His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services (HMICFRS) recently published several new force performance reports. The results are mixed, with plenty of ‘Areas for Improvement’ and ‘Innovative Practice’.
In this blog I remind you of the value of these Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy (PEEL) inspection reports; especially as an aspiring leader and police promotion candidate. I also check in on how forces compare overall in 2024 and give an overview of the latest releases for Lancashire, Leicestershire, and North Wales.
Why PEEL Reports are Relevant to You
If you aspire to police promotion, knowing your force and knowing how you can paint a brighter picture under your leadership are key success factors. Being aware of how well your force is performing and what issues are concerning those leading your force helps you focus your leadership CPD and ensure your evidence is locally-tailored with what’s most important.
Conducted by the HMICFRS, PEEL assessments are the formal way England and Wales police forces are judged on their overall performance. Forces are graded on 12 aspects of performance under the current 2023-25 inspection regime (summarised in the graphic above).
See my dedicated blog for more on these PEEL assessments and what they’re all about, including the questions asked, gradings given and their origins. But for now, and in anticipation of your upcoming promotion board or opportunity, consider the following:
- ‘Areas for Improvement’ often appear as presentation questions in promotion boards.
- Your promotion evidence is more powerful and relevant when it explicitly helps the force avoid a pain it’s feeling in terms of ‘areas for improvement’ or ‘causes of concern’.
- Strategic awareness is particularly important when seeking promotion to Inspector or Chief Inspector.
- Awareness of your force’s operating context helps with your authentic conversational ©ENAMEL interview responses.
- A common theme for improvement is crime investigation/supervision. Consider how you might lead improved investigations in future.
2024 Lancashire, Leicestershire, North Wales Published
Despite their relevance and value to police promotion candidates, officers generally have neither the time nor inclination to read their force report. Those who do tend to boost their odds of success. That’s why I take the time to summarise some of the latest reports on my dedicated PEEL YouTube channel PEEL playlist.
I’ve done at least one for every force, summarising reports into just a few minutes to save you time. In each one I include information about the approach of HMICFRS’s PEEL reports, highlight key areas for improvement and good practice identified, provide the operating context of the force (officer numbers, budget, strategies, etc.), how force overall ratings compare, and suggested further reading to support your leadership CPD.
In my latest video, I cover Lancashire Police’s PEEL assessment, embedded below…
“I thank HMICFRS for their report. I believe the force has made significant improvements across many areas since the last inspection in 2022 and I want to thank my staff, partners and the public of Lancashire for their support in this process.” – Lancashire Chief Constable Sacha Hatchett
Lancashire Police have undoubtably performed well, with praise and congratulations from their HMICFRS Inspector, Michelle Skeer. Interestingly, Lancashire are one of the few forces improving in each inspection done over the last four years, and are gradually improving. Lancashire are now among the top performing forces when it comes to PEEL assessments.
As I outline in the video, there are however several areas for improvement, which aspiring promotion candidates (and police leaders in Lancashire generally) would do well to think about how they might positively contribute. These were predominantly under the following themes:
- Protecting vulnerable people
- Responding to the public
- Investigating crime
Leicestershire’s report was also published in the same week, albeit with an overall lower score. Investigating crime and responding to the public were again themes requiring improvements. On average, you might consider Leicestershire ‘Adequate’ when balancing their different score themes, as I show in the force comparisons table below.
“I am pleased with the performance of Leicestershire Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and giving victims an effective service. But to provide a consistently good service, it needs to improve in some areas.” – Roy Wilsher, HM Inspector of Constabulary
The North Wales assessment was also middling, with a mixed bag of themes either requiring improvement or performing well. While the force can be pleased with its crime recording and supporting its workforce, concerns arose over its leadership (especially performance management), crime investigation, and protecting vulnerable people (especially DA victims).
“I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of North Wales Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service, but there are areas in which the force needs to improve.” – Michelle Skeer, HM Inspector of Constabulary
The above table gives an interesting snapshot of a select set of forces including those whose HMIC reports were just published. But taking a more strategic perspective, how do all forces overall compare?
How do Forces Compare on PEEL?
The above chart displays the average PEEL ‘score’ for each force (including BTP), taken from their thematic assessment ratings. It shows which forces are consistently poor, good, or middling across the board for the things the HMIC inspect. The best possible would be 4 (outstanding for everything), the worst would be 0 (inadequate for everything) on the HMIC’s 0-4 scoring scale.
The two largest England and Wales forces, the Metropolitan Police and West Midlands, are stuck around a score of 1 (requires improvement). Greater Manchester Police are another large force who have previously struggled, but they’ve shown improvement since their 2022 PEEL inspection. Devon and Cornwall’s latest inspection shows them also struggling, averaging 1.2. This is similar to their 2022 inspection, while over the longer term 2020 had them rated as ‘Good’ across the board.
Conversely, Humberside (the pioneer force for Right Care Right Person as detailed in my exclusive interview with its Chief Constable at the time Lee Freeman) is still leading the field of the 2023-25 inspection regime. South Yorkshire are also scoring high, albeit with the note their score is from their 2022 inspection; HMIC are yet to publish a more recent report for this force.
Where does your force sit? Have you read your PEEL report? How might your future leadership contribute to the betterment of the service to the public for your force?
So that’s how the forces compare. What are the common themes whereby forces are consistently performing well or poorly? Below, I’ve averaged the scores given across each of the scoring inspection themes…
Common concerns for forces are clearly the investigation of crime (especially supervision of investigations), responding to the public, and service to victims. How might you contribute to improvement in any of these areas?
Contrary to much of the media reporting, treating the public fairly and the prevention of crime and ASB perform better. The highest average score is for the disruption of serious and organised crime groups but note that scores on this theme are given out infrequently, so is subject to the skew of a handful of forces.
I hope you’ve found this PEEL reminder helpful, along with the video summaries I publish for your force. If you want help knowing exactly how you can best put yourself forward for promotion and be part of the solution, please get in touch. I help level the playing field of promotion with targeted support and leadership CPD for those who want to make a positive difference to policing in the future.
Kind Regards, Steve
Seeking police promotion? Want a MASSIVE head start right now? Hit the ground running with your personal digital promotion toolkit, and/or my market-leading Police Promotion Masterclass. There’s nothing else like it to effectively prepare you for success in your leadership aspirations. You can also contact me to arrange more personal coaching support. Or try my podcast for your ongoing police leadership CPD covering a range of fascinating subjects.
