Policing inspection programme and framework 2025–29
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An inspection programme and framework under Schedule 4A to the Police Act 1996
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) independently assesses and reports on the effectiveness and efficiency of police forces and fire and rescue services to make communities safer. We ask the questions that we believe the public wish to have answered, and publish our findings, conclusions and recommendations in an accessible form, using our expertise to interpret the evidence.
We provide authoritative information to allow the public to compare the performance of their police force or fire and rescue service against others, and to determine whether performance has improved or deteriorated over time.
Our recommendations are designed to bring about improvements in the service provided to the public.
Foreword
This document sets out our intended inspection programme for policing, which will begin in April 2025 and conclude in 2029. We want to make sure that we continue to focus our inspection work on what matters most to the public.
Our overarching purpose, in common with the sectors we inspect, is to make communities safer. Working in collaboration with others, while retaining independence, is at the forefront of everything we do.
Through our reports on policing, we hold forces to account. We highlight what is working well and could be replicated elsewhere, as well as what needs to improve. The recommendations we make can lead to significant improvements in policing.
Inspections from April 2025
From April 2025, our inspection programme will continue in its multi-year approach; setting out how we will work and what we will inspect in the next four years. But we intend to carry out a midpoint review of our programme because we anticipate that some elements will need to change. New and emerging priorities for policing and Government funding of our inspectorate affect our capability and capacity to inspect.
As in previous years, in July 2024, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCI) produced his annual State of Policing report. This is his assessment of the efficiency and effectiveness of policing in England and Wales. In this year’s report, HMCI set out how our budget has becoming increasingly strained. We have recommended that the Government increases our budget to reflect additional powers it has committed to granting to the Inspectorate; this may also mean that the scope of the inspections outlined in this programme and framework could be expanded.
What we inspect over the next four years, especially through our schedule of national thematic inspections, is central to this programme. When developing this final inspection programme and framework, we have considered the responses to our consultation and the emerging themes highlighted to us. But we acknowledge the funding pressures forces are under and will continue to be mindful of the impact our inspection activity has on forces.
While we will retain strict independence, our proposed programme and framework takes the Government’s priorities into consideration. This includes the safer streets mission, commitments to increasing neighbourhood policing, halving knife crime and addressing the root causes of abuse and violence against women and girls.
Our strategic objectives
Our organisational strategy sets out how we intend to carry out our work most effectively. Our strategy is made up of four equally important parts. More detail on our strategy can be found in our publication, ‘HMICFRS strategy 2023-27’.
Being more proactive
- Using all available data to anticipate future challenges and opportunities, and to identify aspects of policing that may benefit from inspection.
- Making best use of our qualitative and quantitative insight and information to proactively monitor and recognise significant emerging problems.
- Intervening early to prevent further deterioration in service to the public where concerns are identified.
Focusing on outcomes
- Prioritising our efforts and resources on those inspections that have the greatest positive impact on outcomes for the public.
- Focusing on current and future problems of greatest concern.
- Ensuring our inspections assess how well forces and services achieve improved outcomes for the public, including through their collection, interpretation and use of data.
Driving sustainable improvement
- Increasing our influence as a trusted authority to improve police and fire and rescue services and inform future standards. Highlighting where improvements are needed and routinely following up on them to drive sustained improvements.
- Promoting promising and innovative practice that those we inspect can learn from.
Promoting smarter systems
- Promoting a whole system approach to assess and address complex problems even when there are no immediate or straightforward answers.
- Working with other organisations to drive improvements in our inspected sectors and in the wider system.
- Co-ordinating system wide support where significant risks, concerns or service failures are identified.
Introduction
This document is our inspection programme and framework for policing, which will begin in April 2025. We anticipate this programme will run for the next four years. We intend to carry out a midpoint review during this period. This will allow us to address the impact of changes to our PEEL programme and take into account any changes to the Government’s priorities.
Our framework details the inspections that we plan to carry out and explains our inspection plans from April 2025.
It explains how we intend to carry out our programme.
Types of inspections we intend to carry out
PEEL assessments
Our police efficiency, effectiveness and legitimacy (PEEL) inspections assess the performance of all 43 police forces in England and Wales. Its main aim is to promote improvements in policing. We provide graded judgments on aspects of forces’ performance. We identify where forces need to improve and help the public understand how well their force is performing.
