Police workforce
The police workplace figures provide the headcount number of employees working in the territorial police forces across England and Wales and the British Transport Police, which operates across England, Wales and Scotland. The figures include police officers of all ranks, police staff (including support staff and some designated officers), police community support officers, police support volunteers and special constables.
Lancashire Constabulary is the police force operating across Lancashire, grouped into East, South and West divisions. The force has an extensive network of locations across the county, with the headquarters based in Hutton, Preston.
The latest figures are for March 2025.
Key figures
- The total headcount for Lancashire Constabulary's workforce was 6,537.
- The majority of Lancashire Constabulary's workforce was made up of 3,595 police officers and 2,312 police staff (including designated officers), with smaller numbers of police support volunteers (314), police community support officers (197) and special constables (119).
- There were 224.5 police officers of all ranks per 10,000 residents in Lancashire-14 (England = 244.2).
- The total headcount for Lancashire Constabulary workforce decreased by 0.5% compared to 2024. This was a smaller reduction than the 0.9% decrease seen in England.
Source: Police workforce England and Wales statistics from the Home Office, via LG Inform Plus.
Things to know about the data
Annual police workforce figures for the 43 territorial police forces operating in England and Wales and the British Transport Police (operating across England, Wales and Scotland) are published by the Home Office. The figures provide a snapshot of the police workforce on the 31st of March of the reporting year.
Headcount figures are a count of individual persons and are available for all published categories of staff. Full-time equivalent (FTE) figures are available for most categories of staff (special constable and police support volunteer figures are provided on a headcount basis only), which take account of part-time working practices across years and areas. Headcount figures are always slightly higher than FTE figures.
Some forces, including Lancashire Constabulary, are unable to provide separate figures for designated investigation, detention and escort officers. In these cases, these designated officers are counted under police staff. For comparability, combined police staff and designated officers (including designated investigation, detention, and escort officers) are provided for higher level geographies.
Designated officer ranks include section 38 (police authority employees) and section 39 (sub-contracted staff) officers.
Page updated 15 December 2025