Police misconduct, England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2023
Statistics on the number of police complaints, conduct matters and recordable conduct matters finalised in the year ending 31 March 2023.
Applies to England and Wales
Documents
Details
This statistical release is accompanied by new open data tables which include information on misconduct proceedings.
This release contains information on the number of police complaints, conduct matters and recordable conduct matters recorded by the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales in the year ending 31 March 2023.
The publication primarily focuses on those which were referred to misconduct proceedings. Data for all cases referred to misconduct proceedings is presented by:
- breach type
- the type of proceeding
- the outcome at such proceedings, including the level of misconduct found proven and disciplinary actions imposed
Following the outcome at misconduct proceedings officers may appeal to the Police Appeals Tribunal (PAT). Information is presented in this bulletin on the number of appeals made by police officers to the PAT.
Not all allegations will be handled at misconduct proceedings; in some allegations there may not have been a case to answer for misconduct, or the allegation was resolved via others means. Information is provided on the total number of police complaint, conduct matter and recordable conduct matter allegations finalised, including those not referred to misconduct proceedings. For all allegations, information is provided on:
- allegation and breach types
- whether there was a case to answer
- the action and result taken
In addition, timeliness measures are presented for how long it took to finalise such cases.
Information is also presented on the number of police complaints, conduct matters and recordable conduct matters, that were finalised in the financial year, which involved criminal proceedings.
The data includes cases handled under the current regulations only, which came into effect on 1 February 2020. Data is provided for police officers (which includes special constables) and police staff (which includes civilian staff, designated officers and Police Community Support Officers).
The data is Official Statistics in Development (formerly known as experimental statistics) to acknowledge that they should be interpreted with caution. These statistics are going through development, with a potentially wider degree of uncertainty in the figures whilst processes are established and verified.
See the ‘User guide to police misconduct statistics’ for further information, including a glossary, conventions used and other background information.
If you have any queries about this release, please email policingstatistics@homeoffice.gov.uk or write to:
Police and Fire Analysis Unit
2nd floor Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF
The Home Office responsible statistician is Rosanna Currenti.