Hertfordshire Constabulary has confirmed it is running a cost-cutting scheme to address financial difficulties the force is facing.

A voluntary redundancy scheme is being used by Hertfordshire Constabulary as part of a wider plan to address the £2.5 million shortfall it is facing. It is hoped that the job cuts can help the force save the £2.5 million by April 2026.

A spokesperson said this was a ‘difficult’ decision to reach and noted that there will be hundreds of police staff working in Hertfordshire after the job losses.

National trade union group, UNISON, has criticised the cuts and said that the measures will make it harder for the force to effectively fight crime.

A representative for the union argued that reducing the number of support staff – including investigators and administrators – will lead to uniformed officers performing more duties and spending less time on the streets protecting the public.

Hertfordshire Constabulary said the measures were needed as other schemes such as cutting overtime had not produced the savings the force needed.

UNISON has called on the Government to scrap the current funding scheme, saying it penalises forces that fail to hit officer recruitment targets.

UNISON Eastern regional organiser Cathrine Ward said: ““This is a false economy. Hertfordshire Constabulary is robbing Peter to pay Paul. "Police staff work is vital and still needs to be done. If the only people left to do it are higher-paid officers, it'll take them from their usual duties, costing more and stopping forces tackling crime in the community. The force and Government should properly value police staff.”

A Hertfordshire Constabulary spokesperson said: “The decision to launch an enhanced voluntary redundancy scheme for police staff as part of a drive to make efficiencies in the face of a £2.5 million budget shortfall was a difficult one to make. Our police staff do an amazing job for the public of Hertfordshire every day but our options around making sizeable savings are limited as our biggest area of spend is people. Other initiatives to save money such as cutting overtime and investment in the estate have not yielded the savings we need. We are unable to make reductions in officer numbers without significant financial penalty hence the need to make savings through this scheme.

“Despite the financial pressures, the force opted for an enhanced voluntary scheme, which is hoped colleagues will judge as being kinder and fairer than going down a compulsory redundancy route. Once the process has been finalised there will still be many hundreds of great police staff working for the force.”

The number of jobs at risk from the scheme has not been announced at the time of writing. In recent years, plans to remove unfilled community support officer roles and move police officers into the control room were disclosed in the Police and Crime Commissioner’s budget.

Reports from the BBC’s Local Democracy Reporting Service revealed that existing police officers were being used to fill unfilled shifts in the control room due to shortages in the workforce.