National thematic inspections
Our thematic inspections are in-depth examinations of particular policing practices or processes, or of the policing approach to preventing and tackling specific offences. We identify themes mainly through our continuous monitoring and through our consultations with key stakeholders. Thematic inspections may be chosen for several reasons, including:
- current, acute problems in policing practice that are harming the public interest;
- inconsistencies in police performance across England and Wales, which force‑level work can’t adequately explain; or
- further improvement in practice that would benefit the most, or the most vulnerable, victims.
Expanding on the force-specific information from PEEL inspections and force management statements, we build a national picture of police efficiency, effectiveness, and legitimacy through a combination of:
- force data and document requests;
- interviews with national, regional, and local policing bodies, Government and other interested parties;
- case file audits; and
- testing the understanding and application of policies and procedures with officers and staff in forces.
While thematic inspections can allow us to identify areas of notable practice or specific concerns in specific forces, we will usually make recommendations that are relevant to the police service as a whole.
Commissions from the Home Secretary and local policing bodies
The Home Secretary may, at any time, require us to carry out an inspection of a police force, part of a police force, or particular activities of one or more police forces.
Similarly, local policing bodies may, at any time, request that we carry out inspections or reviews of the police forces they oversee.
Inspection of national bodies and other non-Home Office forces
We have a statutory responsibility to carry out inspections of the following national bodies and non-Home Office forces:
- the National Crime Agency;
- the Police Service of Northern Ireland;
- the British Transport Police;
- the Service Police – Royal Military Police, Royal Navy Police and Royal Air Force Police;
- the Ministry of Defence Police;
- the Civil Nuclear Constabulary; and
- HM Revenue & Customs.
At the request of the relevant dependency or overseas territory, we may also inspect forces in British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, such as Gibraltar, Jersey and Guernsey. We have similar voluntary inspection arrangements with the Gangmasters and Labour Abuse Authority, and anticipate that other bodies will enter into similar arrangements during the course of this programme.
Joint inspections
We work with other organisations to carry out joint inspections. These allow us to inspect the way in which the police approach and tackle a particular type of crime or problem as part of a wider assessment of the service provided by all relevant bodies and organisations.
For example, we work with Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to examine how local authorities, the police and health services work together to help protect children.
We also work with the other criminal justice inspectorates: HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate, HM Inspectorate of Probation and HM Inspectorate of Prisons. This allows us to assess police efficiency and effectiveness in both contributing to, and being affected by, the wider criminal justice system. The joint inspection work we plan to do with these inspectorates will be detailed in the Criminal Justice Joint Inspection Business Plan.
State of Policing report
As in previous years, HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary will produce an annual State of Policing report, which reports on the efficiency and effectiveness of policing in England and Wales.
An overview of the inspection programme from April 2025
PEEL programme
In our 2025–27 PEEL inspections, we intend to focus on the following areas as graded ‘core questions’. These aren’t listed in any order of priority.
- leadership;
- supporting and developing the workforce;
- public treatment;
- prevention and deterrence (including neighbourhood policing);
- responding to the public;
- investigating crime;
- safeguarding children and adults at risk;
- custody; and
- fraud.
National thematic inspections
From April 2025, we will continue a multi-year programme of thematic inspections in line with our strategy. And we will make best use of the resources that the Government allocates to us as part of its spending review.
The timing of these inspections will depend on our funding and capacity and on the emerging priorities for policing.
We may include some elements of planned thematic inspections in our PEEL inspection programme. Some may also be included in the ‘Criminal Justice Joint Inspection Business Plan’.
We also consulted a range of specialists, the public and other interested parties, including police leaders and leaders of other inspectorates, to gain a broader perspective on priorities for our thematic inspection programme.
We plan to start the following thematic inspections in 2024/25 and complete them in 2025/26:
- firearms licensing
- police leadership.
Our planned thematic inspections over the next four years are as follows. This list isn’t in order of priority:
- the police response to knife-related crime, which will expand on our serious youth violence report: the exact scope and focus of this inspection is to be developed, but it may involve working with one or more of the other criminal justice inspectorates;
- the efficiency and effectiveness of current arrangements that provide local, regional and national policing support services, including arrangements to meet the Strategic Policing Requirement: we intend to inspect the Police Digital Service and National Police Air Service and may also include commissioned services such as those for victims and witnesses, and professional standards-related functions;
- science and technology – examining the use of new and/or emerging science and technology, such as biometrics and facial recognition, to tackle crime;
- police and fire and rescue service cybersecurity – examining the police and fire and rescue service’s response to increasing areas of cybersecurity risk;
- counter-terrorism – the exact scope is to be developed;
- Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles across all emergency services;
- data and analytics – including topics such as data quality, management of data, data rights analysis (the capability and role of the analyst, for example) and using science to improve the application of data; and
- retail crime and shoplifting – the exact scope is to be developed.
