Chief Constable extraordinary letter to the Police and Crime Commissioner - 9 January 2026

Dear Police and Crime Commissioner, Philip Wilkinson,

Before Christmas, Police Forces across England and Wales were provided with details of the Government funding settlement for the next financial year. 

Whilst further details are to be provided, it is anticipated that Wiltshire Police will need to deliver a minimum of £4.6m savings for 2026/2027, in order to deliver against a reduced budget.

This week, the details of the funding and the core components of how these savings will be achieved, were provided by your office to the Police and Crime Panel ahead of the meeting next Thursday and made publicly available. This information is available via this link. 

Following a Strategic and Financial Planning Summit I held with my Chief Officer Group in November, we have already identified the efficiencies currently required for the year ahead. 

As with our Financial Review Programme (FRP), through which we identified much of the nearly £8m worth of savings for 2025/26, our priority remains achieving these savings in ways that minimise the impact on our people and on frontline delivery. 

We must continue to focus on the function of our organisation rather than its form, ensuring that we protect the quality of service we provide to our communities and victims of crime.

Broadly speaking, the 2026/27 efficiencies will be achieved through a combination of:

I want to be clear that we will not be reducing our police officer numbers.

Last January, I made a commitment to improving our visibility within our communities and public access to our services, despite the significant financial challenges we faced. 

I am pleased to say that we more than doubled the use of mobile police stations out in our communities (from 175 deployments in 2024 to 416 in 2025), in addition to our neighbourhood teams attending 270 more local meetings and events (from 11,385 in 2024 to 11,655 last year).

This contributed to a significant step forward in the levels of trust and confidence our communities have in us. This was evidenced last year when Wiltshire Police was polled as the third most trusted force in England and Wales according to annual figures published by the Office of National Statistics.

I am committed to ensuring that future efficiencies and savings will be done in a sustainable and methodical way.

The required efficiencies for 2026/27 will be delivered through our Transformation Programme, led by Chief Superintendent Doug Downing and reporting into the Chief of Corporate Services, John Derryman.

This programme will be responsible not only for realising the savings required in 2026/27, but also for laying the foundations for our longer-term, five-year organisational transformation. This sits alongside and supports your proposed five-year Medium Term Financial Strategy.

Throughout the last year, Wiltshire Police demonstrated our ability to oversee significant financial reform, with the external scrutiny and support from you and your office. Last year, the level of savings ultimately required exceeded our initial forecasts due to unforeseen operational requirements, but we were able to meet that challenge because of the commitment, professionalism and resilience shown across our organisations. 

Most of those savings came from the removal of vacant posts, alongside efficiencies within our estate and fleet, and we worked hard to limit the impact on people and reduce the number of individuals placed at risk.

You are currently consulting on an increase to the policing element of the council tax.

Whilst I recognise that you are accountable for all financial consultation responsibilities with our communities, I would encourage anyone who would like to contribute to your considerations on the precept proposals to do so via the public survey found here. 

It is important that our communities are fully informed of these important financial decisions and, to facilitate this, you and I will be hosting a joint Facebook Live event on Wednesday 21st January between 6.30pm and 7.30pm.

This will be an opportunity for us to answer questions from the public and to set out our proposals for both your office and the force respectively. It will be held on the main Wiltshire Police Facebook page and questions can be pre-submitted or asked during the event.

I would like to publicly thank colleagues from both our organisations for their commitment to delivering the best possible service during a period of ongoing financial challenge. 

Transparency will remain central to how we approach the ongoing Transformation Programme and resultant efficiencies, and I will ensure I keep you, the force and most importantly our communities informed throughout. 

Kindest regards to you,

Catherine Roper

Chief Constable, Wiltshire Police