The information on this page relates to complaints received by the police force before 22 November 2012.
If your complaint was received on or after 22 November 2012, your appeal will be handled under a different system.
This is because of changes to the complaints system which apply from 22 November 2012. Please click here for the information you will need.
Can I appeal against the outcome of a police investigation into my complaint?
How do I make an appeal and by when?
How will the IPCC deal with my appeal?
What should I do if I need more advice?
You can find out more information in the appealing against the police investigation into your complaint key facts sheet.
Yes, you can appeal to the IPCC if:
you have not received enough information about the findings of the investigation or what action the police plan to take
you disagree with the findings of the investigation.
you disagree with the action the police plan to take as a result of the investigation.
(if you made your complaint after 1 December 2008) you do not think the police have made the right decision about whether an officer you complained about has a case to answer in relation to their conduct.
(if you made your complaint after 1 December 2008) you disagree with a decision the police have made not to refer the investigation of a complaint to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
At the end of its investigation into your complaint, the police force should give you a good-quality explanation of what the investigation has found, if it intends to take any action as a result of its findings and, if so, what action it proposes to take. It should also tell you about your right of appeal to the IPCC.
The police may give you a copy of its investigator’s report in order to provide you with this information. Alternatively, it may communicate it to you by letter or email.
You can appeal if you think that the police have not provided enough information to enable you to understand what their investigation into your complaint found or what action it intends to take because of it.
The police investigation into your complaint will gather evidence in order to establish the facts of what you have complained about.
These facts are its findings. You need to keep in mind that the police investigation will be proportionate to the seriousness of your complaint and the likely outcomes.
You can appeal if you think that the findings of the investigation need to be reconsidered. For example if:
some witnesses you consider important were not traced and/or interviewed
you do not think that the police properly understood what your complaint was about
you do not think that parts of your complaint were investigated
you do not think that the evidence the police have gathered supports the conclusions it has reached
you do not think the police have come to the right decision about whether or not your complaint should be upheld
When the police tell you what their investigation has found they should also tell you what they plan to do as a result. This may mean changes to the way the police work; an apology and commitment to stopping the same thing happening to someone else; or constructive advice being given to the officer you complained about by their manager.
In some serious cases, it may mean an officer being asked to explain what they did in formal misconduct proceedings. Alternatively, there may be reasons why the police will take no action at all.
the police have not done enough to prevent the same thing happening again
the action the police have said they will take against the person you complained about is not right
(If you made your complaint after 1 December 2008)
At the end of the investigation into your complaint the police will decide whether or not the officer you complained about has a case to answer for misconduct or gross misconduct.
Misconduct means the officer has done something that fails to meet the Standards of Professional Behaviour expected of a police officer. Gross misconduct means the failure to meet those standards is so serious that the officer could lose their job.
You can appeal because the police have said that an officer does not have a case to answer and you think they do. You can also appeal if the police have said that an officer has a case to answer for misconduct, but you think it should be for gross misconduct.
If you made your complaint before 1 December 2008, the police will not have made a formal decision whether the officer had a case to answer. Instead, they will proceed straight to considering what action they will take.
When the police have finished their investigation into your complaint they will decide whether to send your complaint to the CPS for consideration. The police must send your complaint to the CPS if:
they think a crime may have been committed, and
they think it is appropriate to do so under the circumstances
The CPS makes decisions about whether someone accused of a crime will be prosecuted in a criminal court. You can appeal if the police have decided not to send your complaint to the CPS and you think they should have done.
When the police do send your complaint to the CPS, this does not necessarily mean that the CPS will decide to prosecute an officer you have complained about. You cannot appeal to the IPCC if the CPS decides not to prosecute the officer. The IPCC has no powers to change decisions made by the CPS.
This right of appeal exists only if the police received your complaint after 1 December 2008. Before this date, the police had less choice about which complaints to send to the CPS.
Please note: you cannot appeal to the IPCC if the investigation into your complaint was managed or independently conducted by the IPCC.
Use the IPCC’s online police investigation appeal form
Save the Word version of the appeal form to your computer, complete it and email it to the IPCC - NorthCasework@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk
Print off, complete and post the PDF version of the appeal form to the IPCC.
Contact us to request a hard copy
Please return the completed Word version or PDF version of the appeal form by post, fax or email to: Post: IPCC, PO BOX 473, Sale M33 0BW.Fax: 020 7166 3306Email: NorthCasework@ipcc.gsi.gov.uk
We must receive your appeal within 28 days of the date of the letter you have received from the police force telling you about the outcome of the investigation. This includes the time your appeal spends in the post.
If you do not send your appeal to the IPCC within 28 days, we do not have to consider your appeal. We may be able to extend this time period if you have very special circumstances and you can fully explain your reasons for asking for an extension.
We will send you a letter to tell you we have received your appeal form.
We will also contact the relevant police force or authority to tell them you have appealed. The police force/police authority will be given a copy of your appeal and we will ask for any information they have about your complaint and subsequent appeal
Once we have received all the information we will assess your appeal and make a decision about it.
Please note that during the appeal process, we will not investigate your original complaint; we will review the police investigation into your complaint.
If your appeal is upheld, we will instruct the chief police officer or police authority about what it should do about your complaint. They must follow these instructions. We will tell you in writing about the instructions we have given and explain what happens next.
If your appeal is not upheld, we will write to you explaining how and why we made this decision.
You can contact a local advice organisation, such as a Citizens Advice Bureau for advice. You can also talk to a legal advisor.
Get in touch with the IPCC for advice about the appeals process, if you have difficulty filling in the online or paper form, or if you need to obtain the form in another language or format
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