THE commissioner for Thames Valley Police does not think the force will ‘lose out’ on cash in the reformed funding formula, but admitted he expects bigger cities to receive up to £100m more.

Anthony Stansfeld said Thames Valley could recruit up to 2,000 officers if it was given the same funding as forces which police cities such as Liverpool and Birmingham are expected to receive in the new police grant.

But the police and crime commissioner said he understood why big cities were handed more cash, especially in the wake of recent terror attacks. The Home Office is yet to announce its new police funding formula after reforms were ordered due to statistical errors in grants in November 2015.

At the time, the then police minister, Mike Penning, was accused of presiding over an “omnishambles” as Mr Stansfeld along with six other PCCs across the country threatened the Home Office with legal action over previous reforms which could have lead to savage cuts.

Almost two years on, it is still unclear what the police grant will be, but Mr Stansfeld said he did not think Thames Valley would lose out, adding he understood new reforms had been ‘put on hold’.

He added: “The forces in Birmingham and Merseyside can afford nearly 2,000 extra police officers from the police grant. It’s definitely getting on to £100m, but with bombs going off in major cities and you can understand that.”

In his statement of accounts, which could be commented on by the public until Friday, Mr Stansfeld said he believed the force was ‘in for a more stable period financially’.

He said that Home Secretary Amber Rudd said there would be no more cuts to policing, and added: “Provided the UK’s finances suffer no unexpected downturn, the police can move forward with a greater feeling of confidence than we were able to this time last year.”

But Mr Stansfeld warned that, until the formula grant had been finalised, there was still ‘uncertainty’.

Two thirds of the force is funded by the grant, with a further third raised through the police precept in council tax. Chief Constable Francis Habgood said in his own statement of accounts that the force made savings of £87m in the past five years, but added there would ‘inevitably’ be ‘difficult decisions’ to make in the future.