing and More…

“A resilient police workforce with strong leadership, a focus on performance and standards and a positive culture is essential to support policing in cutting crime and securing public confidence.” – 2026 White Paper

There is some encouraging support offered for officer wellbeing. The Mental Health Crisis Line will be expanded and funded long term, while those in front-facing and high-risk roles will be offered psychological screenings each year.

“Trauma tracker software” will be available to every force and there will be mandatory resilience and mental health training for supervisors and new recruits.

There’s also work to try and improve culture and conduct. Vetting standards will be set nationally, there will be multiple changes to “strengthen” the IOPC, “tightened up” in-force conduct and performance issues, and the NPCC / College have developed together a new culture and inclusion strategy.

“The College of Policing is applying the latest thinking from behavioural science to help forces diagnose problems with their culture and take action.” – 2026 White Paper

The police leadership and promotion proposals seem to focus more on the ranks of Chief Inspector and above, especially on the changes to appointing Chief Officers. They will introduce “mandated national leadership standards”, based on the College’s existing ones. But expect the learning from the SIPP pilot to roll out more widely, when the report says…

“We will set out national leadership development programmes as a requirement to access selection processes and promotion opportunities at each rank.”

A new national performance management framework will also be introduced. It aims to provide clear guidance to supervisors on having conversations with their teams. E.g. managing performance, mentoring, managing wellbeing, and CPD.

Who’s Driving These Massive Changes?

“May you live in interesting times…”

Policing prides itself on being evidence-led and transparent. But it’s hard to find who’s driving these changes behind the scenes, and justifications to date seem nebulous or simply political hot air.

“This White Paper sets out a new model for policing to ensure policing in this country is fit for the modern world, driven by two goals. Firstly, ensuring local police forces are equipped to make their local communities safer. And secondly, introducing a new approach to national policing that protects us all.”

As with many opinions on reforms in policing in recent years, there remains a stark divide in perspectives. On the one side are most academics, senior police leaders, the College, and think tanks. On the other, the more operational-level officers and staff, the general public, and PCCs.

So who’s really behind things? Why does the government seem intent on pushing through some massive things which very few people want and even fewer have ever actively called for?

By way of deduction, let’s start with the countless detractors. Here’s a quick overview of those who are overwhelmingly and/or vocally against these proposals, ‘a bit miffed’ to say the least, or who just don’t quite support the proposals or haven’t been involved in the central controversial changes…

The APCC seem strongly against creation of ‘mega-forces’. Their main rationale is similar to their predecessor Police Authorities, when they in turn revolted against such plans back in 2006 under the previous Labour government. Concerns over Council Tax alignments, loss of local focus, and massive (up to £1 billion) up-front costs were the main concerns at the time.

“There’s no evidence to suggest the public would welcome regional forces and in terms of public accountability, it also risks creating a separation between police forces and the public they serve… Financial savings… could be outweighed by the very significant set-up costs.” – APCC statement

In a more recent statement, they have been more supportive of the notion of a National Police Service, though have concerns over the “unprecedented power” in the hands of the Home Secretary and NPS. They deem this unnecessary and based on wrong assumptions.

Festus Akinbusoye is a prominent former PCC with many sensible things to say. Listen in to my exclusive podcast interview with him for his thoughts on police leadership, promotion and much more. On the current proposals he’s arguing against the biggest proposed shake-up, though respects the idea of the National Police Service (if done carefully and well). On the ‘Licence to Practise’ idea, he’s particularly scathing…

“This is a total waste of money and yet more evidence that British policing has drifted dangerously away from the priorities of the public. People do not want more regulation, more processes, or more box-ticking. They just want competent, effective, professional police officers keeping them safe. If a warrant card, rigorous training, and robust vetting are not enough to guarantee that, then the problem is leadership and accountability – not the absence of yet another licensing scheme.’”

