-optimized.jpg){kind=avatar}
An independent review of police leaders ‘identified systemic causes for concern about the consistency, capability and culture of leadership across the service. Put simply, leadership in policing is not consistently of a high enough standard to provide confidence and trust in the attainment of the service which the public deserves’.
While the Police Leadership Commission found ‘outstanding examples of leadership and delivery across policing, often in the most challenging circumstances’, it summed up that ‘officers and staff are frequently hampered by resource scarcity, disempowered by excessive paperwork and conduct processes and insufficiently focused on delivering outcomes for the public’. The review by 12 members chaired by Tony Blair-era Labour Home Secretary Lord David Blunkett and Lord Nick Herbert of South Downs, a former, Conservative, Home Office policing minister, called for a ‘fundamental overhaul of how policing attracts, recruits, develops, appoints and supports its leaders at all levels, in all ranks, grades and roles’.
Direct entry
The 149-page report proposed a ‘new targeted direct entry scheme’; it said that the police ‘should continue to bring in experienced professionals at the level where their skills are most needed, while holding them to the same standards as anyone else. A targeted direct entry scheme should bring proven leaders from professions that are adjacent to policing into senior and executive police officer roles.’ All chief officers, including chief constables, should be expected to complete an annual performance review, the reviewers said. They proposed a National Academy of Police Leadership. The report suggested policing should aim to recruit at least 400 people a year onto a ‘police leadership fast stream’.
Secondments
The review makes a case for ‘more routine and accessible’ secondments, particularly regarding tech, and to other parts of public service: “Forces operate on a multi-million-pound scale, so experience within the private sector would broaden expertise and capability in managing complex resourcing issues and the need to deliver quality policing services within tight budgets.”
Background
The Police Leadership Commission looking at England and Wales was set up by the College of Policing with the support of the Home Office in October 2025. For the report, visit the College website. The reviewers, who first met in November 2025, in January 2026 made a call for evidence. Besides roundtables, they made a comparative visit to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Comments
Among comments by the chair of the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners (APCC), Merseyside PCC Emily Spurrell spoke of ‘too many examples in recent years where the behaviour and actions of chief officers have been found wanting, and it is disappointing this is not addressed by the Leadership Review’. Chief Constable Sir Andy Marsh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the College of Policing, called it ‘the most comprehensive examination of police leadership in a generation. We will seize this opportunity to invest in officers and staff with time and resources so that they can do what they joined policing to do, protect the public and catch criminals.’
Deputy National Secretary of the Police Federation of England and Wales Mel Warnes said: “This report confirms what we’ve been saying for years, and it must be a watershed moment for policing. Many of these recommendations aren’t new; they’re simply the product of finally listening to those at the sharp end of policing.
Photo by Mark Rowe: street art, Boscombe, Dorset.
