The IPCC's guardianship role
What is ‘guardianship’?
The IPCC’s primary statutory purpose is to increase public confidence in the police complaints system in England and Wales. This is its guardianship role.
There are four strands to the IPCC’s role as a ‘guardian’ to the complaints system:
- setting and monitoring statutory complaint handling standards for the complaints system as a whole
- drawing out and feeding back local and national operational lessons from conduct complaints
- ensuring the accessibility of the complaints system
- promoting public confidence in the system
Powers
The legislative base for the IPCC’s functions is set out in Part 2 of the Police Reform Act. Those that relate to its guardianship powers include:
- the IPCC’s call-in powers for any allegation of police misconduct
- its inspection powers
- the ability to produce statutory guidance
- the ability to make recommendations and give advice on police complaints arrangements and other matters of police practice from lessons it learns during its work
- the obligation to produce reports – including annual reports - for the Home Secretary when required
- the ability to write other reports, as it sees fit, for the purpose of making recommendations, giving advice and drawing attention to particular issues
- the ability to monitor the system by calling for information from police authorities and forces
- the right of entry onto - and inspections of - police premises
- appointing organisations as ‘gateways’ for complainants into the system
Find out more about how guardianship works