Vulnerability and child protection inspections
Our plans for these rolling programmes are as follows.
National child protection inspections in England and Wales
We will continue to inspect forces to assess the experiences of children who come into contact with the police when there are concerns about their safety or well-being. We will carry out follow-up activity to discuss the Force’s progress against any causes of concern and recommendations.
Joint targeted area inspections in England
We will continue this joint inspection programme to examine how English local authorities, the police and health services work together to help and protect children.
The programme assesses:
- the response, at the point of identification, to child abuse, neglect and exploitation;
- the quality of assessment, planning and decision-making in response to notifications and referrals; and
- the leadership, management and effectiveness of local safeguarding
We will continue to work with other inspectorates to evaluate and develop this approach.
Joint inspection of child protection arrangements in Wales
We will also continue to work with the Care Inspectorate Wales, Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and Estyn (the education and training inspectorate for Wales). This joint inspection programme focuses on the experiences of children to assess the effectiveness of how the police work with local authorities and health services to protect children and help keep them safe.
The regional approach to serious and organised crime
We will continue our current programme to inspect how well police forces tackle serious and organised crime in a particular region.
Integrity
We will continue our integrity rolling programme in which we inspect professional standards, vetting and counter-corruption arrangements in police forces in England and Wales.
Violence against women and girls
We will continue to inspect the police’s approach to tackling and preventing crimes that disproportionately affect women and girls as part of several of our inspections.
Our current programme of inspections recognises the importance of holding forces to account in the way that the police respond to violence against women and girls, and in how they work with others to reduce levels of abuse and offending. In our child protection inspections, we will continue to assess the experiences of girls who are victims of abuse and exploitation. Our new PEEL safeguarding question has been designed to increase the focus on adults and children who have experienced domestic abuse, stalking or harassment, and who have reported rape and sexual assault.
We will continue to monitor progress against our recommendations from previous thematic inspections of the police’s approach to tackling harassment and stalking, as well as responding to violence against women and girls more widely.
Home Secretary commissions
During the period of the policing inspection programme and framework commencing April 2022, we received several requests to carry out inspections under section 54 (2B) of the Police Act 1996. We anticipate that the Home Secretary, the Mayor of London, other mayors and police and crime commissioners will commission further inspections over the period covered by this programme. We will carry out all Home Secretary commissions and consider all other commissions through the usual process.
Police super-complaints
The Policing and Crime Act 2017 established a system of police super-complaints.
A super-complaint is a complaint made to HMCI that a feature, or combination of features, of policing in England and Wales by one or more police forces is, or appears to be, significantly harming the interests of the public. Super-complaints can be made in respect of any one or more of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, the National Crime Agency, the Ministry of Defence Police, the Civil Nuclear Constabulary and the British Transport Police.
Only a body designated by the Home Secretary may make a super-complaint. In June 2018, the Home Secretary designated 16 such bodies.
Although each super-complaint must be made first to HMCI, we will decide with the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct whether it is eligible for investigation. If it is, we jointly investigate the super-complaint. And representatives from HMICFRS, the College of Policing and the Independent Office for Police Conduct will then consider what action, if any, should be recommended.
We expect to receive further super-complaints during the period covered by this programme. Based on our experience so far, these may each be on very different topics, and (if it is established that they are eligible) will require very different investigations. We will work with the Home Office to make sure that enough funding is made available for this purpose.
Service Police super-complaints
In 2023, under The Service Police (Complaints etc.) Regulations 2023, the Ministry of Defence appointed four organisations to become ‘Service Police super-complaints: designated bodies’:
- Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse
- Centre for Military Justice
- Royal Air Force Association
- Salute Her UK.
These bodies can raise issues or concerns on behalf of the public about a feature or features of policing in one or more of the Service Police forces that is, or appears to be, significantly harming the interests of the public.
The system covers the:
- Royal Navy Police;
- Royal Military Police;
- Royal Air Force Police; and
- Defence Serious Crime Command.
We are responsible for managing the system and work with the Service Police Complaints Commissioner, who is also a decision maker in this system. We expect to receive super-complaints in this system. The Ministry of Defence will provide funding for our work.
