ACPO Post-employment Restrictions
Consideration should be given to the terms upon which ACPO rank officers are appointed and, in particular, whether these terms should include some limitation upon the nature of any employment within or by the media that can be undertaken without the approval of the relevant authority for a period of 12 months following the cessation of the appointment.
- The Policing and Crime Act 2017 strengthened the disciplinary framework for senior officers and introduced the power for the Home Secretary to make regulations about former police officers' conduct (Policing and Crime Act 2017, legislation.gov.uk).
- No published evidence of specific post-service employment restrictions limiting ACPO/NPCC-rank officers from taking employment with media organisations for a defined period has been identified in legislation or published guidance to March 2026.
How was this evidence gathered?
Response
Accepted
Response
AcceptedThe Prime Minister stated on 29 November 2012: "Lord Justice Leveson makes a number of recommendations that are designed to break the perception of an excessively cosy relationship between the press and the police and we support these recommendations." The College of Policing published Authorised Professional Practice on Media Relations in May 2013 implementing the police recommendations. Source: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/david-cameron-statement-in-response-to-the-leveson-inquiry-report
Published Evidence
Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.
Post-employment restrictions for senior police officers have been considered and some forces have introduced cooling-off periods. However there is no universal 12-month restriction on media employment for departing chief officers.
View detailed findings
Some progress on post-employment restrictions but no universal policy as recommended.