Police complaints Statistics for England and Wales (plain text format) - 2022/23

Each year, we publish statistics about the complaints that forces have logged. We also produce quarterly bulletins for all police forces.

Read our Director General’s release - IOPC Acting Director General comments on Police Complaints Statistics report 2022/23.  

Contents

• Introduction
• Findings
• Initial handling of complaints and how long it takes
• What complaints were about
• Who complains and who is subject to complaints
• Time taken to informally handle a complaint and the outcomes
• Time taken to formally handle a complaint and the outcomes
• Reviews
• Discussion
• Number of complaints and what is complained about
• Who complains and who is subject to the complaints
• Handling and outcomes of complaints
• Reviews
• Conclusion
• Data considerations
• Statistical notes
• Data tables
• Glossary

Introduction

This report presents figures on complaints about the police in England and Wales for 2022/23. These complaints are made by members of the public about the service they have received from a police force. They are handled under the Police Reform Act 2002, as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2017.

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 and supporting regulations made significant changes to the police complaints and disciplinary systems. These changes were designed to achieve a simpler, more proportionate, and customer-focused complaints system focused on learning and improvement. The changes were implemented on 1 February 2020.

A police complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction by a member of the public about the service they have received from a police force. Police forces and local policing bodies deal with the majority of complaints themselves. The IOPC sets the standards for complaints handling through its Statutory Guidance 2020. 

Statutory Guidance helps local policing bodies and forces achieve high standards in handling complaints about the police. It also helps them to comply with their legal obligations. The IOPC oversees the complaints system and investigates the most serious and sensitive cases. It also carries out reviews of some complaints.

The first stage of complaint handling is for the relevant police force or local policing body to decide how it will handle the complaint. Legislation allows for certain types of complaints to be resolved informally, while allowing more flexibility in the formal handling of complaints. This allows the police to better meet the needs of the complainant, and quickly make improvements based on the complaints they handle.

A person can request a review if they are unhappy with the way their complaint was handled or the outcome. In some instances, this review will be carried out by the IOPC. Other reviews are handled by local policing bodies (Police and Crime Commissioners and Mayors).

Most of the data referred to in this report was recorded on police force IT systems and collected by the IOPC. While data has undergone quality assurance checks, the statistics remain under evaluation until their quality, including their accuracy, reliability, and their value, is established and verified. Therefore they should be treated as experimental to acknowledge that they should be interpreted with some caution and that further development and evaluation is currently taking place. The Office for National Statistics describes experimental statistics as ‘a series of statistics that are in a testing phase and not yet fully developed’.

We have given police forces guidance setting out how we expect them to record the data we collect. Therefore, the consistency of the data we report relies on police forces applying our guidance correctly when they record data.

Our guidance on how police forces should record data about complaints under the Police Reform Act 2002, as amended by the Policing and Crime Act 2017, is available on our website: www.policeconduct.gov.uk.

Findings

Initial handling of complaints and how long it takes

Complaint cases logged

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 and supporting regulations made significant changes to the complaints system, widening the definition of a complaint to make the system more accessible. This means many more complaints will now be logged than in previous years.

The definition of a police complaint is an expression of dissatisfaction by a member of the public about the service they have received from a police force. All expressions of dissatisfaction must be logged. Some dissatisfaction, which does not meet the criteria for recording a complaint under Schedule 3 of the PRA 2002, may be resolved quickly to the satisfaction of the complainant. Other expressions of dissatisfaction must be recorded.

• In 2022/23, police forces and local policing bodies logged 81,142 complaint cases (table 1) – an 8% increase on 2021/22.
• Forces took on average five working days to log complaints from the date the complaint was made (table 3).
• Most forces (32 out of 44) logged complaints in an average of five working days or less.

There are considerable differences in the size of police forces across England and Wales. This impacts the number of complaint cases logged by forces. Direct comparison of the number of complaint cases across forces would not take into account these size variations.

A complaint cases rate per 1,000 police force employees is used to provide a meaningful comparison of complaints logged across forces.

• In 2022/23, 329 complaint cases per 1,000 employees across all forces were logged (table 2) – an increase of 20 complaints per 1,000 employees compared to 2021/22.
• Complaint case rates per 1,000 employees ranged from 82 in North Yorkshire Police to 736 in Cleveland Police.