Moving on to the Police Federation, who are the (current) organisation representing rank and file officers…

Their response to the White Paper is mixed, seeming more reactive rather than having been involved in its creation in any way. While against the notion of a licence to practise, they seem to be reserving judgement on the other major announcements. Instead, they’ve put forward the idea that if it meets their ‘five tests’, all will be fine with them.

“How this change is achieved will be crucial and the experience of police officers working at the sharp end must be heard and listened to… We have today published five tests that reform must pass if it is to deliver. Any proposals must be driven by evidence, not lowest cost, and must strengthen the front line. We are in favour of reform, but it must serve both the public and our members.”

So sat firmly on the fence for now. As is often the case, local Federations seem to differ in their views. For example, the Met Police Federation is more scathing of the licence to practise…

“We fear this will be an expensive, time-consuming, tick-box exercise and become bureaucratic and burdensome on the already stretched MPS.” – Matt Cane, MPF General Secretary

The PFEW is suffering its own crisis though, in terms of relevance and synchronicity with its paying officer members. Since the pensions debacle, the views and sentiment of its officers has become increasingly divergent to the national Federation’s with every year. Even the White Paper notes this and issues a warning… 

“The Government notes the recent review of the PFEW… and recognises the widespread concerns about the PFEW in respect of its performance, culture, transparency and effectiveness in representing its members… We expect to see clear plans and rapid, demonstrable improvement in the PFEW’s operation. In the absence of such improvements, this Government stands ready to bring forward reforms to ensure that the interests of rank-and-file officers are properly, effectively and robustly represented.”

I’ve noticed a lot of frontline cops overwhelmingly voicing their concerns about these apparently ‘out of the blue’ announcements. On regionalisation, many point to the declining performance of the Met since merging its boroughs (noticed too by the Casey Review), or the aftermath of Police Scotland, as strong evidence not to proceed with such ideas.

You need only browse your chosen social media platform to be bombarded with and very quickly understand the general sentiment among serving officers and staff! One of the more polite common phrases I’ve noticed from retired cops is “I’m glad I’m out”. Here’s something that raises a wry smile, from @CynicalBobby on Twitter…

“Like Sauron, the Home Office spies Policing’s shires with a fiery eye… For me, the yardstick of successful policing is this: are local officers able to respond to a crime, one either in action or expected to occur imminently? Does it have the necessary assets, people and experience? The top cover and support? Can the duty officer assemble a team in good time? Does he or she feel empowered to do so?” – Dominic Adler, new article today

The Police Superintendents Association have come out to say they’ve been left out of the loop and they too want to be engaged…

“Any changes agreed will be delegated to superintendents to deliver. Despite this, we have not been consulted with on any of the announcements made so far. Nor has the wider workforce.” – PSA Statement

While open-minded and up for the challenge, it’s clear these changes have not been driven by the PSA. Sensibly, they point out that maybe some clear and tangible objectives would be helpful to making the proposed reforms more likely to succeed…

“…we continue to stress that it is essential we define the police mission before we progress systemic change.  Until we do this and are very clear about the role of the police alongside partner agencies – we remain concerned that reform efforts could fail.”

While several Chief Constables and the Met Commissioner have often vocalised their support, there’s not been any call from forces themselves for regionalisation or other big changes. Opinions don’t seem to have changed since forces fought against and defeated the 2006 regionalisation proposals.

The public have generally been seeking a tougher stance on crime and sentencing, but there’s not been any apparent desire for the sweeping structural and procedural changes to policing proposed here.

Nor is there any indication in the Labour Manifesto 2024 that the public voted for such things. The Manifesto, in its policing section ‘Take Back Our Streets’, covers the usual crack downs on knife crime, focus on ASB, VAWG, even the Neighbourhood Guarantee and uplift. But nothing to do with the unprecedented reforms in this White Paper.

