Decision details

The reasons for the decision are:

The Policing and Crime Act 2017 makes provisions for Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to take on additional duties in respect of the oversight of police complaints. As a minimum, PCCs have responsibility for being the relevant review body for certain police complaints. This process includes undertaking a review of how GMP managed the original complaint to ensure the complainant received an appropriate and proportionate outcome.

This is a function that GMCA has carried out since the statutory commencement in February 2020 with a dedicated resource within the GMCA Police, Crime, Criminal Justice and Fire team.

This provision will build in some resilience for both planned and unforeseen absences within the Police Review Team. There would also be capacity to handle any sudden spikes in police complaints due to a high-profile incident and in such circumstances, this will prevent a backlog build up which would lead to a delay in GMCA responses, and so a reduced level of customer service.


If the contract were allowed to lapse and there were absences within the team, the time taken to reinstate the contract, re-issue the IT and complete vetting would inevitably lead to further delays and a significant backlog.

Therefore, this will be a requirement to renew the contract and extend the additional, external support to ensure the team may continue to provide the high level of customer service to deal with the requests being received from the public. Given the specialist knowledge, skill set required and vetted employees with access to the correct IT and GMP systems, it is proposed to carry on seeking support from Sancus, which specialises in conducting reviews for other Police and Crime Commissioners across the country.

The review team has specialist knowledge and there is limited resilience in cases of staff absence or increased demand. Without the Sancus option there would quickly be a backlog. The team is already working at capacity and is able to allocate some of the more lengthy and complex matters to Sancus to allow the team to deal with the volume cases in an expeditious manner, thereby reducing delays and inevitable failure demand.

Most reviews are now completed within 28 days which provides public confidence that the GMCA is carrying out its statutory responsibility effectively and reduces the likelihood of further dissatisfaction.

Sancus will assist in maintaining this position and will provide additional support and specialist advice and training as this is an area with limited alternative sources. They will also cover any period of staff absence and ensure requests from the public can continue to be processed accordingly.

Benefits of retaining Sancus provision:

• Instant resilience and support to the review function in the event of staff absence or spike in demand
• Independence and objectivity in more difficult cases where collusion or corruption is alleged
• Complex cases are handled expeditiously as Sancus do not have other GMCA duties.
• Helps GMCA maintain good level of service provision during staff leave periods
• Reduction in risk of backlogs building up leading to dissatisfaction / failure demand
• Building on achievements made in 2024 and allowing GMCA staff to develop other work in terms of scrutiny of GMP in complaint handling
• Increased confidence in GMCA – assured process in event of Judicial Review requests
• Charged on cases by case basis – GMCA control the workflow
• Expert advice, free training courses and sharing of good practice
• Good value for money given the capacity of work they carry out compared to additional staff costs for GMCA.

To provide funding of £20k (for 2 years) to maintain service provision, resilience cover and ongoing support for the continuation of the Police Complaint Reviews function. The contract will operate on an “as required” basis.