PEEL Assessment 2023-25: West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police still needs to improve how it records equality data West Yorkshire Police’s data for victims of crime still shows that although age and gender are well recorded, ethnicity is less well recorded and other protected characteristics aren’t well recorded. The force should be collecting this information to understand the extent to which each protected group is affected by crime, how this differs from those without the protected characteristics and whether a different response is needed for these victims. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police should apply consistent secondary risk assessment processes for domestic abuse across all districts, and provide a full information picture including cumulative risk when sharing information about vulnerable children with children’s social care During our last PEEL inspection, we told the force that when it is sharing information with children’s social care, a full picture of information should be shared. After the multi-agency safeguarding hub (MASH) review, the force recently introduced a joint triage process in three of its five districts. Children’s social care staff and officers within the MASH jointly discuss child public protection notices and share details of the wider history. In one of the districts undertaking the joint triage, we found a backlog of approximately 169 cases that were waiting to be jointly discussed. The oldest of these cases was 18 days old. The force has a daily risk assessment meeting in place in every district. These are multi-agency meetings to share information. The criteria for what is discussed at each meeting vary across the force. Some districts have additional processes in place to assess and share information regarding domestic abuse cases that don’t fit the criteria for discussion at the meeting. But not all districts have such processes in place. The processes need to be standardised to make sure all information on vulnerable children in domestic abuse cases is shared appropriately along with details of the full history and cumulative risk picture to ensure consistency in the police management of risk. The different processes mean there are inconsistencies in the way the force assesses repeat incidents of domestic abuse. Referrals to children’s social care by police vary in each district area. A full picture of risk around children in domestic abuse settings isn’t always shared with children’s social care. This means that there is a risk that single agency decision-making by relevant agencies isn’t based on all available information on the potential cumulative risk to that child. This was a previous area for improvement and hasn’t been completely addressed. West Yorkshire Police should standardise the police approach to sharing information with children’s social care to make sure that all relevant information is shared. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police should make sure its approach to managing bail is consistent During our inspection, officers demonstrated that they understood the requirements of the new bail legislation introduced by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. They had a clear appreciation of the importance of using bail conditions to safeguard vulnerable people and to manage the risk posed by some suspects. But the approach to how bail was managed across the districts was inconsistent. Some team supervisors maintained a bail diary, some of which were electronic and some on paper. In other teams, it was down to individuals to maintain their own diary. But some teams said they had nothing in place to manage suspects on bail. Officers and supervisors in the districts told us that sometimes the relevant officers didn’t attend appointments with people returning to the police station as part of their bail conditions and no other arrangements had been put in place. This meant suspects either had to be re-bailed to a later date or dealt with by officers who didn’t have knowledge of the case. Custody sergeants send out reminders to officers about people returning on bail. But two of the five districts, Bradford and Leeds, have dedicated bail management sergeants to oversee bail in order to meet the demand in these two districts. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police needs to make sure that effective systems are in place to monitor workloads and provide support to officers The force positively encourages its workforce to complete the National Wellbeing Survey. In the 2023 survey, West Yorkshire Police achieved the highest completion rate nationally with 64 percent. After the National Wellbeing Survey takes place, the force uses pulse surveys to gather more specific information on the issues identified as affecting its workforce the most. The themes identified in the 2023 surveys are very similar to those identified in previous surveys, including excessive workloads and their effect on well-being, staffing levels, shift patterns, use of resources and the workforce not feeling valued. This suggests that the previous issues haven’t been fully resolved, despite the action plans and the ‘you said we did’ work that the force carried out after the 2021/22 surveys. These themes are consistent with our inspection findings. Many officers we spoke with across the various investigation teams said they felt unable to cope with their high workloads and as a result the quality of safeguarding and investigations had been affected. Several officers also disclosed that they had been experiencing stress and anxiety. Supervisors on some teams told us how they had delayed allocating investigations to officers as they already had high workloads and they were concerned that allocating additional investigations would cause officers to become unwell and go off sick. Officers from various teams described how they were regularly taken away from their main duties to deal with