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The Policing Minister, Sarah Jones MP, told Parliament that Police and Crime Commissioners will be abolished in 2028 as she announced the first part of upcoming police reform.
In a surprising move, the Home Office is ending 16 years of Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) and moving to a new model across England that puts devolved mayors in charge of policing. The Association of Police and Crime Commissioners said it was “deeply disappointed” by the decision and lack of engagement with them before this announcement.
Currently five mayors are responsible for policing in their areas, including the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. More will join next year as the roll out of devolved mayors will see a further six areas of England governed in this way.
Sarah Jones told MPs in the House of Commons that the PCC model hadn’t worked although she was quick to say that there were many good people in those roles, it was the system that wasn’t working. “The model has failed to live up to expectations. It has not delivered what it was set up to achieve,” she said, citing low voter turnout and poor name recognition for PCCs. The new arrangements, she said, will produce savings of £100m during this Parliament.
“In areas where plans do not yet allow for a transfer of policing to a mayor this Parliament, we will establish new policing and crime boards to bring council leaders together to oversee the police force in their area until such time as mayors are in place in England.”
A policing and crime board will comprise local authority upper-tier leaders, co-opted members with appropriate skills and experience, and—if they are in the force area—mayors, said the Minister. She added that they would not be akin to the old police authority model which she called “bureaucratic and invisible committee-based oversight of policing.”
“We will ensure that council leaders are empowered to exercise police governance functions. Boards will be supported by a policing and crime lead, akin to a deputy mayor for policing and crime, to carry out day-to-day activities on their behalf. This will mean that every area will have a visible, nominated lead who will be dedicated to the oversight of policing in their area.”
There are 37 PCCs across England and Wales and the Minister said that they would serve out their current four year terms (unless devolution came earlier) up to May 2028. In Wales there is no mayoral model and the Minister provided no details on what a non-PCC approach to police governance would look like for the current four Welsh police forces.
Responding to the statement made to the House, shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp denounced the change saying it was “tinkering around the edges” and “simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.”
Liberal Democrat Ben Maguire welcomed the news of the abolition, calling it “a failed Tory experiment.” but did not support the mayoral led model, instead saying that the government should give the policing and crime boards powers on a permanent basis. Green MP Sian Berry said that the abolition of Police and Crime Panels – that scrutinise the PCC – risked “creating a chasm of scrutiny.”
Emily Spurrell is the Chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners. She added: “abolishing PCCs now, without any consultation, as policing faces a crisis of public trust and confidence and as it is about to be handed a much stronger national centre, risks creating a dangerous accountability vacuum.”
National Police Chiefs’ Council Chair Gavin Stephens responded to the announcement, he said: “Democratic accountability of operationally independent policing is essential. Bringing strong, integrated local leadership and the voice of communities into our service is a vitally important part of policing by consent.” He added that “chief officers will always support strong local scrutiny.”
However Tiff Lynch, head of the Police Federation of England and Wales welcomed the move and said PCCs were “an expensive experiment which has failed.”
Some PCCs also have responsibility for fire and rescue services: Cumbria, Essex, Northamptonshire and Staffordshire. Fire currently comes under the mayors in Greater Manchester, North Yorkshire and London. Both Essex and Cumbria are part of the current batch of devolution agreements currently going through their legislative journey. There was no detail on whether all fire and rescue services would transfer to mayors – the complexity of fire governance is well known.
The Fire Brigades Union responded to the announcement. General Secretary Steve Wright welcomed the plans, but cautioned: “the government must now ensure that all fire and rescue services have rigorous democratic structures in place, overseen and scrutinised by an elected board.”
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