Reviews and appeals

If your complaint was made on or after 1 February 2020, you have a right of review. You can apply for a review if you are unhappy with the way your complaint was handled, or with the final outcome. The relevant review body will look at whether the handling or the outcome of your complaint was reasonable and proportionate. 

The organisation you complained to should have sent you a letter that tells you whether you have a right of review. If you have this right, the letter will also tell you which organisation will handle your review.

It is important that you send your review to the correct organisation – sometimes, this is referred to as the relevant review body. If you are unsure, please contact the organisation that dealt with your complaint.

Complete our reviews form and send it to the organisation you’ve been told to contact. They will use the information you provide to ensure that the correct process is followed. You can also submit a review in writing, using our printable form.

You have 28 days to apply for a review. For example, if your letter is dated 1 April, you must make sure the relevant review body receives your review or appeal by 29 April.

When the police force or the IOPC receives your review form, they will check whether it is the right organisation to handle your review. If not, it will forward your review to the relevant body and inform you that it has done so.

The relevant review body will send you a letter to acknowledge your review. They will tell you how long it’s likely to take to consider your review. The relevant review body will notify the organisation you complained about that you’ve applied for a review. They will also notify the person complained about and any other interested persons.

The relevant review body will ask the organisation that you complained about to provide it with any information they have about your complaint and how they dealt with it. 

When all of the information has been supplied, the relevant review body will assess your review and make its decision. You will be told about this decision in writing. You will receive a clear explanation about how this decision has been reached.

From the date we receive your application for a review, it may take up to 48 weeks for investigation reviews to be allocated, and up to 50 weeks for other handling reviews. This is due to an exceptionally high volume of work received in the last two years.

We are currently allocating investigation reviews received in November 2023, and other handling reviews received in November 2023. We are working hard to reduce these delays and we will regularly update this page with the current allocation times. 

Investigation reviews are a review following a local investigation conducted by the relevant police force. Other handling reviews are a review following the handling of a complaint other than by investigation - this includes when a decision has been made to take no further action.

If your complaint was made before 1 February 2020, you have a right of appeal. There are six different types of appeal:

• You can appeal against the police force or other organisation’s investigation into your complaint.
• You can appeal if a complaint was not recorded.    
• You can appeal against a decision to disapply.
• You can appeal against the outcome of the local resolution.
• You can appeal against the outcome of a complaint after the decision to disapply.
• You can appeal against the decision to discontinue an investigation.

Appeal against an investigation into a complaint made to the police or other organisation

You may be able to appeal if your complaint was dealt with through a local or supervised investigation.

You can appeal if:

• You did not receive enough information to enable you to understand why the police or other organisation came to their decision.
• You disagree with the findings of an investigation into your complaint. You might feel that the right witnesses were not interviewed, or that your complaint was misunderstood, or that the organisation you complained to did not make the right decision based on all the evidence.
• You disagree with the action the police plans to take after investigating your complaint.
• You do not think the police made the right decision about whether an officer you complained about has a case to answer for misconduct, gross misconduct, or whether their performance was unsatisfactory.
• You disagree with the decision not to refer the officer’s conduct to the CPS for a decision about whether to bring criminal charges.

You cannot appeal if your complaint relates to a direction and control issue (this does not apply if your complaint is about a contractor).

Appeal against non-recording of your complaint

You can appeal if:

• The police or local policing body did not to record your complaint. Policing bodies include Police and Crime Commissioners, the Common Council for the City of London, or the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime. There are some occasions when they do not need to record a complaint, but you should be told why. You can find a list of circumstances where complaints do not need to be recorded in our statutory guidance.
• You complained to a force other than the one involved in your complaint. The force that received your complaint did not pass it on to the relevant force.
• The police force or local policing body fails to decide about whether to record your complaint and you do not hear from them within 15 working days.

You cannot appeal if your complaint:

• Was about a direction and control matter and the local policing body took the decision not to record it. However, you can appeal if the decision not to record was taken by the police force.
• Was not recorded because it had been withdrawn.
• Was not recorded because it has been, or is being, dealt with through disciplinary or criminal proceedings.

Appeal against a decision to disapply

You may be able to appeal if the complaints process was stopped before an investigation into your complaint began. This situation happens when the police force involved makes a ‘decision to disapply’.

You can appeal if you think the police should not have decided to disapply.

You cannot appeal if your complaint is about a direction and control issue (this does not apply if your complaint is about a contractor), or if the IOPC gave the police force permission to disapply.

Appeal against the outcome of the local resolution

You may be able to appeal if your complaint was dealt with using the local resolution process.

When the police wrote to you about the outcome of your complaint, they also told you who to appeal to. In many cases, this will be the chief officer of the police force. In other cases, it will be the IOPC.

You can appeal if:

• You think that the outcome of the local resolution of your complaint was not a proper one. This means that, for example, you believe the outcome was not appropriate to the complaint, or the outcome did not reflect the evidence available.

You cannot appeal if your complaint relates to a direction and control issue (this does not apply if your complaint is about a contractor).

Appeal against the outcome of a complaint after the decision to disapply

You may be able to appeal if the process of looking into your complaint stopped before it was investigated. When a force makes a decision to stop dealing with a complaint before investigating it, this is called a ‘decision to disapply’.

You can appeal if:

• You are not happy with the action that was taken after the decision to disapply.
• You are unhappy that no action was taken after the decision to disapply.
• You do not agree with the outcome of your complaint after the decision to disapply.
• You do not think that the outcome of your complaint after the decision to disapply was sufficient. This means, for example, that you believe the outcome was not sufficient for the nature of the complaint, or the outcome did not reflect the evidence available.

You cannot appeal if your complaint relates to a direction and control issue (this does not apply if your complaint is about a contractor).

Appeal against the decision to discontinue an investigation

You may be able to appeal if a police force decides to end the investigation it is carrying out into your complaint.

You can appeal this decision if you do not think the police should have discontinued the investigation.

Please note, you cannot appeal when the complaint relates to a direction and control issue (this does not apply if your complaint is about a contractor), or if the IOPC gave the police force permission to disapply.

When the IOPC or the police force receives your application for an appeal, it will check whether it is the right organisation to handle your application. If not, it will forward your appeal to the relevant  appeal body and inform you that it has done so. 

The relevant appeal body will send you a letter to acknowledge your appeal. They will tell you how long it is likely to take to consider your appeal. 

The relevant appeal body will notify the organisation you complained about that you’ve applied for an appeal. They will also notify the person complained about and any other interested persons. 

The relevant appeal body will ask the organisation that you complained about to provide it with any information they have about your complaint, and how they dealt with it. 

When all of the information has been supplied, the relevant  body will assess your appeal and make its decision. You will be told about this decision in writing. You will also receive a clear explanation about how this decision has been reached. 

For more information about appeals, read our frequently asked question guides below:

• Pre decision questions about appeals
• Post decision questions about local resolution appeals
• Post decision questions about non recording appeals
• Post decision questions about police investigation appeals