Supporting the Policing Vision 2030 to build a trusted and engaged police service.
Introduction
The College of Policing and the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) are pleased to work together on a five-year culture and inclusion strategy. This supports the Policing Vision 2030 to make us the most trusted and engaged policing service in the world, working together to make communities safer and stronger.
The need for change is evident and historic. Recent high-profile reviews into policing have identified systemic issues rooted in police culture, leading to a loss of trust and confidence by both the public and our own workforce.
Culture change
Changing the culture in policing is vital to meet our ambition of being a truly inclusive organisation. We need to improve trust, confidence and legitimacy from the communities we serve. This is not a nice to have – it is at the heart of good policing and impacts on our ability to deliver improved outcomes for the public in preventing and responding to crime.
Improvements have been made. However, recent cases of abuse, discrimination and exploitation of police powers demonstrate that a more focused transformation of police culture is required. These issues were tackled by the Casey Review (March 2023) and the Angiolini Inquiry (March 2024). There is both a moral and a legal imperative to change.
The five-year period of this strategy enables us to directly focus on the critical areas of diversity, equality and inclusion. We can make a demonstrable impact over a period of time, developing a shared evidence base of what works to raise standards and drive lasting change.
This means developing good quality data and empowering our workforce with the confidence and skills to effectively eliminate discrimination. We must also demonstrate positive engagement with our communities where policing by consent is at the heart of what we do.
Building trust
Building trust requires us to understand how the legacy of the past affects current public perception. This goes beyond simply attempting to explain disparities. We need everyone in policing to develop a deeper understanding of the many potential causes of disproportionality. We must develop effective and robust strategies to reduce or eliminate disparity, empowering our workforce to challenge discrimination and poor behaviour wherever it is found.
This cultural shift, deeper understanding and effective action will aid us in creating a culture that delivers more effective and inclusive services for our workforce and our communities. This will allow us to keep people safe, reduce and prevent crime, and rebuild trust and confidence in policing.
Working with our policing partners, the College and NPCC are committed to delivering this national culture and inclusion strategy for policing. We have developed a range of initiatives to support every police force to achieve these ambitions throughout the duration of the strategy and beyond.
- Introduction by CC Rachel Swann QPM, Chair, NPCC DEI Coordination Committee and Fiona Eldridge, Culture & Inclusion Portfolio Lead, College of Policing
Our statutory obligations
This strategy will support the service in meeting its legal duties under the Equality Act 2010 and its obligations under the public sector equality duty (PSED).
The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and in wider society. It sets out the different ways in which it is unlawful to treat someone.
The PSED came into force across Great Britain on 5 April 2011. It applies to public bodies and others carrying out public functions.
All police officers, staff and volunteers are legally bound to the PSED and expected to uphold their obligations while in post. It supports good decision-making by ensuring that public bodies consider how different people will be affected by their activities. It helps them to deliver policies and services that meet different people’s needs and are efficient, effective and accessible.
It requires that public bodies understand the need to:
- eliminate discrimination
- advance equality of opportunity
- foster good relations between different people when carrying out their activities
Vision
A representative police service that is a trusted profession, demonstrating the highest levels of integrity, fairness and respect towards each other and the public we serve.
Mission
To transform police culture, positioning diversity, equality and inclusion at the heart of good policing and integral to all policies, practices and procedures.
Outcome framework
In 2022, we published an update to the national diversity, equality and inclusion strategy (2018-2025). It included an outcome framework to underpin its delivery. That outcome framework has been used to build this new strategy.
The outcome framework was developed in line with the framework for the Police Race Action Plan and the Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Framework. It recognises how these national programmes must be embedded in our overall national strategy for culture and inclusion.
The outcome framework reiterates our commitment to the following.
Protected
A police service that protects people from crime and seeks justice for victims, by:
- investigating the crime, not the victim
- reducing victimisation
- taking clearer action to tackle extremism and racist, sexist, misogynistic, ableist and homophobic violence
The intended outcome is to increase feelings of safety and reduce crime.
Respected
A police service that is perceived by everyone to be fair, respectful and equitable in all that it says and does, by:
- eliminating bias, stereotyping, profiling or discrimination in our actions
- understanding and challenging stereotypes and myths
The intended outcome is to increase feelings of trust and confidence in the police.
Involved
A police service where people from all backgrounds can, and do, input into its governance, by:
- improving community involvement in decision making, including oversight and scrutiny processes, to improve legitimacy
- responding to community trauma, and reconciling police and community divisions
The intended outcome is to increase meaningful community engagement that creates action.