Time taken to contact the complainant

When handling complaints, the body responsible must contact the complainant and seek their views about how the complaint should be handled. This should happen as soon as possible after the complaint is made.

• In 2022/23, forces took an average of five working days from the date the complaint was made to contact the complainant (table 3). This was a four-day improvement on the nine days taken in 2021/22.
• The time forces took to contact complainants ranged from an average of one day in five forces to 17 days in City of London (table 3).

Recording complaints

Schedule 3 of the PRA 2002 sets out legal requirements for police complaint handling.

A complaint does not need to be formally recorded under Schedule 3 of the PRA 2002 if it can be resolved quickly and to the satisfaction of the complainant. Even if attempts are made to initially handle the complaint outside of the requirements of Schedule 3, it may later be recorded and handled under Schedule 3 of the PRA 2002. Information about recording complaints is available in Chapter 6 of our Statutory Guidance (2020).

There are four reasons why a complaint must be recorded under Schedule 3:

• the complainant wants it to be recorded
• the nature of the allegation(s) mean it must be recorded
• the appropriate authority/body responsible for initial handling decides it is appropriate
• the complainant is dissatisfied following informal handling

Reasons complaint cases recorded under Schedule 3 in 2022/23

• A total of 31,620 complaint cases logged in 2022/23 were subsequently recorded under Schedule 3 of the PRA 2002 - a 12% decrease on 2021/22 (table 4).
• In 41% (13,120) of cases, the body responsible for the initial handling of the complaint decided it should be recorded.
• Just under a quarter (23%, 7,333) of complaints were recorded because the complainant wanted it to be recorded.
• 20% (6,318) of complaint cases were recorded due to the nature of the allegations made.
• In 15% (4,849) of cases, the complainant was dissatisfied with the informal handling and requested their complaint be recorded.
• There is variation across forces on the reasons for recording complaints under Schedule 3. In nine forces, 50% or more of the complaints they recorded were because the person who complained wanted it to be recorded. In four forces, 50% or more of complaints were recorded because the complainant was not satisfied with the initial handling of their complaint.

What complaints were about

A complaint case may include one or more allegations. Each allegation is allocated to one of 11 categories and a subcategory if applicable. The purpose of the categories is to capture the root of the dissatisfaction expressed in a complaint.

• In 2022/23, 134,952 allegations were logged (table 5).
• The three most commonly logged allegation categories in 2022/23 were:
  • delivery of duties and service (55%)
  • police powers, policies and procedures (20%)
  • individual behaviours (13%)

These three categories account for 88% of all allegations logged.

• Discriminatory behaviour made up 3% (4,062) of all allegations logged. 56% (2,266) of these were allegations of race discrimination, 17% (680) were about disability, and 13% (112) were about sex discrimination.

Allegations logged in 2022/23 by category.

• 55% delivery of duties and service
• 20% police powers, policies and procedures
• 13% individual behaviours
• 3% discriminatory behaviours
• 3% handling of or damage to property/premises
• 6% all other categories

Who complains and who is subject to complaints

Who makes the complaints

In 2022/23, 74,543 people complained about the police.

• Most complainants were men (51%, 37,662) (table 8).
• Where known, most complainants were White (55%, 41,292). It should be noted the ethnicity of 31% (23,274) of complainants was either not stated, unknown or the complainant preferred not to say (table 9).
• The most common age groups to complain about the police were those aged 30 to 39 years (21%, 15,996 complainants), closely followed by those aged 40 to 49 years (19%, 14,401). The people who complained least commonly were aged 17 or under. However, caution is advised when looking at the breakdown by age owing to 16% (12,067) of complainants whose age is unknown (table 10).

Who is complained about

In 2022/23, 51,720 people serving with the police were subject to a complaint.

• 62% (32,134) of those complained about were men and 32% (16,432) were women (table 11).
• Most people subject to a complaint were White (80%, 41,315). However, caution is advised when looking at the breakdown by ethnicity due to the number of subjects (14%, 7,076) with unknown or not stated ethnicity (table 12).

