Legal Update - 7 May 2024
The Government believes that, as chief officers are the heads of their respective workforces and are held to account on the standards in their forces, they should have greater responsibility in the disciplinary process, including the determination of whether an officer should be dismissed or not.
From 7 May 2024, the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 are amended by the Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 (SI 2024/521). These Regulations remove the independent legally qualified chair of police misconduct proceedings and replaces them with the chief officer of the relevant force, who will now chair misconduct hearings for non-senior officers. This responsibility can be delegated by chief officers either to another senior officer, an individual who has been a senior officer in the five years preceding their appointment as chair or a member of police staff of equivalent grade to a senior officer.
To ensure that the misconduct panels remain police-chaired, where the officer concerned is a senior officer (i.e. above the rank of Chief Superintendent), misconduct panels will now be chaired by a more senior officer selected from a separate force. However, where the officer concerned is a senior officer of the rank of chief officer, Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner, the chair is now His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Constabulary (HMCIC) or a nominated His Majesty’s Inspector (HMI).
To ensure that the system retains necessary levels of independence and fairness, misconduct panels also now comprise of two independent panel members, appointed both to their role and individual panels by the relevant local policing body. The misconduct panel will now be advised on legal and procedural issues by an independent legally qualified adviser, also appointed by the relevant local policing body.
The pertinent points of the amendments made to the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020 are detailed below:
Regulation 2 is amended to enable the chief officer of police to delegate the responsibility for chairing or conducting disciplinary proceedings if they consider it appropriate in a particular case. Such delegation may only be made in accordance with certain requirements.
Regulation 28 is amended to change the composition of the panel that is to conduct a misconduct hearing. The panel is to comprise a chair, who must be the chief of police of the police force concerned, and two lay members. Provision is made for a legally qualified person to be appointed by the local policing body whose duty is to provide advice to the panel of persons conducting or the person chairing a misconduct hearing. That person must have regard to the advice given by the legally qualified person. Provision is also made for the Director General to make recommendations to a chief officer of police acting as the chair of a panel as to whether they should delegate responsibility for chairing the panel to a person from another police force. The chief officer of police must have regard to those representations.
Regulation 30 is amended so that a chief officer of police who delegates responsibility for chairing a misconduct hearing is required to notify the officer concerned in writing of the person to whom that responsibility has been delegated. Further, it requires notice to be given to the officer concerned of the legally qualified person appointed under regulation 28(5B) and enables the officer concerned to raise objections against them.
Regulation 33 is amended so that the procedure for the misconduct pre-hearing requires the chair to, as soon as practicable, give written notice of the date, time and place of the misconduct pre-hearing to the legally qualified person appointed under regulation 28(5B). The amendments made by this provision further empower the chair to require the legally qualified person to provide advice and requires the chair to have regard to that advice. Further amendments have also been made to regulations 41 and 43 regarding the legally qualified person.
In relation to accelerated misconduct hearings, regulations 51, 52, 55, 61 and 63 are amended.
Schedule 1 to these regulations is amended to apply the changes made by the Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2024 to former officers – specifically see paragraphs 20, 21, 29 and 37 and the new insertion of paragraph 36A.
New Regulation 12A introduces rules in relation to potential conflicts of interest for persons involved in disciplinary proceedings. In particular, an appropriate authority may not appoint a person to chair or conduct disciplinary proceedings, chair or conduct a misconduct meeting or appeal meeting, act as an adviser under regulation 8(6) or act as a legally qualified person under regulation 28 or 55 if they are aware that circumstances exist that give rise, or may reasonably give rise, to a conflict of interest in relation to that person. Similarly, a chief officer of police may not delegate responsibility for chairing or conducting disciplinary proceedings if they are aware of such circumstances existing in relation to that person. If the appropriate authority or chief officer of police become aware that such circumstances exist in relation to a person after they have appointed, or delegated responsibility to, that person, the person must be replaced. Similarly, there is a duty on a person not to take up or act in a regulated position if they are aware or become aware of relevant circumstances existing in relation to them.
In relation to the support of local policing bodies in scrutiny of disciplinary proceedings, regulations 39, 43, 59 and 63, and paragraphs 33 and 40 of Schedule 1 to the 2020 Regulations are amended.
