Police: Resignations and Retirement
(asked on 23rd October 2025) - View Source
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many police (a) officers and (b) staff have (i) resigned and (ii) retired while under investigation for (A) misconduct and (B) gross misconduct in each of the last five years.
It’s crucial that police officers are held to the high standards rightly expected of them, and we’re committed to ensuring that the right mechanisms are in place to create an open and transparent police discipline system which delivers fair results for all.
There are provisions in place that enable disciplinary proceedings to proceed if an officer resigns or retires, In addition, where the former officers and those who resign or retire whilst under investigation are taken through formal misconduct proceedings and it is determined they would have been dismissed, they are placed on the Barred List, which prevents those dismissed from re-joining policing.
In May, we strengthened the system for holding former officers to account by introducing a statutory presumption of fast-track hearings for former officers, ensuring swifter proceedings for those who resign or retire before misconduct proceedings. Former officers who would have been dismissed had they still been serving will continue to be barred from future service.
The Home Office publishes data on the number of allegations of misconduct involving police staff officers and staff, including breakdowns by outcome and misconduct finding level, as a part of its annual Police Misconduct, England and Wales statistical series, available at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/police-misconduct-statistics
Information is not currently available on the total number of officers who resign or retire whilst under investigation for misconduct.
Where an officer leaves the service during the course of an investigation of gross misconduct, it is in the public interest that investigations and proceedings that would have led to dismissal are taken to their conclusion. Data on the number of former officers who received an outcome of “would have been dismissed” at a misconduct hearing or accelerated hearing can be found in table MP4 of the data tables accompanying the latest statistical release:
This data is designated ‘Official Statistics in Development’ to acknowledge ongoing work to develop both the scope and data quality of these statistics. The Home Office is working with data providers to explore the availability of further data on officers who leave the service whilst under investigation.