Welsh Lead calls for further cuts to red tape to ‘free up police’

15 April 2023

Police Federation Welsh lead Nicky Ryan is calling on the Government to go further to free forces from red tape after a review found that 443,000 officer hours are being wasted in England and Wales.

A review by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) found the time officers spend filling in forms and dealing with unnecessary administrative tasks is equivalent to attending 220,000 domestic abuse incidents or 270,000 burglaries.

Nicky, who chairs the Police Federation’s Welsh Affairs Committee, said: “I’ve long been concerned about the burden of paperwork and process that police officers face – all of these things are important and have consequences if not done correctly, but they also keep police officers away from the vital work of policing where the public needs them.

“It is pleasing to hear that the policing minister Chris Philp has promised to implement the recommendations of a review by the National Police Chiefs Council, this will make a difference. For example, cases where multiple offences are committed – currently these have to be recorded separately, involving a lot of pointless repetition, whereas in future they can be recorded under the principal offence.”

Nicky also welcomed the policing minister’s assurances that officers will not be required to record social media rows which do not meet the threshold for a crime.

She added: “These will help but I still would urge chief constables and the Government to go further to reduce the burden on our colleagues. They should look seriously at the Federation’s campaign to #SimplifyDG6 because detectives are having to spend on average four extra hours on redacting evidence to comply with data protection legislation. This is before they can submit a case to the Crown Prosecution Service for a charging decision and of course there are no guarantees it will even lead to a charge.

“It is important that everything possible is done to enable officers to get back to the frontlines where they can make a real difference.”

Chair of the NPCC, Gavin Stephenson, agreed with Nicky, saying: “Police officers must be totally focused on keeping people safe and ensuring they feel safe. Our review has already identified that 443,000 officer hours are spent filling in forms and dealing with unnecessary administrative tasks. Any move to free up our frontline to serve our communities is welcome.”

Mr Philp said: “Whatever their values, police officers are driven by a desire to protect the public and catch criminals. But they can’t do that if they are spending hours putting excessive information into computers.”

Changes announced by the Home Office are expected to come into force in the next few weeks.