prisoners for other teams. As a result, they were unable to progress their own workload. This caused further stress and worry to officers who wanted to do their best for victims. Overtime is also used to help cope with demand and workloads. Some officers said there was an expectation on officers to work overtime and that it was affecting their work-life balance. everal officers we spoke with said they didn’t feel valued by the force. Some supervisors told us that they were unable to complete investigative plans, crime reviews and personal development reviews with their officers due to their own high workloads. Other supervisors told us that they regularly took work home with them just to help manage their workload. Many didn’t claim overtime for this. The National Policing Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP) completed a peer review of West Yorkshire Police in 2023. This review highlighted concerns about well-being in safeguarding teams and how the shift pattern was affecting workloads and well-being. The force is moving to a new shift pattern from March 2024 for all safeguarding teams, which is positive. It is hoped that this new shift pattern will provide a better work-life balance for officers, as well as scheduled training days and protected days for officers to progress their workload. The force should improve its understanding of demand pressures on officers and staff so that it can provide better support to those in high-demand roles. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police should review the processes and procedures in place in relation to officers in high-risk roles who are identified as requiring additional support to make sure that appropriate action and support are in place The force provides an annual psychological assessment questionnaire to all officers working in high-risk roles. The force told us this involves around 3,000 officers and staff. Completing the questionnaire isn’t mandatory and there is no monitoring to check whether it has been completed. The force told us that in the last 12 months the response rate was about 50 percent, which is a marked increase on previous years. The force provided data showing that 485 of the officers who responded to the questionnaire were sent an email by occupational health and signposted to contact its employee assistance programme, and 35 officers had an appointment with a psychologist. The force was unable to say how many of the 485 officers went on to obtain support from the employee assistance programme. It was also unable to provide any reassurance about how those officers were currently feeling, even though something of concern had been identified from their questionnaires. Several officers we spoke with during our inspection had no confidence in the process. They felt that it had little value because despite disclosing on the questionnaire how stressed and bad they were feeling, nothing came out of it as a result. The force should improve its understanding of the welfare needs of its officers and staff in high-risk roles. It needs to make sure enough measures are put in place for those who are identified as requiring additional support, both to look after their welfare and to make sure they are well enough to carry out their role. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police needs to improve its systems and processes for personal development reviews and make sure that development review meetings are consistently applied across the force Personal development reviews should be an effective tool for officers and staff to record and discuss their objectives, achievements, professional development needs and career goals. The reviews are essential for supervisors to understand the development needs of their workforce. The force introduced a new personal development review system in December 2022 that uses a nine-box grid method to help better identify talent across the force. This new system was described as ineffective by almost every person we spoke with during our inspection. Officers said the training on the new system was poor and didn’t explain the practicalities of how the new personal development review was to be completed. Officers said they were finding the system extremely difficult to use, which was causing additional stress. As a result, personal development reviews are often not being completed and one-to-one personal development meetings directed by the force to take place monthly aren’t consistently taking place. The force accepts that there are issues with the system. It has set up a working group to address this but expects this may take some time to resolve. Innovative practice West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police should make sure it is effective at managing demand and can demonstrate it has the right resources, processes and plans in place to meet current demand The force should make sure it is effective at managing demand and can show that it has the right resources, processes and plans in place to meet current demand across the force. Our inspection has shown that the force is understaffed in some key areas, which is affecting its ability to provide an effective service. Effective oversight of workloads that officers are carrying is inconsistent across the different districts and teams. The current operating model and the different teams the force has created to deal with crime demand are under-resourced in some areas. There is also a mix of capability and capacity within these teams, creating an imbalance. The force is using inexperienced officers to investigate complex crimes, for which they haven’t had enough training. enior officers told us that the force’s IT function is also understaffed. As a result, it is unable to carry out some of its planned improvements, which were being regularly re-prioritised and delayed. The force needs to review its current operating model to make sure it has the right number of people with the right skills in the right places to provide its services. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police should improve its scrutiny of use of force and make sure officers understand when it is appropriate to use force and the need to always record and justify their use of the power In the year ending 31 March 2023, West Yorkshire Police recorded 44,404 use of force incidents. This was a 12.6 percent increase compared with the previous year. Based on the number of arrests, we estimate that West Yorkshire Police under-recorded use of force by 4,996 incidents. West Yorkshire Police had 18.7 use of force incidents per 1,000 population. This is relatively high compared with other forces across England and Wales. But this may be due to better recording practices than in some other forces. There has also been a shift from more intrusive tactics to less intrusive tactics in the type of force used. In the year ending 31 March 2023, 27.5 percent of West Yorkshire Police’s recorded use of force incidents were on people from ethnic minority backgrounds, compared to 24.6 percent of arrests. This could mean that West Yorkshire Police is using force slightly more frequently on people from ethnic minority backgrounds. The force should continue to scrutinise this. The force’s own internal audit process identified that use of force forms weren’t always being completed (75–80 percent compliance). We noted that use of force isn’t subject to the same level of scrutiny internally as stop and search. The powers are discussed separately at different governance boards. But the force is considering introducing one board to discuss both powers. Supervisors are only required to dip sample five cases across a set of four shifts for use of force on Black members of the community, aged under 40 years on arrest. The force told us that supervisor compliance with this audit process had decreased. The force’s own internal audits identified issues around handcuffs being applied when this wasn’t necessary. From our observations and speaking with officers, we found that there appears to be a culture of applying handcuffs unnecessarily for the purpose of arrest, stop and search, and speaking to members of the public, when people are fully compliant. Use of handcuffs without apparent justification has been addressed through the latest public and personal safety training, which includes practical scenarios. But this training takes place on a rotating annual basis, so some officers may not have received this revised training. The force said a mandatory ILearn package was in development. This wasn’t available at the time of our inspection, but the force said that it will be introduced in May 2024. Our review of West Yorkshire Police’s website found that it lacked up-to-date data on use of force. The force could be more open with the public by making sure clear and recent information on its use of force and any disproportionality is available on its website. In September 2023, HMICFRS and the Care Quality Commission inspected West Yorkshire Police’s custody facilities. In that inspection, we found that the governance and oversight of use of force in custody weren’t good enough. They hadn’t improved since our last inspection. West Yorkshire Police could not show that when it uses force in custody that this is necessary, justified and proportionate. As a result, we issued a cause of concern. We published our findings in the ‘Report on an inspection visit to police custody suites in West Yorkshire Police’. West Yorkshire Police is trying to improve use of force recording. It is using custody sergeants to remind officers to submit the use of force form if they identify force has been used. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police should improve the quality and consistency of its problem-solving plans We spoke with neighbourhood officers and staff and reviewed a selection of problem-solving plans in each district. We found that the quality of problem solving plans varied across the force in terms of scanning, analysis and evaluation. We also found the supervision of problem-solving plans was inconsistent. In addition, staff in the police contact centre and response officers aren’t always aware of problem-solving plans in their areas, meaning that some effectiveness around response could be lost. The force told us that the central team dip samples problem-solving occurrences to monitor quality. A sergeant within a centrally based HQ team dip samples five to ten problem-solving occurrences every three months to check on overall quality, with the findings fed back to district chief inspectors. We also viewed the What Works site on the force’s intranet. We found the evaluation of whether problem-solving plans had worked was also inconsistent. The force has designed a problem-solving Power BI application (app). This app provides details of all open problem-solving occurrences by neighbourhood and ward area, along with a grading of risk. The app also highlights where supervisory reviews are overdue. This could be an effective tool for managing problem-solving plans in line with national recommendations. West Yorkshire Police