Time taken to informally handle a complaint and the outcomes

Informal complaint handling is an opportunity to address promptly the concerns raised by the complainant. The key consideration is whether a course of action is appropriate and whether it will be an effective response to a complaint.

Allegations finalised

An allegation is considered finalised when the complainant is notified about the outcome of the allegation (a decision) and any planned action.

• In 2022/23, police forces finalised 55,524 allegations on complaint cases that were handled informally (table 14).
• On average, these allegations took 16 working days to finalise (table 15). This is one week less than in 2021/22.

Allegation decisions

Where a complaint case is handled informally, the allegation decision will be ‘resolved’ or ‘not resolved’.

• In 2022/23, 92% of allegations handled informally were recorded as resolved. This means that they were either resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant and/or the complainant did not wish to pursue their complaint formally (table 19).
• The remaining 8% could not be resolved and will either have been recorded under Schedule 3 or withdrawn by the complainant.

Complaint cases finalised

A complaint case is finalised when all actions relating to that case are complete

• In 2022/23, 48,204 complaint cases were finalised informally (table 20).
• These complaint cases took an average of 18 working days to finalise (table 21). This is longer than the 16 working days taken to handle allegations as it includes the time to complete all the actions on the case.

Actions

Any actions taken in response to the allegation are recorded; multiple actions can be recorded for each allegation.

• The most common action resulting from complaints handled informally was an explanation. 58% of complaint cases finalised resulted in an explanation being given to the complainant (table 22).
• 21% of complaint cases finalised informally had at least one allegation resulting in no further action (table 22). Previous data collections identified that this action was being recorded incorrectly in some forces and, as a result, the proportion of allegations resulting in no further action has decreased from 2021/22.
• Different types of learning can be selected as the outcome of complaints. These are organisational learning and learning from reflection. These amount to 2% of the outcomes. Actions such as providing an apology or conducting a debrief accounted for a further 10%. Therefore, some sort of learning/reflective activity accounted for the outcome in 12% of cases (table 22).

Time taken to formally handle a complaint and the outcomes

All complaints recorded formally should be handled in a reasonable and proportionate manner. This may mean:

• an investigation
• otherwise responding to concerns raised and seeking to resolve them
• notifying the complainant that no further action will be taken

Allegations finalised

An allegation is considered finalised when the complainant is notified about the outcome of the allegation (a decision) and any planned action.

• In 2022/23, police forces finalised 71,805 allegations on complaint cases handled formally (table 14).

Allegations handled by investigation

If an allegation is investigated, the investigation will fall into one of three types: local, directed, or independent. Please see the Glossary for an explanation of the different forms of investigation.

If at any time during an investigation, the investigating officer thinks a person complained about may have

• committed a criminal offence; or
• behaved in a manner which would justify the bringing of disciplinary proceedings

the investigation must be certified as subject to ‘special procedures’ (see explanation of ‘special procedures’ in the Glossary).

• In 2022/23, 24% of the 71,805 allegations handled under Schedule 3 were investigated (table 14).
• 9% of those (1,562 out of 17,098) were finalised by investigations subject to special procedures (table 16).
• Of allegations handled formally, the proportion investigated ranged from 2% in Cleveland Police to 98% in Thames Valley Police.
• Allegations finalised by local investigation took an average of just over seven months (159 working days) for forces to complete (table 15). A month longer than in 2021/22.

Allegations handled otherwise than by investigation

Most allegations will not need a full investigation to reach a conclusion and a decision.

• In 2022/23, the majority (76%) of allegations handled formally were finalised otherwise than by investigation (table 14).
• These allegations took forces almost five months (98 working days) on average to finalise (table 15).

Allegation decisions

Often a complaint case will contain several different allegations. Some may be subject to special procedures and others not. It is possible to handle all allegations in the same way. As such, a complaint case that is investigated subject to special procedures may contain non-special procedures allegations and the decision will reflect this.

• It was found there was a case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct in 24% of allegations investigated subject to special procedures (table 19).
• 47% of allegations investigated subject to special procedures found no case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct (table 19).
• 4% found that the service provided was not acceptable (table 19).
• • The remaining allegations investigated subject to special procedures found that either the service was acceptable (or unable to determine), no further action was taken, or the complaint was withdrawn (table 19).
• It was found the service provided was acceptable in almost three quarters (74%) of allegations investigated where special procedures did not apply (table 19).
• The service provided was acceptable in the majority (67%) of the allegations finalised formally that were not investigated (table 19).