Inspectorate capacity
This inspection programme and framework is based on the assumption that there will be a full-time complement of inspectors of constabulary and staff. If this isn’t the case, and subject to the requirement for consultation specified below, this inspection programme and framework will have effect for such period and with such modifications as HMCI shall specify and publish.
Before HMCI makes any modifications to the programme and framework, he must consult the Home Secretary and local policing bodies and chief officers, and such other law enforcement bodies and policing institutions, he considers likely to be affected by proposed modifications. And he must have considered any feedback that these organisations have given.
While we have been notified of our funding for 2024/25, funding for subsequent years remains indicative. The scope and number of inspections that we carry out beyond 2024/25 depends on the funding we receive.
Our inspection framework
We use our PEEL inspection framework to assess each police force in England and Wales and give graded judgments across several core questions. Our PEEL inspections and associated reports cover the breadth of our knowledge on a force’s performance including serious and organised crime, integrity and child protection. We develop individual frameworks for commissioned and thematic inspections and for super‑complaints.
In this chapter, we set out some changes we are planning to make to our PEEL framework. We also detail two sources of information we consider in developing all inspection frameworks (local policing bodies’ priorities and College of Policing standards). Finally, we explain how we publish our reports and how we use academic and external reference groups to inform our inspections.
PEEL programme: inspection framework
We have updated our PEEL assessment framework for our next round of PEEL inspections that will take place in 2025–27. This is to make sure our inspection programme evolves and improves following our evaluation of the previous round and in response to new and emerging priorities in policing and of the Government and its missions. We will continue to make graded judgments in several areas of policing against our ‘core questions’ within the PEEL assessment framework.
In our 2025–27 framework, we will:
- introduce two new core questions (on safeguarding and the response to fraud);
- move our inspection of custody into PEEL, which will increase the frequency of inspections, so every force is inspected every four (rather than six) years;
- make changes to how we inspect and report on crime data integrity and the management of suspects and offenders; and
- change elements of the HMI summary.
Safeguarding
As part of our new safeguarding question, we will assess whether a force has identified children and adults who may be at risk of harm and safeguarded them appropriately. We will focus on adults and children who are experiencing domestic abuse, stalking or harassment, and who have reported rape and sexual assault. We will also consider children who have been reported missing.
This replaces our vulnerability core question. Instead, we will report our assessment of a force’s ability to protect vulnerable people from harm in a revised HMI summary. We have made this change to recognise the importance and breadth of vulnerability: it is relevant to many areas of policing.
Fraud
In our new fraud question, we will focus on how a force approaches fraud. As part of this question, we will assess:
- the investigation of crimes that are the responsibility of local police forces;
- how forces safeguard and give advice to victims; and
- how the force prevents the public becoming victims of fraud.
Crime data integrity
We haven’t previously inspected every force on crime data integrity (CDI) during each round of PEEL. In our new approach to inspection for 2025–27, we will inspect all 43 forces during each round. However, forces will no longer receive a graded judgment for CDI. Instead, we will carry out a dip sample of files in each force and include any relevant findings in specific characteristics of good for other PEEL core questions. This means that the results of our CDI inspection will directly influence the judgment given for those core questions. But if we have concerns about a force’s performance in relation to crime recording, it may result in us carrying out a full CDI audit.
We also intend to report on national themes in this area through a PEEL spotlight report. We publish spotlight reports that contain a summary of findings or themes that emerge from our inspections if we consider it appropriate.
Management of offenders and suspects
In our 2025–27 PEEL round of inspections, we will report separately on the management of offenders and suspects in a national spotlight report. This is because there are consistent areas for improvement across forces which suggest a national effort is required to make the necessary improvements.
Although no longer a core question, the PEEL assessment framework continues to focus on offenders, including the proactive and appropriate use and oversight of preventative orders and disclosure schemes. We will assess how well forces work with partner organisations in multi-agency processes to keep vulnerable people safe and reduce the risk of the most prolific and persistent offenders reoffending. This includes the use of preventative orders for those who pose a risk of sexual harm (Sexual Risk Orders and Sexual Harm Prevention Orders).
As part of our continuous approach to assessment, we will continue to monitor the progress of individual forces against areas for improvement we identified in our 2023–25 inspection cycle. We will review additional data to support our understanding of any increased risk within the policing of registered sex offenders and investigations into online child abuse. Where we identify concerns in a force, we will consider what action needs to be taken to support improvements.
The HMI summary
The HMI summary is a bespoke overview of our inspection findings. It shows how we consider context that is specific to an individual force.