The force needs to make sure that there is consistent and effective management of risk within its RE-THRIVE processes West Yorkshire Police has improved the way it identifies vulnerability at the first point of contact. During our inspection, we found that call handlers acted politely, appropriately and ethically when answering calls. Calls were appropriately graded and a structured triage was completed and documented in 98 out of 100 cases. We found that effective checks were made to identify repeat and vulnerable victims on initial contact. This was identified as an area requiring improvement when we last inspected. Since that time, the force has invested in additional training for officers and staff. Although the force has improved the quality of threat, harm, risk, investigation, vulnerability and engagement (THRIVE) risk assessments at the initial point of contact, we found that RE-THRIVE assessments weren’t consistently applied. The quality of these assessments was sometimes poor, and officers and staff failed to recognise repeat victims and vulnerability. Some officers and staff we spoke with were unclear about when additional RE-THRIVE risk assessments should take place. The force carries out its own internal quality assurance processes and audits. The quality of RE-THRIVE assessments is something that the force has identified as an area that requires additional improvement. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police doesn’t consistently achieve appropriate outcomes for victims The force isn’t always achieving acceptable outcomes for victims of crime. It has low numbers of crimes that are solved following investigations. It needs to understand the reasons for this and work to achieve better outcomes for victims. In the year ending 30 September 2023, West Yorkshire Police recorded 251,036 victim-based crimes. Of these recorded offences, 6.6 percent were assigned an offence brought to justice outcome. This is within the normal range compared to other forces in England and Wales. report and may have been revised since then. Total police recorded crime includes all crime (except fraud). For a full commentary and explanation of crime and outcome types, please see the Home Office statistics. Between the year ending 30 September 2022 and the year ending 30 September 2023, the proportion of victim-based crimes assigned Outcome 14: Evidential difficulties (suspect not identified; victim does not support further action) by West Yorkshire Police remained constant at approximately 0.6 percent. This value is lower than expected compared to other forces in England and Wales. In the year ending 30 September 2023, the proportion of victim-based crimes assigned Outcome 15: Evidential difficulties (suspect identified; victim supports further action) by West Yorkshire Police was 18.6 percent. This was higher than expected compared to other forces in England and Wales. report and may have been revised since then. Victim-based crimes are defined as all police-recorded crimes where there is a direct victim, such as an individual, an organisation or corporate body. Our audit found that investigations weren’t always effective 82 out of 100 cases were found to be effective. We also found that appropriate investigative opportunities weren’t always taken. Appropriate investigative opportunities had been taken in 64 out of 83 cases. 31 Mar 2015 30 un 2015 30 ep 2015 31 ec 2015 31 Mar 201 30 un 201 30 ep 201 31 ec 201 31 Mar 2017 30 un 2017 30 ep 2017 31 ec 2017 31 Mar 2018 30 un 2018 30 ep 2018 31 ec 2018 31 Mar 2019 30 un 2019 30 ep 2019 31 ec 2019 31 Mar 2020 30 un 2020 30 ep 2020 31 ec 2020 31 Mar 2021 30 un 2021 30 ep 2021 31 ec 2021 31 Mar 2022 30 un 2022 30 ep 2022 31 ec 2022 31 Mar 2023 30 un 2023 30 ep 2023 The force needs to do more to understand the reasons for some outcomes and what improvements might be needed to give victims the justice they deserve. It also needs to make sure it is using outcomes correctly, in accordance with force and national policies, leading to satisfactory results for victims. Our victim service assessment found that the force isn’t always finalising crimes with the correct outcome. We found that 69 out of 90 crimes were finalised with the correct outcome. In 7 of the 21 incorrect outcomes, they shouldn’t have been finalised by supervisors. The 14 other incorrect outcomes don’t appear to follow a particular pattern, which may indicate a lack of understanding of how to apply correct crime outcome codes. We also found that the victim was consulted before the outcome was finalised in 33 out of 35 cases. The victim’s views were taken into account in 49 out of 51 cases. A rationale was recorded for the outcome in 85 out of 87 cases. The offender was considered suitable for interview in 20 out of 20 cases. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police should make sure there is supervisory oversight of investigations, ensuring that all investigative opportunities are taken The force doesn’t make sure there is always supervisory oversight of crimes. The victim service assessment audit found that 64 out of 80 crimes had effective supervision. Investigation plans were set for 69 out of 77 crimes, and 75 out of 90 crimes had finalisation of the crime by supervision. The victim service assessment audit found a general lack of supervisory oversight, meaning that some investigative opportunities were lost at the outset of the investigation. Some supervisory reviews could have contained more information and rationale, and on a few occasions supervisory oversight was delayed. If direction had been given earlier, the investigation could have been quicker and the officer provided with guidance. During our inspection, the supervisory oversight, quality and timeliness of investigations were found to be inconsistent. Many supervisors on various investigative teams told us that they were unable to complete investigative plans and carry out monthly reviews of their officers’ crime investigations due to lack of capacity. They said that they were affected by high workloads, dealing with daily prisoner demand and supporting inexperienced officers. Innovative practice West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police needs to make sure that the requirements of the Code of Practice for Victims of Crime are complied with The force has improved how it completes and records victim needs assessments and victim contracts, but further work is required. The victim service assessment audit found that victim needs assessments were completed and recorded in 82 out of 86 relevant cases. A victim personal statement was considered in 26 out of 31 cases. It also found that an agreed victim contract was adhered to in 67 out of 71 cases. Although the force has made