Cheshire’s Police and Crime Commissioner says he is “disappointed” with the decision to axe 60 PCSOs and has put forward alternative proposals which could potentially save 10 roles.
Assistant Chief Constable Alison Ross emailed stakeholders last week saying the force planned to press ahead with proposals to reduce the number of police community support officer posts from 87 to 27.
She said Cheshire Police needs to save £13 million over the next four years and reducing the number of PCSOs “will also allow us to redeploy warranted police officers into local policing teams”.
Police commissioner (PCC) Dan Price has now put forward a funding solution for the Chief Constable to consider that could potentially save 10 PCSOs.
Mr Price said: “I am disappointed that the PCSO consultation has finished with the decision to cut 60 posts.
“I want to reassure you that I continue to explore options with Cheshire Police to minimise job losses and any disruption to communities.
“However, I cannot interfere in operational policing decisions made by the Chief Constable.
“But I do set the budget and earlier this week I put forward a funding solution that could potentially save 10 PCSOs.
“I am waiting for a response from the chief constable on this.”
The PCC said this was his second budget counter proposal.
He added: “Rest assured, whatever happens my commitment to a named PCSO or police officer in every neighbourhood remains unchanged.
“On top of that, those numbers will increase from 251 in April 2025 to 326 in 2026, which includes 51 new recruits, as a result of the government’s neighbourhood policing guarantee.”
Cheshire Police has confirmed the latest proposal from the commissioner is now being considered.
A spokesperson for Cheshire Police said: “On Wednesday, December 17, the constabulary’s formal consultation period in relation to the proposed reduction of PCSOs concluded and letters were circulated to stakeholders informing them of the outcome.
“Shortly after this, a further counter proposal was received which we are now carefully considering.
“This does not impact the overall position but makes proposals around the number of PCSO posts to be retained.
“We will provide a further update when a final decision on our new neighbourhood policing model has been made.”
The proposal to axe up to 70% of the county’s PCSOs sparked an angry backlash from politicians and the public.
MPs including Connor Naismith (Crewe & Nantwich, Lab) and Aphra Brandreth (Chester South and Eddisbury, Con) have spoken against the plan.
And both Cheshire West and Chester and Cheshire East full councils recently backed a motion calling on the force to reconsider the proposal.
(Story by Belinda Ryan, local democracy reporter)
12,000 more police officers are required across England and Wales now just to get police/public ratios back to 2010 levels, because of the 8% increase in population since then.