Nottinghamshire Police: PEEL causes of concern revisit letter
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Letter information
From:
Roy Wilsher OBE QFSM
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary
His Majesty’s Inspector of Fire & Rescue Services
To:
Kate Meynell
Chief Constable
Nottinghamshire Police
Sent on:
4 April 2025
In January 2024, we inspected Nottinghamshire Police as part of our PEEL programme. During our inspection, we identified three causes of concern.
Between 27 January and 7 February 2025, we revisited the force to review its progress against the causes of concern. During the revisit, we interviewed officers and staff from across the force, observed force meetings, and reviewed a range of documents and data. This letter provides an update on our findings.
Background
On 11 March 2024, we issued an accelerated cause of concern on investigating crime, and another accelerated cause of concern on leadership and force management. On 11 July 2024, we published our PEEL 2023–25 inspection report, in which we issued an additional cause of concern on preventing and deterring crime and antisocial behaviour, and reducing vulnerability.
Our causes of concern and recommendations
Accelerated cause of concern: investigations
Cause of concern
The force needs to improve how it manages, supervises and carries out effective investigations, and make sure that victims get the support they need
Recommendations
Our cause of concern regarding investigations had eight recommendations:
The force should immediately:
- review how it manages crimes and make sure that supervisors understand how to use its crime management systems;
- review all crimes which appear to have inadequate supervision, to identify suspects and assess the level of risk to the public they pose;
- review all crimes where victims haven’t received a regular update to assess their needs; and
- allocate those crimes for investigation on the basis of seriousness and level of risk.
By 30 September 2024, the force should make sure:
- supervisors review investigations effectively to reduce delays and make sure that officers and staff pursue all reasonable investigative opportunities;
- it creates investigation plans where applicable;
- it uses outcome types appropriately, in accordance with force and national policies, which lead to satisfactory results for victims; and
- officers and staff carry out a victim needs assessment where appropriate.
Progress against this cause of concern
During our revisit, all officers and staff we spoke with said they had received briefings to help them improve the standards of their investigations. They were aware of the requirements for victim needs assessments and to keep victims regularly updated. We saw examples of this information being routinely recorded, including the method of contact and details of what was discussed.
The force uses several initial investigation plan templates on crimes. We saw examples of completed templates. Most contained good levels of detail. These templates are helping the force to identify reasonable lines of enquiry at an early stage of investigations.
We saw evidence of detailed supervisor reviews that were bespoke to each investigation. Sergeants we spoke with said recording these reviews also made it easier for them to oversee their investigations.
The force has developed quality assurance thematic testing to provide independent oversight of the standard of investigations. Many of the officers we spoke with had direct experience of this testing and had been offered positive feedback and advice on areas where they could improve. The force has also developed a Microsoft Power BI dashboard that senior leaders regularly examine and use to hold officers and supervisors to account for their performance. This helps to provide a whole-force approach to improving investigation standards.
But we found examples where incorrect outcome codes had been applied to finalised investigations. If data is inaccurate, the force may be unable to identify issues that may lead to inappropriate outcomes for victims. We are aware that the force is considering conducting crime outcome audits. We will be interested to see how this work develops and the insight it brings to the force.
I am pleased with the progress the force has made in this area. We will keep this cause of concern under review in the coming months. We will revisit the force in April 2025 to more closely audit investigation standards.
Accelerated cause of concern: leadership and force management
Cause of concern
The force doesn’t have adequate processes, planning or governance arrangements in place to monitor performance effectively or identify areas where improvement is required
Recommendations
Our cause of concern regarding leadership and force management had three recommendations:
With immediate effect, the force should develop:
- its workforce plan to make sure it has effective processes in place and enough officers and staff to help it manage current and future demand.
By 30 September 2024, the force should make sure that:
- governance arrangements for programmes for change are effective and that project teams have the capacity to run change projects efficiently, such as the need to review its operating model; and
- senior leaders have access to accurate data and analysis to identify areas where performance needs to improve.
Progress against this cause of concern
During our revisit, we found that the force can present data using Power BI and is now able to identify trends and patterns in demand. Better access to data and effective governance have helped to reduce the backlog of cases waiting to be triaged and shared with safeguarding partner organisations. This has led to an improved response to domestic abuse incidents.
We saw how the force improvement team has been set up to focus on policy, procedure, governance and organisational structure. The team also assesses staffing levels and provides recommendations on how the force can meet demand.
The force has reviewed its meeting structure to provide governance of performance. We saw a clear process to make sure chief officers are aware of any performance issues at an early stage.
The chief officer team is visible and accessible, and regularly reassesses performance and morale when interacting with the workforce. We found a positive culture and active participation in change across the workforce. Officers and staff at all ranks told us how force leaders have led change programmes and have explained why change is needed.
I commend the force for the progress it has made in this area. The force should make sure that the positive change it has achieved in such a short amount of time is sustained. But it has shown enough signs of progress to allow us to close this cause of concern.
Cause of concern: preventing and deterring crime
Cause of concern
The force needs to make sure that neighbourhood police officers and police community support officers aren’t diverted away from their main duties to deal with other areas of demand
Recommendations
Our cause of concern regarding preventing and deterring crime had two recommendations:
By 30 September 2024, Nottinghamshire Police should:
- make sure that it has a policy that sets out the minimum amount of time its neighbourhood officers and staff must spend in their local communities. This policy should explain the reasons why, and for how long, neighbourhood officers can be taken away from their main duties.
- make sure that it has a system to monitor the amount of time, and reasons why, officers are taken away from their main neighbourhood duties.
Progress against this cause of concern
During our revisit, we found that the force had addressed the issue of neighbourhood officers and staff being unable to spend enough time working in their communities.
Neighbourhood policing teams being diverted from their main duties is known as abstraction. The force has introduced an abstraction policy that sets out the minimum time that neighbourhood police officers and police community support officers should spend on neighbourhood policing. This policy defines what constitutes an abstraction and what authority levels are required to take neighbourhood officers and staff away from their main duties within the communities they serve. The policy also contains clear guidance on what circumstances justify an abstraction and how this should be negotiated with neighbourhood policing teams.
The force has created a system to record neighbourhood abstractions in its Notts Alerts internet platform. Neighbourhood officers and staff who are diverted from their main duties can record this, and log what type of duty required their abstraction and how long it took them away from their normal duties. The recording process is quick and easy, and neighbourhood officers and staff have had training on how to use it.
Recording abstractions allows the force to analyse levels of abstractions and the areas of demand that are causing the need for abstractions. The force can identify inappropriate abstractions and how to make sure they don’t occur again.
I commend the force for the progress it has made in this area. The force has tackled the issue of neighbourhood officers being diverted from their main duties, and has shown enough signs of progress to allow us to close this cause of concern.
Conclusion
I am pleased that Nottinghamshire Police has improved. We recognise the considerable work that the force has carried out to support these improvements. It has addressed our concerns in relation to leadership and force management, and preventing and deterring crime. As a result, we have closed these two causes of concern.
There is one cause of concern remaining. This relates to how the force carries out effective investigations leading to satisfactory results for victims. I am pleased with the progress the force has made in a short period of time and its plans to continue to improve in this area. Despite good progress being made, there is still more work to do. This cause of concern remains under review.
We will continue to monitor the force’s progress through continuous inspection activity, including a planned victim service assessment, and our Policing Performance Oversight Group.
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Nottinghamshire Police: PEEL causes of concern revisit letter