Complaint cases finalised

A complaint case is considered finalised when all actions relating to that case are complete. This includes:

• the time during which an application to review can be made
• the time it takes to deal with a review
• the time it takes for actions resulting from a recommendation or direction, made either following an investigation or consideration of a review, to be completed
• the time for the actions arising from a reflective practice review process (RPRP) meeting to be communicated to the complainant or their representative
• the time it takes for misconduct and/or criminal proceedings to conclude
• the time for initial outcomes of unsatisfactory performance procedures to be decided

In 2022/23, a total of 30,521 complaint cases were finalised formally (table 20).

• It took an average of almost six months (125 working days) to finalise complaint cases formally in 2022/23 (table 21) (excluding time spent suspended due to criminal matters).
• The average time forces took to finalise complaint cases formally ranged from 51 in Durham to 231 working days in North Yorkshire (table 21).

Actions

• Of the 30,521 complaint cases handled formally in 2022/23, 40% had at least one allegation resulting in no further action being taken (table 23). Previous data collections identified that this action was being recorded incorrectly in some forces and in 2022/23 there was a decrease in the proportion of cases resulting in no further action (48% in 2021/22).
• 113 complaint cases that were handled formally and subject to a special procedures investigation had at least one allegation resulting in either misconduct meeting or hearing (table 23).
• 13% of complaint cases had at least one allegation resulting in learning for either the individual or the police force (table 23).
• 3% (998) of complaint cases handled formally had at least one allegation resulting in a referral to RPRP (table 23).
• 7% of complaint cases had at least one allegation resulting in an apology or debrief taking place (table 23).
• 46% of complaint cases had at least one allegation resulting in an explanation being provided (table 23).

Reviews

The complainant has a right to apply for a review where a complaint has been recorded under Schedule 3 of the PRA 2002. They can apply for a review if they are unhappy with the way their complaint was handled, or with the outcome.

The application for review will be considered by the local policing body or the IOPC. The relevant review body depends on the circumstances of the complaint. The relevant review body will look at whether the handling and the outcome of the complaint was reasonable and proportionate.

There is no right of review against a complaint handled informally outside of Schedule 3. The complainant can request the complaint be recorded and handled formally if they are not satisfied with the outcome given to them. This will bring it inside the scope of Schedule 3 and, when the complaint is finalised, the complainant will get a right of review to the relevant review body.

Local policing body (LPB) reviews

In 2022/23, LPBs received 4,366 applications from complainants requesting a review of how their complaint had been handled or its final outcome. This is a decrease of 13% from the 5,030 reviews received in 2021/22 (table 24).

• The number of reviews LPBs received following complaints that had not been investigated was 3,880.
• The number of reviews received following complaints that had been investigated was 486.

Outcome of LPB reviews

• In 2022/23, 19% of reviews about complaints that were not investigated found the complaint outcome was not reasonable and proportionate (table 25).
• The proportion of non-investigation reviews that found the outcome was not reasonable and proportionate varied considerably across police forces from 0% in two forces to 58% in Warwickshire Police (table 25).
• 27% (156 out of 574) of the investigation reviews completed by LPBs found the complaint outcome was not reasonable and proportionate (table 25).
• The number of investigation reviews completed by LPBs varied considerably across forces. Ten LPBs completed ten or more reviews of police force investigations, the highest being Thames Valley Police with 249 investigation reviews completed. Seventeen LPBs completed no investigation reviews (table 25).

IOPC reviews

In 2022/23, the IOPC received 1,991 applications to review complaints dealt with by police forces, an increase of 24% on 2021/22 (table 26).

• In 2022/23, the IOPC received 1,188 applications to review complaints not investigated by police forces.
• The number of reviews received following complaints that had been investigated was 803.

Outcome of IOPC reviews

• In 2022/23, the IOPC found the outcome in 44% of complaints that had not been investigated was not reasonable and proportionate (table 27).
• 32% (177 out of 551) of the investigation reviews completed by the IOPC found the complaint outcome was not reasonable and proportionate (table 27).

