Total of 38 PCSO jobs at Northumbria Police are saved

Police Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness has welcomed the news that 38 PCSO jobs are going to be saved from the axe.

Northumbria Police has scaled back plans to axe the majority of its community support officers.

It was revealed in March that 136 Police Community Support Officer (PCSOs) posts were set to be slashed due to budget cuts, leaving only 60 remaining across the entire force area.

The move was criticised by trade union Unison, while police and crime commissioner (PCC) Kim McGuinness was accused of dodging public accountability over the job losses.

But it has now been announced that an extra 38 of those at-risk posts will be saved. Officials confirmed on Wednesday that “additional grant funding for recruitment has been secured, allowing the force to save more PCSOs than it had previously thought possible”.

While Northumbria’s PCSO numbers will still be sliced in half under the latest plans, Ms McGuinness said having 98 rather than just 60 left after the cuts would put the force “in a much better place”.

The Labour politician, who is running to be the new North East mayor, said: “We’ve evaluated neighbourhood policing plans in great detail and taken valued feedback on board. To my relief – we have good news – we secured funding for recruitment which thankfully means our PCSO numbers can take less of a hit than we feared. We are now in a financial position where we can retain 38 more PCSOs than we thought.

“We still need more police officers, and police staff supporting them, but, until government funds our police force properly and gives us back our cops, we are in uncertain times. Many people and their families are impacted by this. And we still have £10m we need to save through efficiencies.

“Like so many others, I really value what our PCSOs bring to local communities and being able to keep nearly 100 in post means we are in a much better place.”

41 of the initial 136 PCSO jobs under threat were vacant posts earmarked for deletion, while the force promised to offer alternative roles to those facing redundancy.

While PCSO numbers are being cut, the force has said it will divert an extra 134 police officers into its frontline teams – a move that has not been affected by the decision to save more PCSO jobs.