Each quarter, the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) collects data from police forces about how they handle complaints. They use this to produce information bulletins that set out performance against a number of measures. They compare each force’s data with their most similar force group average and with the overall results for all forces in England and Wales.
The below narrative from Surrey Police and our Complaints and Compliance Lead accompanies the IOPC Complaints Information Bulletin for Quarter One 2024/25:
“Surrey Police continue to perform exceptionally well in relation to the logging of public complaints (section A1.1). Once a complaint has been made, it has taken the Force an average of one day to log the complaint. In relation to contacting complainants, we are pleased to report that we have seen a reduction from the previous quarter and are now taking on average 4 days to make contact: a fall since the previous quarter, below the National average and slightly higher than the MSF average.
“Surrey Police continues to see a rise in complaints logged in this quarter compared to the Same Period Last Year (SPLY); 673 compared to 546. This remains above MSFs.
“The Force logged 1048 allegations (31 more than SPLY) and also recorded more allegations per 1,000 employees than the MSFs and National Average. The Force acknowledge that it is recording a significantly higher number of allegations than the MSFs and training continues with complaint handlers to ensure that points of complaint relating to a specific aspect of police activity are covered under one allegation where appropriate and in line with IOPC guidance.
“The percentage of cases recorded under Schedule 3 (section A1.2) as ‘AA/Body responsible for initial handling decides’ and ‘Complainant wishes the complaint be recorded’ compared to MSF’s is diametrically opposite, and further work will be undertaken to understand this.
“Within the ‘what has been complained about’ (section A1.3) some of the categories show allegations logged are double than our MSF. Notwithstanding the increase in allegations being logged by Surrey Police, this is an area that warrants further scrutiny.
“The Force is pleased to announce a considerable fall in the recording of ‘General Level of Service’, from 439 SPLY to 122 this quarter (Section A1.4). This highlights the positive effect of complaint handling training on data quality.
“There has been an improvement by the Force in reducing the use of the National Factor ‘None’ category (section A1.5) compared to SPLY, but it remains out of kilter with the MSF and National use. Further training and communication will be given to the complaint handlers regarding this issue.
“We are pleased to report that the timeliness (section A2 & D2) of handling complaints outside Schedule 3 is lower than MSF and National averages with 155 more cases being finalised. Whilst the timeliness of handling complaints under Schedule 3 (section A2 and D1) other than by investigation is lower than MSF and National, Surrey Police are finalising more than double the number of cases.
“In relation to handling complaints by investigation, Surrey Police are on a par with MSF, although investigate far less than MSF. The reduction in handling times outside of Schedule 3 is highly likely as a result of the new complaint handlers now being in place; as their training continues, we expect to see a positive effect on cases recorded under Schedule 3.
“Surrey Police are pleased to report that they remain in line with MSF in handling complaints outside Schedule 3 (section A3.1). When handling matters under Schedule 3, the use of omnicompetent complaint handlers allows the force to handle matters other than by investigation leading to timelier outcomes.
“Surrey Police continues to refer more cases to the IOPC than MSF (section E referrals), and whilst in most cases these are returned to the force to handle, the IOPC have ratified these as appropriate.”
Date: September 4 2024