Discussion

Numbers of complaints and what is complained about

The past year has again been dominated by several high-profile cases of police misconduct. However the statistics in this report do not particularly reflect those high-profile cases of huge public concern because publc complaints on their own do not necessarily show the full picture. Many of those high-profile cases will not be recorded in these statistics as they don't arise from public complaints but rather from internal conduct matters, which are reported separately. Instead they show that while the overall volume of complaints has increased by 8% since last year, for the majority of forces the number of complaints has remained very similar, There are a couple of larger forces that have seen a more significant increase than the rest.

This year’s statistics also show that by far the largest proportion of complaints relate to ‘delivery of duties and service’. This covers police action after contact with the public and the general level of service the police offer. Most categories have increased slightly but ‘delivery of duties and service’ has increased by two percentage points compared to last year’s report. So while the public perceptions of the police show a fall in confidence due to these high profile cases there is still an increasing dissatisfaction with the general levels of service that the public receive too.

Who complains and who is subject to the complaints

84% of complaints made relate to police officers, which is as expected given the amount of contact they have with the public. The next largest group complained about is police staff at 9%. These proportions have remained the same as 2021/22.

There have been some improvements in capturing data about those that are complaining. ‘Not stated’ entries for the ethnicity question have dropped by five percentage points compared to last year. This is positive to see but there is still further work to be done around collecting data for both complainants and those subject to complaints.

Although proportions have remained the same or very similar, the numbers of complaints by female members of public have increased by 8% this year and 13% last year. This compares to an 8% rise from 2021/22 and 4% rise from 2020/21 for male members of public. It is also noted that complaints by younger people, aged 17 and under, have increased by 28%, which is a one percentage point rise. Although there is still not parity with other age groups, it is positive to see that this age group are increasingly choosing to access the system.

There has been an increase in female police staff members being subject to complaints. This increased by 7% this year and 24% last year (compared to 1% and 22% for male subjects), although the proportions have remained similar. This may be as a result of more representation across forces, particularly with the increase in officer numbers.

Handling and outcomes of complaints

Once a complaint is made, it is important that the complainant is contacted so that the complaint can be understood fully. Last year we noted that this was an area that could be improved and PSDs have responded to this. Forces have improved from an average of 9 days to an average of 5 days.

Notably, there were four forces who considerably improved the time it took to contact complainants.: West Midlands (44 to 5 days), Gwent (8 to 2 days), Durham (8 to 1 day) and Devon and Cornwall (19 to 4 days). This is through a focus on the front end of complaint handling, to ensure dissatisfaction can be resolved as quickly as possible. Where early contact is made with the complainant and the main points of the complaint are set and agreed together, we see that this sets a positive tone for the complaint handling. It also helps set the scope for the enquiries that are needed, gives an opportunity to find what the complainant wants and this lends itself to a successful resolution of the complaint.

Informal handling and outcomes

Complaints that are handled informally should be dealt with flexibly, focusing on customer service. These complaints should be dealt with quickly - usually within days rather than weeks. There has been an increase in the number of complaints forces have dealt with informally. This increase is partly due to forces’ systems recording this data better but forces must be sure that they are dealing with the correct cases informally - more serious complaints must not be handled by this method. In this report we can see 136 allegations that forces have classified as abuse of position or sexual conduct were handled informally, which on the face of it doesn't seem correct. Where we can identify these cases we will take this up with the police forces involved to work out the reasons why.

However, overall forces have done well in decreasing the amount of time to finalise informal cases from 24 days last year to 18 this year. This is despite an increase in the number of cases dealt with informally.

South Wales, Northumbria, Hertfordshire and West Yorkshire all complete these cases in seven days or fewer. Cleveland, Leicestershire, West Midlands, Warwickshire, Sussex, Wiltshire and Metropolitan Police Service have all significantly improved their timeliness in this area as well.

The most common outcome was that complainants were offered an explanation. There was also a further increase in the number of apologies given. It is positive to see that ‘no further action’ (NFA) continues to reduce as an action, following advice given to forces. Forces were previously using NFA for complaints where they had tried to resolve the dissatisfaction, whereas it should only be used where no action is being taken (for example where a complaint is repeated). The numbers of learning outcomes from these complaints are still small. Given the volume of cases, it is likely there are more opportunities to learn and improve the service to the public from this type of complaint.