improvements, it still needs to do more. During our inspection, several officers described how they made decisions about victim contracts and that their decisions were based on managing demand rather than being victim focused. In addition, we found that while the force was closely monitoring compliance with the victims’ code in terms of victim contact, due to high workloads, officers said that they weren’t providing victim updates as they should. Data provided by the force for 22 January 2024 showed that in 6,900 cases, victims hadn’t received an update for more than 42 days. The victim service assessment audit also found that referrals, where required, were made to partner agencies in 34 out of 46 cases. The force should make sure that referrals are made to relevant partner organisations when appropriate. West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police has designed and introduced three bespoke apps to improve the standard and quality of investigations The force has introduced an investigators application (app), an interview app and a file build app. These provide officers with easily accessible sources of guidance on their hand-held devices or on desktop machines. During our inspection, we had the opportunity to examine each of these apps and found that they were easy to use and contained useful and relevant information in a concise way. The information contained was comprehensive and covered the potential questions an officer may have. ince the apps’ introduction in May 2023, 2,185 members of staff have downloaded the investigators app onto their device, 1,551 members of staff have downloaded the file build app and 792 members of staff have downloaded the interview app (introduced in August 2023). West Yorkshire Police

West Yorkshire Police needs to make sure that it has sufficient staffing, processes and governance for the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme and the Child Sex Offence Disclosure Scheme to ensure compliance with legislative process and required timescales The Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme ( V ), also known as Clare’s Law, gives a victim the ‘right to ask’. This means a victim can ask the police if their partner might pose a risk to them based on their partner’s previous history of domestic abuse or violence. The police have ‘a right to know’ option in specific circumstances, which allows them to proactively share information with individuals about their partner’s previous history of abuse or violence. The person can then consider what risk a partner may pose. The force told us it has increased publicity around the DVDS, which has generated more applications in 2023 than in the previous 12 months. It is also positive that the force proactively identifies cases where disclosure under DVDS ‘right to know’ is appropriate. But the force doesn’t appear to have enough trained officers and staff in place to meet the 28-day disclosure timescale of the DVDS. The management of DVDS applications varies across the districts. Officers and staff in different roles have responsibility for DVDS in addition to their other responsibilities. At the time of our inspection, officers and supervisors in the districts told us that there were no officers or staff dedicated to performing this role. The child sex offender disclosure scheme (CSODS), also known as arah’s Law, gives parents, carers and guardians the ‘right to ask’. This means that parents, carers or guardians can ask police if someone who is in contact with their child has a record for child sexual offences. The police also have a ‘right to know’ option in specific circumstances, which allows them to proactively share information with parents, carers or guardians about a person’s history of child sexual offences. This allows the parent, carer or guardian to properly consider what risk an individual may pose to a child. CSODS applications in West Yorkshire are allocated to officers within child safeguarding teams to deal with alongside all their other work. Applications that relate to registered sex offenders are allocated to public protection officers. Supervisors in some districts are managing demand by asking the applicant to go back to their social worker for disclosure of information. They are then closing the application, meaning that the applicant may not be informed of any potential risk. Some officers we spoke with were unaware of the ‘right to know’ option for police under this scheme. The force doesn’t have enough governance and performance data on the V and CSODS. It was unable to provide us with data on how many applications are open and ongoing, how long they have been open or whether they are within statutory timescales. Officers told us that disclosure processes were often exceeding the statutory timescales. Some districts said that they had used overtime to try to manage the backlogs before our inspection began. During our inspection, we found that one district had 10 DVDS applications that exceeded 28 days, the oldest being 4 months old. Another district had 67 DVDS applications that exceeded 28 days, the oldest being 3 months old. In addition, officers in some districts told us that if there was no reply when they contacted someone to make a DVDS disclosure, they would attempt to contact the person a total of three times by phone. If there was no response, the application would be closed and finalised without disclosure having been given. This decision was being made at constable level and had no supervisory oversight. o efforts were made to visit the person’s address or speak with partner agencies to try to contact them. The force was unable to provide any data on how many cases had been finalised in this way. The force should make sure it provides appropriate information to potential victims of domestic abuse or sexual abuse promptly. Without this, appropriate decisions around safety cannot be made, and potential victims may remain at risk. West Yorkshire Police