In 2023, we changed how we assess the service that the force provides to victims. We removed the graded judgment in favour of a narrative assessment. For PEEL 2025–27, we will include this narrative assessment in a revised HMI summary. The findings from our victim service assessment will continue to inform the grades of other core questions.
In the 2023–25 cycle, we introduced two further sections in the HMI summary. These sections reported on the force’s leadership capability and its ability to reduce crime. We have since evaluated how our audience reads our reports, and these sections will be included in the HMI summary for PEEL 2025–27.
Future evaluation
We will continue to evaluate and ask for feedback on our approach to PEEL to identify any further improvements.
Local policing bodies’ priorities
In the design of each inspection, and before carrying out fieldwork in each force, we examine and review the local policing body’s police and crime plan for the force. This helps us to be aware of its established local priorities. We also use the police and crime plan to tell us about:
- the local circumstances and characteristics of the force;
- the police area in question; and
- the factors that affect how the force approaches public protection, crime and disorder, including demand for police services.
In each force management statement, the chief constable must consider local conditions and circumstances. It must clearly show how the chief constable has followed their statutory duty to consider the local policing body’s police and crime plan.
College of Policing standards
College of Policing standards help to improve policing and achieve consistent practice. We always consider the College of Policing’s current standards when designing our force inspections and assessments.
Publishing our findings
We publish reports of our findings in line with the Police and Crime Act 1996 (revised by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011). We publish our findings on our website in different formats that are most appropriate to the content – these may include a traditional report, letters, or public releases of our monitoring portal. Under the Act, police and crime commissioners are required to publicly respond to our inspection reports within 56 days of their publication.
Advisory and reference groups
We regularly hold advisory and reference groups. We involve experts who have specific skills and experience in the areas we inspect. We use their knowledge and advice to create a sound methodology for our inspections.
We invite members from a range of relevant organisations, including several universities, the National Police Chiefs’ Council, the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners and the College of Policing.
Our technical advisory group helps to design inspection programmes so that they are as effective and efficient as possible. Members include representatives of:
- the National Police Chiefs’ Council;
- the offices of police and crime commissioners;
- the College of Policing;
- the Home Office;
- the Office for National Statistics;
- staff associations;
- police forces; and
- other specialist bodies.
Our academic reference group provides expert advice. It discusses the design of new research projects that support our inspections and any ethical considerations. And it discusses how inspection methodologies are developed, as well how methodologies and outcomes are evaluated. The members include:
- academics from several universities with specialities in policing, fire and rescue services and evaluation methodologies;
- research leads from other inspectorates (such as the Care Quality Commission, Ofsted and HMI Probation);
- the Home Office; and
- other policing bodies (such as the College of Policing and the Police Foundation).
Monitoring and assurance
Our monitoring process
HM Inspectors of Constabulary (HMIs) routinely monitor all police forces to promote improvements in police practice.
There are two stages in our monitoring process: Scan and Engage. Scan is the default phase of monitoring, for which we use a range of data and information to identify potential areas of concern. All forces are in Scan by default.
HMCI may place forces into Engage when there are causes of concern about their efficiency, effectiveness or legitimacy that appear to need closer scrutiny. HMCI considers all circumstances when deciding whether a force should be moved into Engage, including our purpose of making communities safer. If an HMI identifies a cause of concern about police practice, they report it to the chief constable and the local policing body so it can be addressed.
At the time of publishing this programme, the Home Office was reviewing the arrangements for monitoring police forces’ performance and intervening where concerns are identified. Subject to an anticipated white paper consultation early in 2025, our monitoring and intervention role may be further expanded and strengthened.
Follow-up from previous inspections
In relation to each inspection, each year we do follow-up work. This work ranges from formal revisits (as part of our PEEL programme, for example) to offering support to forces in responding to our findings (for instance, in our child protection programme). We also monitor the progress that forces have made against the recommendations in our reports.
Our monitoring portal
We use an interactive monitoring portal to record and update the causes of concern, recommendations and areas for improvement (AFIs) we make in our inspection reports in one place. We can extract information from the portal to:
- provide basic management information, such as the number of AFIs and causes of concern that we have closed within a particular period;
- respond to queries about recommendations linked to a specific subject; and
- publicly report an overview of the status of recommendations.
Forces can also use the portal to record their progress in addressing our recommendations and AFIs.
Our assurance obligations
In addition to our statutory obligations to inspect and report on the efficiency and effectiveness of police forces and certain other bodies, we monitor and provide assurance about other aspects of policing as necessary.