Formal handling and outcomes

Of those allegations handled formally, 13% were subject to formal investigations, 2% fewer than last year. Of those investigated, 9% were investigated through special procedures, where specific conduct is assessed, compared to 7% last year and 1% the year before. It took forces an average of 159 days to complete a complaint investigation - an increase of 25 days, potentially as a result of increased complexity of cases.

The remaining 87% of allegations handled formally were assessed as not requiring a full investigation to reach a conclusion and outcomes. These allegations should be handled more quickly and flexibly. They took on average 98 days to complete - an increase of 14 days. Notable exceptions to the increase are Gwent, Warwickshire and West Midlands.

Of those cases completed in 2022/23, proceedings were held for 113 compared to 68 the year before and 18 the year before that. Only 3% of cases were referred to reflective practice, which has stayed the same from the previous year. This year we provided further guidance for forces on reflective practice to bring improved use and understanding of what it entails and we expect to see it being used more often in the future.

Following workshops and advice from the IOPC, data quality has improved so that ‘no further action’ is no longer the most common outcome of formally recorded complaints. Previously, action was taken to resolve complaints in the vast majority of cases but was incorrectly being finalised on police systems. This has now improved with the number of cases where an explanation, debrief or apology have increased, with explanation being the most common outcome. This helps to clarify the reality of how complaints are being resolved and gives a more tangible outcome to complainants.

Reviews

A complainant can request a review if they are not satisfied with how their complaint was handled. The nature of the complaint determines whether the review should be handled by the Local Policing Body (LPB) or the IOPC. There has been a rise in reviews received for the IOPC, and a drop for LPBs leading to a small decrease overall. This is likely to be because of workshops and individual assistance we have given in relation to the test so there is increased understanding in this area. It may also be due to a small drop in the number of cases finalised formally; either due to forces using informal complaint handling more often or due to backlogs within complaint handling departments.

The proportion of investigation reviews upheld have remained very similar to last year, 27% in both years for LPBs and a rise of one percentage point from 31% to 32% for the IOPC. There is a more significant rise for reviews where the complaint has been handled outside of investigation, from 15% to 19% for LPBs and 37% to 44% for the IOPC. One of a few notable exceptions to this rise is Lancashire, who have sought advice to improve their complaint handling. The IOPC is working closely with forces to help them get complaints right first time and we would like to see these numbers reducing in the future.

Conclusion

There have not been dramatic changes in terms of public complaints this year from last year, although there are some slight variances particularly at individual force levels. It suggests that the changes to complaints legislation are now becoming embedded and access to complaining is well established.

We are seeing changes relating to the inputs we have given and expect to see further changes in the future. We are continuing to work with forces to try and improve their handling of complaints where we have noticed that there are areas for improvement and will provide further guidance for police forces to use to drive these improvements through this year.

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Data considerations

This report only presents information about complaints handled under the new regime implemented 1 February 2020 and 4 January 2021 for the British Transport Police.

Hampshire Constabulary only started capturing information about complaints handled outside of Schedule 3 from February 2021.

The flexibility in the new system means there will be different ways to handle complaints in a reasonable and proportionate manner. Some forces will choose to handle matters in a different way to other forces.

Figures for City of London include complaints about Action Fraud. Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime. The service is run by the City of London Police, which is the national policing lead for economic crime.

Statistical notes

• In the percentage columns presented in the following tables, ‘-’ denotes no data and ‘0’ denotes less than 0.5%.
• Some percentages may add up to more or less than 100% due to rounding.
• Average times are presented as working days and do not include weekends or bank holidays.
• Complaint cases and allegations with invalid start/end dates have been removed from average time calculations. Therefore, the numbers of complaint cases and allegations used in the average time calculations may be lower than the total number of complaint cases and allegations finalised.

Data tables

Table 1: Number of complaint cases logged in 2022/23

The figures for City of London include complaint cases logged in relation to ‘Action Fraud’. Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime. The service is run by the City of London Police, which is the national policing lead for economic crime.

