The current 43 police forces trace back to the Police Act of 1964, with Scotland having eight forces merged into Police Scotland in 2013.

The plan envisions England and Wales reducing 43 forces to a much smaller number, potentially 10–15 mega forces, to focus on serious and organized crime at a national level.

Supporters portray Mahmood as a moderniser willing to push bold reform, while critics, including Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp, warn that top‑down mergers may not cut crime or boost performance and could centralise control with adverse effects on towns and villages.

An independent review will decide the final number and location of new forces, with mergers expected to be completed by the end of the next Parliament in the mid‑2030s.

Philp argues that force mergers risk undermining local crime fighting, centralising power and potentially harming communities, while pointing to concerns about the Met Police’s crime-solving rates and declining numbers.

The change process is gradual, with the exact number and placement of new forces to be determined by the independent review and implemented over a long timeline.

Under the reforms, local policing areas would handle neighbourhood issues, while larger forces undertake serious crime and complex investigations.

A central aim is to balance performance across forces and reduce disparities in resources that can hinder responses to major incidents, such as the Salisbury poisonings of 2018.

Reforms seek standardized capabilities so every force has adequate tools to tackle serious crime, preventing the smaller forces from lagging behind.

Mergers aim to save money by merging back‑office functions and reallocating funds to recruit more officers, while standardizing performance across forces.

This would be the largest policing reform in decades, with the aim of concentrating resources on national threats and complex investigations.

There are discussions about expanding artificial intelligence and shared services to cut desk time for officers, though rollout is not uniform across all forces.