PEEL assessments

PEEL is an annual assessment of police forces in England and Wales. Forces are assessed on their effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy. They are judged as outstanding, good, requires improvement or inadequate on these categories (or pillars) based on inspection findings, analysis and Her Majesty’s Inspectors’ (HMIs) professional judgment across the year.

Each pillar has questions that focus on core areas of the work of the police. Judgments are also applied to these questions.

Before 2018, every force received a separate report for each pillar. Reports were published by pillar, building up to an overall view of the force’s performance at the end of the PEEL cycle.

From 2018/19 inspection year, the approach was changed to become more integrated. Each force now receives one report, providing a rounded assessment of its performance over the year. These reports are published in batches of 14 or 15 at a time.

This is an overview of the grades forces in England and Wales received for PEEL 2015. There are three key themes or pillars, and eleven questions.

An accessible grades table is also available

Question

Effectiveness - Question 1

How effective is the force at preventing crime and anti-social behaviour, and keeping people safe?

Effectiveness - Question 2

How effective is the force at investigating crime and managing offenders?

Effectiveness - Question 3

How effective is the force at protecting from harm those who are vulnerable, and supporting victims?

Effectiveness - Question 4

How effective is the force at tackling serious and organised crime, including its arrangement for fulfilling its national policing responsibilities?

Efficiency - Question 1

How well does the force use its resources to meet its demand?

Efficiency - Question 2

How sustainable and affordable is the workforce model?

Efficiency - Question 3

How sustainable is the force’s financial position for the short and long term?

Legitimacy - Question 1

To what extent does practice and behaviour reinforce the wellbeing of staff and an ethical culture?

Legitimacy - Question 2 - Ungraded

To what extent are forces recording crimes in accordance with the Home Office Counting Rules?

Legitimacy - Question 3

How well does the force understand, engage with and treat fairly the people it serves to maintain and improve its legitimacy?

Legitimacy - Question 4

To what extent are decisions taken on the use of stop and search and Taser fair and appropriate?

Leadership - Question 1 - Ungraded

How well does the force have a clear understanding of the current state of its leadership at every level?

Leadership - Question 2 - Ungraded

How well has the force provided a clear and compelling sense of the future direction of the organisation?

Leadership - Question 3 - Ungraded

How is the force developing leadership, motivating the workforce and encouraging staff engagement?

Leadership - Question 4 - Ungraded

To what extent is leadership improving the effectiveness, efficiency and legitimacy of the force?

Key

Effectiveness

Efficiency

Legitimacy

Outstanding

Good

Requires improvement

Inadequate

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How we inspect

HMICFRS inspection staff visit all 43 forces in England and Wales to gather information for the PEEL assessments. As part of each inspection they speak to police officers and staff, hold focus groups and interviews with other interested parties, carry out document reviews and collect data.

The inspections take place throughout the year. The findings are analysed and moderated, and then published. The individual police force’s PEEL assessments are updated on the website as new information becomes available, and detailed reports for each police force are published.

Find out more about how we inspect and assess forces for the PEEL assessments