Met Police 'worst case' funding cuts revealed - fight against organised crime and county lines would be 'dealt crippling blows'

The fight against organised crime and drug gangs in the capital would be dealt a severe blow if Met Police 'worst case scenario' cuts go ahead, sources have warned.

Britain's biggest police force has revealed to its officers how it would bridge an anticipated £450 million budget black hole if it fails to negotiate more funding during urgent negotiations that will end next month.

An internal memo, sent to serving officers on Thursday, outlined areas of the force which would likely be cut if the force is left with a forecast shortfall of Home Office and Mayor of London funding in the next financial year.

According to Met Police sources, the communication to staff said it could mean an end to the programme of having police officers in schools, which has been seen as a vital tool in steering at risk youngsters away from street gangs and the threat of county lines drug gangs in the past few years.

Responsibility for engagement with schools would fall under already stretched safer neighbourhood policing teams, rather than having dedicated officers in identified schools, should the cuts go ahead, they said.

The document also outlines a 20 per cent cut to the flying squad that deals with armed robberies and other serious organised crimes, while also taking away the elite unit's own armed officers.

A further 15 per cent would be cut from the budget of centrally based teams dedicated to investigating serious organised crime groups.

A Met source said: 'If this happens it will lead to a real dent in our ability to tackle street gangs and organised crime. The schools officers have been an important part of identifying at risk pupils who could be exploited by gangs for stuff like county lines.

"Serious and organised crime is on the rise so cutting from these units would be disastrous and it would be a great time to be a criminal.'

Other at risk units are the force's dedicated parks team, which focuses on dealing with drugs and anti-social behaviour in parks, as it could be scrapped.

The force's dog units and road traffic teams would face cuts of 20 percent under the worst case outline, while its celebrated mounted unit could see a 25 per cent cut.

Others in the pipeline are forensic services, looking at ten per cent cuts, and intelligence gathering at 15 per cent, but civilian staff would take over from any warranted officers lost.

The worst case scenario could see as many as 2,300 police officer roles lost and 400 civilian jobs in total, just two years after a major recruitment operation to boost nationwide police officer numbers by 20,000.

The memo said negotiations over funding between the force, Home Office and the London Mayor’s office would continue into December, with no decisions made.

The Met has struggled with recruitment and has previously offered £5,000 cash incentives to officers from other forces to join.

It has sold off several buildings and plundered reserves over recent years in a bid to plug funding gaps through the Tory and Coalition cuts from 2010.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warned this month that those ways of balancing the books had run out with 'some pretty eye-watering cuts to the services we provide' now required.

Asked about the cuts identified in the worst case scenario document, a Met spokesperson said: 'We are still awaiting our final funding settlement - so no decisions are final.

'We have been clear on the financial challenges we face and continue to have productive discussions with The Mayor and Home Office to ensure we have the resources to police London effectively.

'As expected we are carefully planning for any tough choices we may have to make to ensure we live within the means of our future budget, but no final decisions have been made.

'We are communicating to officers and staff to be transparent, clarify speculation and prepare them for the work needed to ensure delivery of any of the tough choices we may have to make ahead of our final budget being confirmed.'

A spokesperson for the Mayor's Office said the worst-case scenario was not proposing any savings in areas that have direct contact with the public, like emergency response or neighbourhood teams, which remained a key priority.

He said: 'The previous government chronically underfunded the Met, making cuts to policing in London that were equivalent to more than £1 billion. The Mayor has stepped in as much as possible over the last eight years, doubling investment from City Hall and investing a record £88m this year alone to bolster neighbourhood policing. But the overwhelming majority of the Met’s funding comes from central government and 14 years of national cuts and additional pressures from policing the capital has left the Met in a difficult financial position.

'The Government is not due to publish the level of national funding the Met will receive until December. So, while potential savings have been identified in the draft policing budget and the Met has identified some initial options on where costs could be saved in a worst-case scenario, no final decisions to reduce any services or officer numbers at the Met have been made.'

A Home Office spokesperson said: 'Last week the Home Secretary announced an increase of over half a billion pounds in central government funding for policing, including over £260 million for the core grant and additional resources for neighbourhood policing, counter-terrorism and the NCA.

'Further allocation of police funding will be confirmed in the police settlement in mid-December'.