The White Paper sets out the Government’s view that the current structure of 43 territorial police forces is overly fragmented and does not consistently provide the capacity or resilience required to tackle serious and organised crime, public disorder and national threats. The paper announced plans to launch an independent review of police force structures. 

In March 2026, the Government published the terms of reference for its Independent Review of Police Force Structures. The review is chaired by Lord Bernard Hogan-Howe, the former Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police and former Chief Constable of Merseyside Police, and is expected to report to the Home Secretary at the end of summer 2026. 

The review’s terms of reference are to make recommendations on:  

• The most effective number of police forces across England and Wales and their configuration
• How local policing areas within larger forces will operate 
• How governance arrangements should work in larger forces 

Any reduction in force numbers would represent a significant structural change and would require primary legislation.

The independent review team is conducting a range of workshops and engagements with policing leaders as well as other stakeholders, including a targeted call for evidence over April and May 2026. 

The Police and Crime Commissioner is engaging with the review team and with the Chief Constable and partners across the region and will be submitting a response to the call for evidence. 

Our annual survey which helps inform the Commissioner’s decisions about the Devon & Cornwall Policing budget and priorities this year asked for residents’ views on how they would like to see policing structured in the future. You can read the results of the survey in the Commissioner’s update report to the January 2026 Police and Crime Panel and this media release provides a summary of the results.