Where your money goes
In this section: Public services

Police Scotland: funding, precept and results

Last updated . Figures refresh every night. How each figure is worked out.

£1.4bn for Police Scotland in 2024-25, £252 per resident.

Figure as of unknown date. Source: Scottish Police Authority.

Key figures

  • £1.4bn2024-25, cash
  • £252Per resident, 2024-25
  • 296 per 100,000Officers per 100,000 residents, 2026-06
  • 85.7%999 calls answered within 10 seconds, 2026-08
  • 315,357 crimesRecorded crimes (Scotland), 2025-26 As of 23 June 2026

Sources: Scottish Police Authority, Scottish Government, police.uk (National Police Chiefs’ Council and Home Office).

Where the money comes from

Scottish Police Authority revenue spending in 2024-25, of which Police Scotland £1,350.0m, forensic services £44.4m and the Authority itself £4.8m. There is no police precept in Scotland: policing is funded by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Police Authority.

What the precept buys: funding and results, side by side

The precept and the government grant pay for the whole force. This table sets the force’s funding against what it recorded in the same year, beside the national figure. It shows the two together; it does not show that one caused the other.

Where it sits, and what is below it

  1. UK total
  2. Nation
  3. Department or service body not published
  4. Local body
  5. Spending category not published
  6. Line or transaction not published

Police Scotland

Scottish Police Authority revenue spending in 2024-25, of which Police Scotland £1,350.0m, forensic services £44.4m and the Authority itself £4.8m. There is no police precept in Scotland: policing is funded by the Scottish Government through the Scottish Police Authority.

£1.4bn in 2024-25 (cash); £1.4bn in 2025-26 prices; £252 per resident.

Spending category: not published. Spending by category is in the Scottish Police Authority’s annual accounts, which are not published as data.

Cash is as published. Real terms are in 2025-26 prices, using HM Treasury’s GDP deflator. Per resident divides by ONS mid-year population for the area the body serves. Changes compare the same body in consecutive years.

What is recorded alongside the money

These figures are published beside the funding, not as its result. Demand, geography, recording practice and many other things differ between areas and change over time; none of these charts shows cause and effect.

Police Scotland against the national figure: latest period of each measure
MeasurePolice ScotlandPeriod
Officers per 100,000 residents
Details
296 per 100,0002026-06
Period
2026-06
999 calls answered within 10 seconds
Details
85.7%2026-08
Period
2026-08
Officers per 100,000 residents: Police Scotland

Full-time equivalent officers per 100,000 residents: on 31 March in England and Wales (Home Office), at each quarter end in Scotland (Scottish Government), and on the date of the PSNI’s strength figures in Northern Ireland. Forces with large visitor or commuter populations (London, the City) look high on this measure.

The numbers behind this chart
Officers per 100,000 residents: Police Scotland (Officers per 100,000 residents, per 100,000)
YearPolice Scotland
2007-03314
2007-06315
2007-09315
2007-12315
2008-03312
2008-06314
2008-09318
2008-12320
2009-03326
2009-06330
2009-09329
2009-12330
2010-03331
2010-06331
2010-09330
2010-12327
2011-03326
2011-06327
2011-09326
2011-12327
2012-03328
2012-06327
2012-09329
2012-12328
2013-03329
2013-06326
2013-09326
2013-12325
2014-03323
2014-06325
2014-09324
2014-12324
2015-03323
2015-06323
2015-09323
2015-12323
2016-03322
2016-06321
2016-09321
2016-12321
2017-03320
2017-06320
2017-09320
2017-12320
2018-03318
2018-06318
2018-09318
2018-12319
2019-03319
2019-06319
2019-09319
2019-12319
2020-03322
2020-06319
2020-09319
2020-12319
2021-03319
2021-06319
2021-09318
2021-12316
2022-03309
2022-06305
2022-09304
2022-12306
2023-03302
2023-06301
2023-09302
2023-12297
2024-03295
2024-06292
2024-09296
2024-12298
2025-03298
2025-06296
2025-09296
2025-12296
2026-03296
2026-06296

Figure as of unknown date. Source: Scottish Government.

999 calls answered within 10 seconds: Police Scotland

Share of 999 calls answered within 10 seconds of BT passing them to the force. City of London’s calls are answered by the Metropolitan Police. Target: 90% within 10 seconds.

The numbers behind this chart
999 calls answered within 10 seconds: Police Scotland (999 calls answered within 10 seconds)
YearPolice Scotland
2025-0483.7%
2025-0582.3%
2025-0682.6%
2025-0781.8%
2025-0876.3%
2025-0976.6%
2025-1078.6%
2025-1174.7%
2025-1288.1%
2026-0194.1%
2026-0291.9%
2026-0390.4%
2026-0490.5%
2026-0589.4%
2026-0683.7%
2026-0784.2%
2026-0885.7%

Figure as of unknown date. Source: police.uk (National Police Chiefs’ Council and Home Office).

What the inspectorate found

Police Scotland is inspected by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary in Scotland, which does not give graded judgements.

The councils that collect this precept

Each of these councils collects the police precept with its own council tax and passes it to the force. The force sets it once for the whole area and spends it across the whole area: no council’s share is kept for that council.

What these figures do and don't show

  • Recorded crime is not all crime. It counts what is reported to the police and recorded under the Home Office Counting Rules. Recording practice differs between forces and has changed over time; the Crime Survey for England and Wales is the better guide to national trends.
  • Breaks in the series are marked. After the inspectorate found in 2014 that one crime in five was not being recorded, recording improved, which pushed counts up from 2014-15; a rule change in May 2023 lowered some counts; and from April 2025 shop theft with force is counted as robbery.
  • Nothing here shows cause and effect. Funding, officers, recorded crime, charge rates and call answering are shown side by side. A force with more money or more officers per resident may face more demand; a higher crime rate may reflect better recording.
  • Areas differ. Rates divide by residents, but London and city-centre forces serve many commuters and visitors who are not residents. The Home Office’s most similar forces are the fairest comparison it publishes.
  • Budget years are plans. The latest funding year is the budget; earlier years are revised as in-year grants are shared out.

Where this sits: Police, United Kingdom → Scotland → Police Scotland. Figures from data/services/police.json, generated 29 September 2026.

Use this data

The figures belong to the bodies that published them and are used under their terms, listed in Sources for this page; most are Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence. Only our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, published under CC BY 4.0: reuse them, including commercially, if you credit Tekstak Ltd and link back to this page.

Download

Sources for this page

SourcePublisherFigures as ofUpdatedLicence
Scottish Police Authority, annual report and accounts 2024-25Scottish Police Authority—annualOpen Government Licence v3.0
Police officer quarterly strength statistics, ScotlandScottish Government—annualOpen Government Licence v3.0
999 call answering performance datapolice.uk (National Police Chiefs’ Council and Home Office)—annualOpen Government Licence v3.0
Recorded Crime in Scotland 2025-26: tables (Tables 1, 3 and A7)Scottish Government23 June 2026annualOpen Government Licence v3.0

Each source's figures are used under the licence shown. Our own words, analysis, charts and derived calculations are ours, under CC BY 4.0.

Sections