Nottingham City Council has approved an early budget decision to allow the recruitment of 10 additional Neighbourhood Safety Officers, ahead of the formal approval of its full 2026/27 budget later this winter.
The decision authorises £455,000 in revenue funding for the 2026/27 financial year to expand the city’s Neighbourhood Safety Team and to begin recruitment immediately, so that new officers can be in post from the start of April.
The Neighbourhood Safety Team currently consists of 39 officers.
Eleven of those posts are funded through contributions from other council departments, with the remainder supported through the team’s core establishment budget. According to the council report, this represents a significant reduction compared with previous years, following spending cuts triggered by the section 114 notice issued by Nottingham City Council in November 2023, when the authority effectively declared itself unable to balance its budget.
The report states that the current staffing level is the minimum at which the service can operate. As a result, officers have had to prioritise tasks, and the visible presence of neighbourhood safety staff on the city’s streets has reduced. With the council’s overall financial position now described as improving, agreement has been reached in principle to rebuild capacity by increasing the team by a further 10 officers.
In practical terms, the council says the additional posts will allow wider coverage of neighbourhood “hotspot” areas, improve responsiveness to incidents and reports from communities, and increase visible patrols. Neighbourhood Safety Officers are typically involved in addressing issues such as antisocial behaviour, environmental offences and low-level community safety concerns, working alongside other council services and partner agencies.
Funding for the extra posts was included in the council’s draft Budget and Medium-Term Financial Plan for 2026/27, which was provisionally endorsed by the executive board in October 2025. However, the full council will not formally approve the budget until February 2026. Officers therefore sought early approval for this specific element of funding to avoid delays.
The report explains that recruitment and vetting for Neighbourhood Safety Officers can take three to four months, including mandatory Non-Police Personnel Vetting. If recruitment were delayed until after the full council budget meeting in February, the council says no additional officers would be available during the first quarter of the new financial year. That option was considered but rejected on the grounds that extra capacity is required as soon as possible.
Finance advice included with the decision clarifies that the recruitment process will cover a total of 14 posts. Four are existing vacancies already within the current establishment budget, while 10 are newly created general fund posts that will commence after 1 April 2026. The council’s finance team has confirmed that this is affordable through a combination of existing vacancy savings and the £455,000 investment planned from 2026/27 onwards.
The decision applies citywide and is subject to the council’s call-in process, with a call-in deadline later this month. While approval has now been given to proceed with recruitment, the wider 2026/27 budget, including the longer-term funding of neighbourhood safety services, will still require formal approval by full council next month.
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