Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether complainants automatically have a right to review decisions made by the police internal legal teams on police conduct complaints that have not been referred to the Independent Office for Police Conduct.

Since the Government’s reforms to police complaints and discipline on 1 February 2020, complainants have a right to an independent review of the way their complaint was handed by the force, providing they were directly affected by the matter complained about and it was dealt with as a formal complaint.

Such reviews, which must be requested within 28 days, and are carried out by either the local Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) or the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) depending on the circumstances. Further information about these processes are available on the IOPC’s website.