While HMICFRS have announced their new 2025-27 PEEL inspection regime, reports for forces assessed under the 2023-25 scheme are still coming out of the woodwork. In this blog, I share that for the four forces published just this week. I include highlights and video summaries of key points for busy cops and others interested in how well their force is doing.
For context, these PEEL assessments are the main and most official way forces are assessed on how well they’re doing. If you’re seeking promotion, they’re essential reading towards your preparation and should prompt your ideas on how you can help improve performance. Here’s more about the ethos of PEEL performance assessments and how they’re changing.
Now let’s get to the results. First, I’ll just remind you where all forces now stand after these four new publications. I’ve highlighted the new ones and how they compare to others. Remember, a score of 2 means generally ‘Adequate’ or middling. The maximum forces can achieve on this five-point grading scale is 4 (all ‘Outstanding’) and the minimum being 0 (all ‘Inadequate’).
How is your force doing? Do you have any views or contribution to make as to why it’s like that or how things can be improved?
Essex Police: Doing OK, Slightly Deteriorated
HMIC published their PEEL report for Essex on 14th May, based on inspections done throughout 2024 to early 2025. I’ve summarised the PEEL highlights and key information, strategies and stats about the force for you in the free video above.
Overall, the situation for Essex is reasonably OK, with most areas assessed being adequate as per the HMIC’s summary table below. However, Essex were assessed as slightly better in the 2022 PEEL report and were rated as ‘Good’ across the board under the 2019 regime.
As I show in my video, HMIC inspectors gave it 14 specific areas for improvement and found 2 examples of notable good practice. Here’s the opening statement summarising Essex’s performance from the HMIC Inspector’s perspective:
“I am pleased with some aspects of the performance of Essex Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service. I am satisfied with most other aspects of the force’s performance, but there are areas in which it needs to improve.” – Roy Wilsher, HM Inspector of Constabulary
Responding to the report, Essex Chief Constable Ben-Julian Harrington QPM recognised the positive aspects and referenced inadequate funding, stating…
“Crime and anti-social behaviour continues to fall in Essex and we are pleased that HMICFRS have recognised how we have improved in ‘responding to the public ‘and ‘investigating crime’ since our last inspection. Essex Police remains unfairly funded in comparison with other forces and parts of the country so to be assessed as ‘adequate’ across the complex range of services we deliver is recognition of the immense work by our officers, staff and volunteers along with the strong partnerships we have across Essex. There are areas identified where we need to improve and, in every area, we want to get better. We are already working on these and this is acknowledged in the report.”
For additional context about this force, here’s the highlights of its key stats, including how the budget has changed over the last 7 years (+59%, includes period of Uplift), demand, workforce, and its public. What do you know about your force’s key info?
And here’s how the force’s officer strength has changed over the last 18 years (sourced from the Home Office police workforce statistics). It seems like inaccurate data for the strange slump for the year ending March 2008, though you can see the rise and decline of ‘austerity’, followed by the rise again of ‘Uplift’. Essex’s officer strength remains high as at the latest data (Sept 2024), with 3,758 full-time equivalent officers.
Lincolnshire Police: Very Poor, in Special Measures
Lincolnshire is a small force of 1,200 officers. Its budget since 2019/20 has increased by 50%, from £127 to £190 million. The thing that eats up most of any force’s budget and their year-on-year increases in overall funding is police pay and pay awards.
As you might notice from the force comparisons earlier and its PEEL report summary table above, Lincolnshire has unequivocally performed the worst of all forces. In fact, in the 10 years I’ve checked in on and summarised these PEEL inspections as part of my free resources for aspiring police leaders, there’s never been a force graded so poorly across the board.
This has led to Lincolnshire being placed under special measures, with inspectors finding 24 causes for concern and areas for improvement, alongside 2 examples of innovative/promising practice. The scathing summary by the HMIC Inspector alludes to its deteriorating performance over time:
“I have serious concerns about Lincolnshire Police’s performance in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service, particularly on how well the force investigates crime and how quickly it attends incidents following calls to service. Since our previous inspection, investigation standards have deteriorated. The force needs to improve its management of investigations to achieve better outcomes for victims of crime.” – Roy Wilsher
Responding to the report, Lincolnshire’s Chief Constable Paul Gibson noted the findings and cited their lack of resources to perform well:
“The concerns raised in this report are not new to us… I fully accept the majority of the findings within the report, and since coming back as Chief Constable, I have been working hard to improve the issues raised, which are starting to show considerable progress. I am absolutely confident that with the correct resourcing, Lincolnshire Police will continue to enhance the service we deliver to our communities… It is also worthy of note that the Inspectorate has recognised that demand outstrips our resource, which goes to the heart of the perennial funding challenges we face, while also identifying several areas of good work.”
