• Home
• Complaints
• Police
• News & Press
• IPCC Resources
  
• About the IPCC
• Contact Us
• Careers

• Reports & Guidelines
• Research & Statistics
• Working with Other Agencies
• Themes in IPCC work
• Useful Links
• FOI – a guide to getting information from the IPCC
• Consultations
• Learning the Lessons
• Gender Equality Scheme
• Race Equality Scheme
• Disability Equality Scheme
• Discrimination Guidelines
• Welsh Language Scheme

Discrimination Guidelines

The IPCC is committed to producing guidelines for the investigation of allegations of discriminatory behaviour when it published its Statutory Guidance in 2005. The draft guidelines bring together the principles of the Police Complaints Authority’s guidelines, Investigating allegations of racially discriminatory behaviour, endorsed by the IPCC, and the views and feedback from investigation practitioners on the benefits and least beneficial aspects of the PCA guidelines since their publication in 2003.

The IPCC draft guidelines (pdf 128kb) have been extended to cover all forms of discrimination. The intention is for these guidelines to provide a valuable tool for investigators, from initial considerations once a complaint of discriminatory behaviour is received; to the handling of the complaint, whether this is considered for Local Resolution or investigation; and the degree of investigation required to establish whether there has been any discrimination depending on the circumstances and seriousness of the allegation. One of the tools outlined in the guidelines is the application of principles to the evidence of an investigation to assist in determining whether there has been discrimination; a concept that is often difficult to determine particularly where the allegation is not about spoken words or actions but a perception that the behaviour was discriminatory. The input and knowledge from practitioners prior to the drafting of these guidelines has been of valuable assistance and feedback on the draft will help to produce a document that will benefit all those involved in dealing with complaints involving allegations of discriminatory behaviour.

Supporting this project has been a working group comprising of a Commissioner, IPCC investigation and casework staff, alongside two external contributors. Their knowledge, with the initial consultation work conducted with practitioners, has helped to develop the draft guidelines.

Consultation was undertaken on the content of the draft guidelines. Feedback from the consultation is now being assessed and will help form the final version of the guidelines. These will be published in 2008.

If there are any questions about the guidelines please email Discrimination Guidelines