The Welsh Government outlined the proposed level of funding for police forces in 2026-27 at the end of January. The Senedd will debate the Settlement on 3 March. Here’s some background to the funding as well as some of the significant changes being proposed to policing in England and Wales.
In 2026-27, the total core support for police forces in Wales through the Final Police Settlement will be £512.3m. Although policing isn’t devolved, funding is provided through the Welsh Government and the Home Office.
The Welsh Government notes the Home Office has applied a floor mechanism to the funding (as it has in previous years). It says this “ensures all police forces in England and Wales can expect to receive an increase in core funding of 4.022% for 2026-27”.
The Welsh Government’s element of the funding amounts to £113.47m. This represents no change from the Provisional Settlement set out in December. Separately, the Welsh Government also provides funding for community policing, due to be around £16.3m in 2026-27.
Details of the Home Office formula used to calculate the funding, and the various aspects of the funding for police, are available in the UK Government’s Police Grant report.
The motion on the Police Grant Report (England and Wales) 2026/27 was debated in the House of Commons on 11 February.
Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) also raise additional revenue funding through council tax precepts.
For England, the UK Government operates a threshold above which the increase requires a local referendum. For 2026-27, the threshold will be a £15 increase to average band D council tax.
Although this limit does not apply in Wales, the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government noted Welsh Ministers retain the power to impose a cap on increases should that be considered necessary.
As it stands, the proposed average D increase for the four police forces are:
- Dyfed-Powys – 7.47% (£26.95)
- Gwent – 6.95% (£26.22)
- North Wales – 7.01% (£26.10)
- South Wales – 6.99% (£26.47)
Beyond news on funding, there’s also been some significant developments in terms of policing policy. Building on its November 2025 announcement that PCCs would be abolished in 2028, the UK Government proposed an overhaul of policing in England and Wales. Its White Paper ‘From local to national: a new model for policing’ (January 2026) includes proposals to:
- significantly reduce the number of police forces in England and Wales, by merging forces into larger regional police forces
- establish a new National Police Service to lead on serious and organised crime and counter terrorism
- merge the National Crime Agency, College of Policing and National Police Chiefs’ Council into the National Police Service
- establish new arrangements to replace PCCs
More broadly, devolution of policing to Wales has been on the Welsh Government’s agenda for some time. In January, the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip, Jane Hutt MS, responded to the UK Government’s White Paper, reiterating the Welsh Government’s long-term commitment to devolution of policing. However, the UK Government hasn’t indicated much support for such a change.
Our recent article on progress made in devolving aspects of the justice system talks about progress in devolution of justice powers, which goes beyond policing.
Article by Owen Holzinger, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament.