New Police Vetting Regulations

Summary

The Home Secretary has laid before Parliament regulations that will come into force on 14 May 2025. These regulations introduce a legal duty to hold and maintain vetting clearance and creates bespoke provisions enabling police officers to dismiss officers who fail to comply with the duty.

Background

Whilst the Police Regulations 2003 describe the qualifications for candidates seeking to become police officers, there is no requirement to hold vetting clearance.

In recent years, there have been several high-profile cases of police misconduct (and criminality) which has forced the police to review the process by which officers could be dismissed. As part of that review, it was highlighted that public confidence in the police service is reliant on an effective integrity framework, including a properly vetted police force.

Since 2017, the College of Policing’s APP guidance on vetting has explained that officers who are unable to hold the minimum level of vetting should be considered to be ‘grossly incompetent’ under the Police (Performance) Regulations and dismissed as a result.

In 2023, the Metropolitan Police commenced a process to review the vetting clearance of MPS officers where concerns had previously been raised and to dismiss them by the Police (Performance) Regulations for gross incompetence if they were assessed to be unsuitable to hold vetting clearance.

Di Maria v the Metropolitan Police [2025] EWHC 275 (Admin)

Sergeant di Maria was an officer who the MPS deemed unsuitable to hold vetting clearance and was dismissed for gross incompetence. He challenged his dismissal and, the High Court held that (1) the withdrawal of vetting is not a lawful basis for dismissal, (2) the existing vetting regime did not comply with Article 6 ECHR, (3) the withdrawal of vetting was outside the scope of the Police (Performance) Regulations. Our update on this case can be found here.

The new Police (Vetting) Regulations 2025

As a consequence, these regulations are intended to address the lacuna in the existing framework as identified in di Maria. A summary of the regulations is as follows:

1. A police officer must hold and maintain a vetting clearance (regulation 5).
2. The police may suspend an officer pending determination of whether to withdraw their vetting (regulation 13).
3. If the police receive any information that could reasonably lead to vetting clearance being withdrawn, they must complete a vetting severity assessment. If the assessment concludes that the matter could reasonably lead to vetting clearance being withdrawn there must be a withdrawal assessment (regulation 15).
4. The purpose of the withdrawal assessment is to gather evidence to establish the facts and circumstances of the matter and, to help the police decide whether vetting should or should not be withdrawn (regulation 17). The person tasked with this assessment will not have any connection to the officer (regulation 16).
5. An officer must be provided with notice (regulation 18) and, the officer can submit representations in response within ten working days (regulation 19).
6. An interview can be arranged as part of the withdrawal assessment process if either party wish one (regulation 20).
7. The assessor must complete a report on the officer’s vetting and submit this to the police (regulation 23).
8. The police must decide whether to impose conditions on the officer’s vetting, downgrade the vetting clearance or withdraw it (regulation 24).
9. An officer’s vetting which is withdrawn must be dismissed without notice (regulation 24).
10. An officer can appeal against any decision to withdraw their vetting clearance if the decision was unreasonable, there is evidence that was not considered which could have materially affected the decision or, the regulations have not been followed causing unfairness (Regulation 26).
11. The appeal must be filed within 15 working days upon notification of the outcome (regulation 26).
12. If the appeal raises arguable grounds of appeal a meeting must be held within five working days (regulation 29).
13. An appeal meeting must be determined by a panel comprised of the chief officer, a senior officer and a lay person (regulations 26-27). The panel may have independent legal advice.
14. The meeting will take place in private and will not hear from a witness unless it is necessary to do so in the interests of justice (regulation 29).
15. The panel may confirm or reverse the decision appealed against (regulation 30).
16. The officer and police may be represented by a lawyer at interview or an appeal meeting (regulation 10).
17. The officer may appeal against the panel’s decision to the Police Appeals Tribunal (regulation 31/rule 5A of the Police Appeals Tribunal Rules).

Comment

These regulations will be welcomed by forces across the country as they plug the gap identified by the courts in di Maria – providing a clear legal process for the removal of officers where their vetting has been called into question.  It will also boost police officer standards by making it a legal responsibility to be vetted.

If you'd like support on any aspects of the new Police Vetting Regulations, please get in touch with our emergency services solicitors.