Represented
A police service that is representative of the public it serves, advances equity of opportunity and fosters good relations in its officers, staff and volunteers, by:
- eliminating bias, stereotyping, profiling or discrimination from our polices, procedures, processes and practices
The intended outcome is to increase positive public perception of the police service as an employer for all people.
Our focus for 2025 to 2030
The need to rebuild trust and confidence in the police service is clear and requires change both internally and externally. The two are linked – a workforce that is not seen to be inclusive is unlikely to provide an inclusive service to the communities it serves.
This has led us to focus on two areas:
- evolving our organisation
- working with the public
Concentrating on these core areas will enable those working in the service to create action plans to bring about demonstrable change.
We need to identify, address and eliminate any disparities or discrimination in our policies, procedures, processes and practices that affect our internal culture.
Evolving our organisation
At a national level, we will review and develop standards, and provide guidance and development programmes. The Code of Ethics was revised in 2024 and additional guidance was produced by the College of Policing. In addition, the Vetting Code of Practice and vetting authorised professional practice (APP) have been strengthened. We will also pilot new approaches to behavioural change, which can then be rolled out to forces.
At a local level, forces will address issues by analysing their own data, applying national standards and guidance. They will increase the capability of their workforce to understand and apply legal responsibilities and challenge unacceptable behaviour, myths and stereotypes.
Working with the public
Research shows that public trust and confidence depends on a series of interacting factors. These include:
- personal experience of interactions with the police
- procedural justice at the heart of practice, ensuing fairness and a voice for all
- negative media coverage of high-profile incidents, both in the UK and internationally
- negative perceptions of internal police processes and neighbourhood policing
We must improve the public’s confidence in the police to be fair and respectful, understand and deal with community concerns and address hate crime. We will take action to support the workforce to understand and acknowledge community trauma and work towards reconciling divisions between the police and communities.
What will this involve?
At a national level, this will involve reviewing and changing standards, providing guidance and development programmes.
At a local level, forces will address issues by analysing their own data, applying national standards and guidance. They can then improve the capability of their workforce to understand and respond appropriately to their local communities.
Themes
Each area of focus has a related theme, as shown in the previous graphic. Evolving our organisation includes the theme of workforce culture, while working with the public includes the theme of working with communities.
There are also two additional themes that are common to both areas of focus. These are improving the capture, analysis and use of data, and building the capability of the workforce.
These themes will form the basis of a new culture and inclusion standard. This will help forces assess their progress towards achieving the aims of the strategy.
These themes will form the basis of a new culture and inclusion standard, which will help forces assess their progress towards achieving the aims of the strategy.
Data and information
Improving capture, recording and analysis
Identifying and addressing disparities is impossible without accurate, transparent and usable data. Access to and understanding of data is also a prerequisite for the development of new policies, processes, programmes and standards.
Collecting, recording and analysing data and information relating to culture and inclusion remains a significant challenge for many forces. A new national protected characteristics data standard will support this work.
Building capability
Those working in policing should have the knowledge, skills, expertise and understanding to deliver an effective and fair service to the public. Chief officers have a responsibility to encourage, enable and support opportunities for development and knowledge sharing, including investing in and facilitating those opportunities.
Workforce culture
We acknowledge that there are behaviours and practices in policing that have negative impacts. They can lead to negative outcomes for groups and individuals, both inside the service and in our communities. These must be identified, addressed and removed.
The aspiration is for the service to have a culture which is inclusive and that builds trust and confidence with the public. Diversity, equality and inclusion alone won’t do this. This area explores how forces can demonstrate what they have done to create more inclusive policies and practices. It will also explore how they should evidence outcomes from these initiatives in support of where we need to be.
Working with the public
This thematic area focuses on how the service engages and understands its communities. Forces will be expected to demonstrate how community engagement informs planning, delivery, management, scrutiny and improvement of its services.
The culture and inclusion standard for policing will support the implementation of this strategy. The themes outlined above form the foundations of the standard and inform the progress and assurance framework. The framework demonstrates what is expected of forces, illustrated with examples.
Forces can produce a simple dashboard to track progress, identify where good practice exists and where improvements can be made. Forces will play an active role in the assessment process as this strategy will adopt a continuous improvement and self-assessment matrix approach.
Scrutiny and oversight
The strategy will be owned by a chief officer in each force who will maintain sign-off and oversight of force performance on an annual basis.
We will work with His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) to enable effective scrutiny of progress against this strategy and the culture and inclusion standard for policing.