Table 2: Number of complaint cases logged per 1,000 employees in 2022/23

* “Number of employees” is taken from the Home Office publication Police Workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2022.

Table 3: Time taken to log complaints and contact complainants in 2022/23

Table 4: Reasons complaint cases recorded under Schedule 3 in 2022/23

Table 5: Number of allegations logged in 2022/23

The figures for City of London include complaint cases logged in relation to ‘Action Fraud’. Action Fraud is the UK’s national reporting centre for fraud and cybercrime. The service is run by the City of London Police, which is the national policing lead for economic crime.

*Number of employees is taken from the Home Office publication Police Workforce, England and Wales, 31 March 2022.

Table 6: Number of allegations logged - what has been complained about in 2022/23

*The number of allegations logged presented in this table are only those with a category recorded. Therefore they may not match the actual number of allegations logged presented in Table 5.

Table 7: Number of allegations logged - what has been complained about and subcategories in 2022/23

The number of allegations logged presented in this table are only those with a category recorded. Therefore they may not match the actual number of allegations logged presented in Table 5.

Table 8: Gender of complainants in 2022/23

Table 9: Ethnicity of complainants in 2022/23

Table 10: Age of complainants in 2022/23

Tables 8 to 10: Complainants are only counted once in these tables regardless of how many complaints they have made throughout the year.

Table 10: Complainant’s age data for allegations handled outside of Schedule 3 by Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire is not available in 2022/23.

Table 11: Gender of those subject to a complaint in 2022/23

Table 12: Ethnicity of those subject to a complaint in 2022/23

Tables 11 and 12: Subjects are only counted once in these tables, regardless of how many complaints they have been subject to in the year.

Subjects’ demographic data is not recorded on Northumbria Police outside Schedule 3 complaints.

Table 13: Rank of those subject to a complaint in 2022/23

Table 13: The total number of subjects will not match the figures in tables 11 and 12. This is because people subject to more than one complaint in the year may have held different ranks at the time each allegation was logged. In such cases they will be counted more than once (for each rank).

Table 14: Means by which allegations were finalised in 2022/23

Table 15: Time taken to finalise allegations in 2022/23

Only allegations with valid dates are used in the calculation for the average number of days to finalise allegations.

Table 16: Allegations finalised by investigation under Schedule 3 in 2022/23

Table 17: Nature of allegations finalised outside of Schedule 3 in 2021/22

Table 18: Nature of allegations finalised under Schedule 3 by how they were handled in 2022/23

Table 19: Decisions on allegations by how they were handled in 2022/23

The number of allegations presented in this table may not match the totals in Table 14. This is due to a small number of finalised allegations which had recorded decisions incompatible with the way they were handled. These have been excluded from the totals.

Table 20: Number of complaint cases finalised in 2022/23

Table 21: Time taken to finalise complaint cases in 2022/23

*The number of complaint cases presented in this table are only those with valid dates that are used in the calculation for the average number of days to finalise complaint cases. Therefore they may not match the actual number of complaint cases finalised presented in Table 20.

Table 22: Actions on complaint cases handled outside of Schedule 3 in 2022/23

Actions are captured at allegation level and multiple actions can be selected on a single allegation. The figures in the table are based on complaint cases finalised in the year with at least one allegation that resulted in the corresponding action.

Not all of the available actions arising from the complaint handling are shown. The actions presented in the table are those that focus on putting the issue right and preventing it from happening again.

Table 23: Actions on complaint cases handled under Schedule 3 in 2022/23

Actions are captured at allegation level and multiple actions can be selected on a single allegation. The figures in the table are based on complaint cases finalised in the year with at least one allegation that resulted in the corresponding action.

Not all of the available actions arising from the complaint handling are shown. The actions presented in the table are those that focus on putting the issue right and preventing it from happening again.

Table 24: Applications for a review received by LPBs in 2022/23

Table 25: Outcome of reviews completed by LPBs in 2022/23

Some caution is advised when looking at the percentage of reviews that found the complaint case outcome was not reasonable and proportionate due to the sometimes small number of reviews involved.

Table 26: Applications for a review received by the IOPC in 2022/23

Table 27: Outcome of reviews completed by the IOPC in 2022/23

Some reviews may be deemed ‘invalid’ and these have been excluded from the number of “valid completed” and the calculation for “% outcome not reasonable and proportionate”.

