Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to bring in powers to sack chief constables of failing police forces

New powers to allow the Home Secretary to send crack squads into failing police forces to turn them around and to sack chief constables will be unveiled on Monday.

Shabana Mahmood (above) said Government ministers currently have limited powers to intervene with forces who are failing to fight crime, and the public have little oversight of their local police.

She is set to announce the largest reforms to policing since the police service was founded two centuries ago.

It comes after she was unable to sack West Midlands Polic Chief Constable Craig Guildford after she has confidence in him after Israeli football fans were banned from a match against Aston Villa.

Mahmood told MPs a "damning" review from the policing watchdog over the intelligence that led to Maccabi Tel Aviv fans being banned showed a "failure of leadership".

The force has apologised saying it did not deliberately distort evidence that was used by Birmingham's Safety Advisory Group for the 6 November game.

Mr Guildford retired this week ahead of a meeting on 27 January with Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster who had the authority to sack him.

Mahmood claims under the changes communities will be safer from crime under what is described as the largest upgrade in police oversight in a generation.

A Home Office spokesperson said: "Police forces are not accountable to minister and the public. Ministers are unable to sack failing police leaders and cannot direct failing forces to improve. The public are unable to easily see or track how their local force is performing compared to others.

"Under new measures, the police will be made accountable to the Home Secretary. Ministers will be handed new powers to intervene directly in failing forces, sending in specialist teams to turn them around so they fight crime more effectively.

"If crime solving rates or police response times are poor, the Home Secretary will be able to send in experts from the best performing forces to improve their performance, so they catch more criminals.

"The Home Secretary will restore the power to sack failing Chief Constables. New laws will hand Ministers statutory powers to force the retirement, resignation or suspension of Chief Constables if they are poorly performing.

"The forces will also be directly accountable to the public, with new targets on 999 response times, victim satisfaction, public trust and confidence. These results will be published and forces graded so communities can compare."

Ms Mahmood said: “The police are the public, and the public are the police.

“It is essential that the people can determine what they expect from their forces.

“I will make police forces accountable to parliament – driving up standards so they fight more crime in their communities.”

To further reinforce accountability, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary Fire and Rescue Services Andy Cooke will gain statutory powers to issue directions when forces fail to act on his recommendations. 

Mr Cooke said: "Where a police force is failing the public, there must be a clear, fair system to make sure concerns are acted upon. The inspectorate is a vital part of that system. 

“I have called for the inspectorate to have stronger powers, and I welcome the Government’s commitment to this. These reforms will help make sure underperformance is more quickly addressed whilst supporting forces to respond to our recommendations more effectively, so that every community gets the policing it deserves.”

Alongside these force-wide measures, the government will also ensure the highest standards from individual officers. To strengthen safeguards and ensure those unfit for policing are kept out of the profession, the government will introduce laws to impose robust, mandatory vetting standards for all police forces, ensuring the public is protected.

These new standards will enable forces to exclude those with a caution or conviction for violence against women and girls offences from policing.

Stronger requirements on forces to suspend officers who are under investigation for these crimes will also be introduced.

On Monday the Home Secretary is expected to announce the largest reforms to policing since the police service was founded two centuries ago.

In a white paper titled “From local to national: a new model for policing”, Mahmood is expected to outline a radical blueprint for reform, so local forces protect their community, and national policing that protects us all. Underpinning the reforms are simple aims to catch criminals, cut crime, and protect the public.

Alongside these reforms, police forces in England and Wales will receive the largest investment in British history to keep communities safe. The Government is investing a record £18.4 billion to restore neighbourhood policing, cut crime and catch criminals. This is an increase of over £3 billion and a 11 percent real terms increase compared to 2023/34.

On Thursday Ms Mahmood said the number of police forces in England and Wales is set to be slashed under major the major overhaul of the system.

Under the proposed changes, the number of forces, currently standing at 43, will be significantly cut.

At a local level, each town, city and borough will be designated a "local policing area", where neighbourhood officers will concentrate on community issues like shoplifting and anti-social behaviour.

Ms Mahmood believes the existing system, which requires each of the 43 forces to maintain separate headquarters and administrative staff, leads to a wasteful expenditure of funds that could otherwise be directed towards combating crime.

Responding to the announcement of new powers for the Home Secretary to intervene in failing forces, PCCs Matthew Scott, for Kent, and Clare Moody, for Avon and Somerset, said: "While we welcome plans to improve performance across policing, involving His Majesty’s Inspectorate, the Home Office and local policing bodies, it is wrong to say that police forces are not accountable to politicians or the public. Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) and Deputy Mayors, through the Mayor, are elected by the public and serve as the voice of the public in policing, holding chief constables to account for the performance of their forces. Abolishing PCCs and replacing them with local authority run boards will weaken, not strengthen, local police accountability. In addition, the Home Secretary has powers in the Police Act 1996 to intervene.”