Here’s Lincolnshire’s police officer strength for extra context. While officer strength recovered somewhat in recent years and been maintained around 1,200 (Sep 2024 1,208), this is slightly below its high of 1,243 in 2007. The population of Lincolnshire has increased by 8% in the last decade.
Northumbria Police: Positively Adequate, But Deteriorated
As shown in my summary video above, Northumbria Police had mixed results, leaning slightly towards the positive. Like with Essex and West Mercia, most performance themes were graded as ‘Adequate’, but with a few more positives to report. There were 9 areas for improvement identified, along with 5 examples of innovative/promising practice.
Here’s Northumbria’s summary PEEL findings snapshot, followed by the HMIC Inspector’s overall comments:
“I am pleased with some aspects of the performance of Northumbria Police in keeping people safe, reducing crime and providing victims with an effective service. I am satisfied with most other aspects of the force’s performance, but there are areas in which it needs to improve.” – Michelle Skeer, HM Inspector of Constabulary
While this seems altogether positively adequate, there’s a clear deterioration from its mostly ‘Good’ ratings achieved in 2022. Responding to the report, Chief Constable Vanessa Jardine focused on the positives and praised the efforts of her officers and staff…
“I am delighted the inspectors have highlighted innovative practice, including around how we prevent and deter crime. Significant improvements have also been recognised in our 999 call answering… I am pleased the report further recognises the efforts we are making, alongside our partners, to tackle anti-social behaviour including our response to motorcycle-related crime. Our new ways of working, including moving to six area commands also means we are better meeting the needs of our communities – and tackling the issues which matter most to you. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our officers, staff and volunteers for their efforts and commitment, and to our communities for their continued support.”
Here’s those key stats about the force as a snapshot from my video, which I hope you find helpful:
Additionally, here’s Northumbria’s long-term trends in officer strength as reported in the police workforce statistics. Again, following the decline during austerity, the ‘Uplift’ has recovered the situation to above 3,800, as it has remained according to the latest September 2024 data. But this is still 300 officers shy of its peak in 2010, which is unlikely to be hit even with the pending extra officers announced under the new Neighbourhood Policing Guarantee.
West Mercia Police: Stable, But Under Par
West Mercia’s report was mostly spread between ‘Requires Improvement’ and ‘Adequate’. This is similar to its prior two PEEL inspections, remaining stable at slightly under par. 23 areas for improvement were identified, but unfortunately the HMIC cited no examples of innovative/promising practice in its assessment. Here’s how the HMIC Inspector summarised things:
“I am satisfied with some aspects of the performance of West Mercia 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.” – Sir Andy Cooke, HM Inspector of Constabulary
Responding to their PEEL report, West Mercia’s Chief Constable Richard Cooper took ownership of their position and recognised the importance of the assessment:
“We recognise the importance of independent assessments like PEEL and are using this report as one tool to guide our next steps and drive continued improvement for the communities we serve, and for our officers, staff and volunteers. We acknowledge the findings and are already acting on them. The inspection highlights both the progress we’ve made and the challenges we are addressing head-on. The results are not where we want to be, and I am clear that they must and will improve.”
Again, I share below some key stats for this force, along with their officer strength trends. In terms of officer numbers, the latest September 2024 stats show West Mercia at 2,524 FTE, marginally above its 2008-2009 peak. As with most forces however, a key challenge immediately after such surges in new officer recruitment is dealing with increased levels of inexperience. As a police leader, what is the leadership you need to provide? Where do you see yourself as part of the solution?
“As a newly promoted Sergeant, how will you ensure new officers are supported?” – Example police promotion board question
More Info on Force Finances and Closing Remarks
Financials are clearly an important feature to the efficiency and effectiveness of every police force. But information about the full budgets forces are working with tend to be unhelpfully buried in various locations of the PCCs and force accounting statements. So if you’re interested, here’s a recent summary of all force’s funding position (source: Parliament report).
There do appear to be some mismatches between what this covers and what PCCs own reports show (e.g. Essex), so if you have any clue why that might be or are an expert on financial reporting, I’d be interested to know!
I hope you’ve found these insights into PEEL reports helpful. As I previously reported, HMIC will now be inspecting forces under its new 2025-27 inspection framework. I will continue to summarise a selection of these as and when they become available.
In the meantime, there’s a wealth of Rank Success content, materials and resources to support your leadership aspirations and ongoing CPD. If you’d like some extra deep dive content, or just wish to help support my work, then check in on my premium podcasts at just £4.99 per month.
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 and CVF explainers. 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.
