Appeal against non-recording

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Under the Police Reform Act 2002, each police force in England and Wales has the duty to either record your complaint or give you the reasons why it has decided not to record your complaint.

You may be able to appeal to the IPCC if you tried to make a complaint about the conduct of a person serving with the police but the police did not record it. You have 28 days in which to do so.

You can appeal against the non-recording of your complaint if:

• The police did not make a decision about your complaint

The police must make a decision about whether or not they are going to record your complaint or whether or not they are the correct police force or police authority to handle your complaint.

The IPCC expects forces to decide whether a complaint should be recorded within 10 working days. You can make an appeal to the IPCC if you do not hear from the police within this time.

• The police did not record your complaint

The police have a duty to record complaints about the conduct of a person serving with the police. However, the police do not have to record a complaint if:

• it is part of another complaint which they have already recorded
• the complaint has been withdrawn by the person who made it
• it is about ‘direction and control'
• it has been made by someone serving with the police
• it is not covered by the Police Reform Act 2002
• The police failed to pass your complaint to the correct police force

If you made your complaint to a police force or police authority different to the one you are complaining about, they must pass your complaint to the police force or police authority in question. They must tell you this in writing.

Appeal timescales

The IPCC must receive your appeal within 28 days of the date of the letter you will receive from the police telling you that your complaint has not been recorded. This includes the time your appeal spends in the post.

If you are appealing because the police have not notified you about their decision and the 10 day recommended period has expired, you have 28 days to make your appeal.

If you do not send your appeal to the IPCC within 28 days, the IPCC does not have to consider your appeal. The IPCC may be able to extend this time period if:

• you have very special circumstances and you can fully explain your reasons for requesting an extension
• the police failed to tell you what they were going to do about your complaint

Direction and control

The IPCC cannot deal with complaints about the overall policies of a police force - called ‘direction and control’ complaints.

If your complaint is about the overall policies of a police force, your concerns will be dealt with by the relevant police force under a separate system.