Some caution is advised when looking at the percentage of reviews that found the complaint case outcome was not reasonable and proportionate due to the sometimes small number of reviews involved.

Glossary

Allegation

This describes what is being complained about. An allegation is made by someone defined as a complainant under the Police Reform Act 2002 (see ‘complainant’). An allegation may be made by one or more complainants about the service they received from a police force. For example, about force-wide crime initiatives, organisation of policing resources, or general policing standards. However, it can also be about the conduct of any person serving with the police.

A complaint case may involve more than one allegation. For example, a person may allege that an officer pushed and was rude to them. This would be logged as two separate allegations forming one complaint case. Each allegation is logged against a specific category (a full list of the allegation categories and their definitions can be found in the IOPC’s Guidance on capturing data about police complaints).

Appropriate authority

(Section 29, Police Reform Act 2002)

The organisation responsible for assessing how to deal with a complaint. For example, whether it can be handled locally or reaches the criteria for referral to the IOPC. The appropriate authority may be the chief officer of the police force or the police and crime commissioner for the force. If a complaint investigation finds someone has a case to answer for misconduct, the appropriate authority is responsible for arranging any misconduct proceedings. If you make a complaint, the appropriate authority for your case will contact you.

Complainant

A person who makes a complaint about the conduct of someone serving with the police or about a police force. The law sets out the circumstances that need to exist for someone to make a complaint (see section 5.6 of the IOPC Statutory guidance on the police complaints system).

Complaint

A complaint is any expression of dissatisfaction raised by or on behalf of a member of the public to a police force. A complaint does not have to be made in writing and does not have to state explicitly that it is a complaint.

Complaint case

A complaint may involve more than one allegation. The allegation/s may be made by one or more complainants, against one or more persons serving with the police. ‘Complaint case’ refers to all the allegations and complainants connected with a complaint.

Directed investigation

An investigation conducted by the appropriate authority under the direction and control of the IOPC. The IOPC directs the investigation by appointing an investigator and setting out its scope and investigative strategy. The IOPC controls the investigation by reviewing the policy books, confirming the investigation has met the terms of reference and making the decisions at the end of the case.

Independent investigation

An investigation carried out by IOPC staff (Paragraph 19, Schedule 3, Police Reform Act 2002).

An independent investigation is often used for the most serious incidents and/or those with the greatest public interest. For example, incidents that cause the greatest level of public concern, have a high potential to impact on communities, or have serious implications for the reputation of the police service.

Local investigation

An investigation carried out by the appropriate authority on its own behalf (Paragraph 16, Schedule 3, Police Reform Act 2002).

Local policing body

The body responsible for all policing in their area. It holds the chief constable and the force to account. This is a collective term for:

• Police and Crime Commissioners
• the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (for the Metropolitan Police Service district)
• the Common Council (for the City of London police area) (Section 101, Police Act 1996)

Reflective practice review process (RPRP)

This focuses on putting an issue right and preventing it from happening again by encouraging those involved to reflect on their actions and learn from them. It is not a disciplinary process or a disciplinary outcome

Review

Where a complaint has been recorded under Schedule 3 to the Police Reform Act 2002, the complainant has a right to apply for a review of the outcome of the complaint. The review will consider whether the outcome of the handling of the complaint is reasonable and proportionate. It will uphold the review where the relevant review body finds that the outcome of the complaint is not reasonable and proportionate. This applies whether the complaint has been investigated or handled in another way.

Special procedures

Special procedures only apply to investigations of complaints about a member of a police force or a special constable. In the case of any other person, the investigator must adhere to the relevant policies and procedures for investigating allegations of any form of misconduct.

Investigators must apply special procedures:

• in a complaint investigation, when there is an indication a person being investigated may have committed a criminal offence or behaved in a manner that would justify disciplinary proceedings
• in all investigations into recordable conduct matters (Paragraph 19A, Schedule 3, Police Reform Act 2002)

Unsatisfactory performance procedure (UPP)

A series of steps used to improve someone’s performance. It is used when a person was unable or failed to perform their role to a satisfactory level but did not breach the Standards of Professional Behaviour.

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