Indeed, with the 200-year Peelian notion of “the police are the public and the public are the police”, there’s already a backlash in the general public, akin to that of officers themselves upon hearing the news. One BBC article highlights the proposed mergers as “distressing and triggering”. Tracey Crawshaw, whose son tragically died in a road collision (now part of an IOPC investigation), seems to powerfully air the sentiments felt by many involved in policing:

“Bigger structures risk pushing decision-making even further away from the very people who rely on the police in their darkest moments.”

Further, in a survey of Devon and Cornwall residents, the PCC here in my local force I served for 28 years found 66% wanting the force to stay as-is, with only 18% supporting the idea of a big South West regional force.

2026 Police Reform Main Drivers and Supporters

So who on earth is driving these changes and inspiring the Home Secretary to come up with the most radical and comprehensive policing reforms since Victorian times? Who are the ‘police leaders’ the Home Office are referring to when they state:

“For the first time in decades, policing leaders and the Government are in agreement on the need for change and have worked together on this ambitious programme of reform.”

There are three main organisations in the spotlight openly driving and supporting these sweeping changes. In order of influence, they are:

  1. The Tony Blair Institute for Global Change (TBI)
  2. The National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC)
  3. The College of Policing (COP)

Let’s explore each in a bit more depth, starting with the main protagonist with apparently powerful political links to the current Labour government…

The Tony Blair Institute (TBI) – Driving Most UK Police Change

“Radical ideas. Practical solutions.” – TBI tagline

In 2006, Tony Blair’s Labour government tried pushing through force regionalisation under Home Secretary Charles Clarke. Incidentally, this followed a consultation proposing such a move towards big force mergers by Charles Clarke’s predecessor, David Blunkett. He is now Lord Blunkett, and happens to now oversee the new COP Leadership Commission. 

The core idea however has clearly made a resurgence two decades on, through Blair’s globalist £160m-per-year organisation, the TBI.

TBI is funded largely by contributions from global corporate tech entities, mainly Oracle (who in turn have recently been winning Home Office and policing contracts for AI and facial recognition enabling software). Supplemented with government funds, the TBI is a ‘think tank’ organisation of 900 employees, advising and influencing government policy around the world and advocating for AI-driven public service reforms.

This non-profit was founded in 2016, merging prior foundations and charities under Blair’s leadership, and following Mr Blair’s 8 years as ‘Middle East Peace Envoy’.

Biding its time, UK policing has remained in the TBI crosshairs for several years, culminating in their 2023 report, A Plan for Reforming UK Policing. And there’s clearly plenty of influence here upon this Labour government, with most of the TBI’s self-acclaimed “radical ideas” now becoming government policy.

The relationship between politics and policing attracts various perspectives. Whether you like it or not, politics has always been part of policing, whether visible or not.

While many in policing are pointing to the fanfare in recent months from the NPCC and COP, the real source of most of the specifics is clearly being driven from the TBI. The TBI even boasted about it earlier this week…

You might also notice from that same 2023 TBI report other high-profile changes that have been copied and pasted into policing and public policy since its publication. For example, Chief Officers being able to more easily sack officers, an overhaul of Vetting, facial recognition, digital ID verification, the drive for more AI, individual (under-)performance management, and national performance scorecards to name a few.

You might agree or disagree with a number of the TBI proposals for policing. Several actually seem pretty sound. But the powerful influence of the Tony Blair Institute upon these “most significant reforms in nearly 200 years” cannot be understated. Think tanks like this are one of the key ‘police leaders’ driving change in policing in recent years.

There are secondary supporters too, encouraging things along and fanning the flames, albeit in a less influential way…

The NPCC – Lobbying & Supportive of Proposals

Chief Officers seem mixed on their views of these widespread reforms. Some have warned that “bigger doesn’t necessarily mean better”. However, the NPCC as the organisation officially representing police Chiefs has come out in emphatic support, even though the proposals will inevitably reduce Chief Officer strength.

