The Police and Crime Commissioners of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire have this evening announced their decision not to proceed with further work exploring the Lincolnshire Police outsourcing contract for the delivery of the three forces’ Organisational Support services.

Kim Challis, CEO of G4S Government and Outsourcing Solutions, said:

“We have put forward a compelling proposition to the police forces of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire which would have guaranteed them savings of over £100 million over the next ten years, allowing them to meet the financial challenge of the Comprehensive Spending Review without compromising on efficiency or public safety.

“Our proposition was to operate back office services at the volume and scale required to deliver significant savings to forces, enabling them to concentrate their resources on frontline roles: it was never about replacing police officers. This has already proved to be the case in Lincolnshire, where we have a successful partnership which, in less than a year, has seen us deliver savings in running costs of around 16%.

“We continue to work with a number of signatory forces on the Lincolnshire Police contract, including Hertfordshire, to see how we can help them to generate the savings they need”.