“The white paper publication follows over a year of engagement and collaborative working between the Home Office, NPCC, police leaders and the APCC and delivers on the vision of change set out by the government in 2024. The publication… has been welcomed by police leaders who have been united in their call for urgent and far-reaching reforms of the policing system.” – NPCC

Police Chiefs have already lobbied and requested of government throughout 2025 to amalgamate the 43 forces and introduce a new national service. This isn’t a new request, even the NPCC’s predecessor (ACPO) had called for the same, for efficiency and cost saving reasons. 

“A smaller number of police forces, supported by a national policing organisation, would enable us to make decisions far quicker and maximise funding to invest in technology and our workforce. Making improvements to our service once and for all, instead of in 43 different ways, would help to end the postcode lottery victims face when reporting crime.” – Gavin Stephens, NPCC Chair

“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.” – NPCC

The College of Policing are Content to Survive

It should be remembered that in practice, the COP is simply an arm of the Home Office. While operating at arm’s length as a Limited Company, the Home Secretary is the sole owner and the overwhelming majority of its funding comes from the Home Office. It should come as no surprise then that it lobbies for and then praises the plans set out by the Home Office.

It seems most front line cops still see ‘the COP’ as detached and of low relevance to their role, a realisation the College discovered in a review of itself a few years back. To most, the College = dreaded NCALT packages. The College are content they have been earmarked for survival by the Home Office, overcoming widespread calls for the organisation to be collapsed, even though this will in future be subsumed into the new, supermassive nationwide force.

On the new ‘Licence to Practise’, being the licensing function for police qualifications and training, they are particularly supportive and focus their official response to the entire White Paper on this…

“I understand that as a police officer, you will want to do your very best to serve the public and make a difference. And on the other hand, in a job that is rightly heavily scrutinised, heavily overseen, you’ll be concerned about the level of scrutiny that’s applied to you and whether it’s fair. I’m confident a licence to practise will help on both accounts.” – Sir Andy Marsh, COP CEO

Sir Andy Marsh also pitches the cause from a PSD angle, saying that such a licence would provide a strong defence for officers who follow the robust standards set.

There’s clearly a financial incentive here too. While final costs to officers for maintaining their licence have not yet been set, other positions referred to the Home Office to justify its introduction (doctors, lawyers) pay between £400 – £500 per year. A conservative estimate of £300 for officers’ annual licences, for nearly 150k officers, equates to around £45 million in extra income for the licensing authority (the College).

Others supportive of the proposals appear to be the NCA, IOPC, HMICFRS, and police academics. Another is The Police Foundation, who are especially supportive of the national service, licence to practise, professionalisation of training, and consolidation of forces, which they put forward in their 2022 Strategic Review of Policing. Indeed continuing the theme of policy being driven by think tanks and foundations, the Police Foundation’s former decade-long Director, Rick Muir, left to become Policy Advisor to the Home Secretary in May 2025.

Closing Thoughts…

“Over this Parliament and the next…” – 2026 White Paper

I keep reading this phrase for some of the longer-term reforms, especially for the most disruptive merging of police forces. It seems presumptuous to say the least. Could this be a clue as to whether such mergers are even realistic, given how governments can easily change, and former policies can be easily scrapped by a successor?

There’s so much in this White Paper, and so many massive changes being thrown at policing, but I hope this comprehensive coverage has helped you make sense of the apparent chaos. I’ll leave you with a few questions…

As I advise with SIPP changes on the horizon, if you’re an aspiring leader, I encourage you not to wait and see what happens. Get prepared now to get ahead of the curve, and in time you’ll potentially be more involved in the changes. There’s support available to help and I’m always just a (free!) phone call away.

Kind Regards, Steve

Don’t leave your promotion to chance! Start preparing like a pro today, with instant access to proven resources like my Digital Promotion Toolkit and Police Promotion Masterclass. For more tailored guidance, get in touch for a free call. Tune in to my extensive Police Promotion Podcast for regular powerful leadership CPD and promotion insights.

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