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Procedure at an inefficiency hearing
     14.  - (1) The inefficiency hearing shall be conducted by three officers appointed by the chief officer of police one of whom shall - 

(a) where the member concerned is a member of a police force maintained under section 2 of the 1996 Act, be a member of such a police force holding the rank of assistant chief constable;

(b) where the member concerned is a member of the metropolitan police force, be a member of that police force holding the rank of commander; and

(c) where the member concerned is a member of the City of London police force, be an assistant commissioner or a member of that police force holding the rank of commander,

(referred to in these Regulations as the chairman of the inefficiency hearing).

    (2) The chairman and any assessor assisting him under paragraph (3) shall be a person who has neither attended nor otherwise been involved with the first interview or the second interview held in relation to the member concerned.

    (3) The chairman shall be assisted by two assessors who shall be - 

(a) in a case falling within paragraph (1)(a) or (c) - 


(i) where the member concerned is of the rank of superintendent, members of a police force other than the police force concerned who hold the rank of assistant chief constable or commander in the metropolitan police force, and

(ii) where the member concerned is below the rank of superintendent, members of a police force who hold the rank of superintendent; and



(b) in a case falling within paragraph (1)(b) - 



(i) where the member concerned is of the rank of superintendent, members of the metropolitan police force who hold the rank of commander, and

(ii) where the member concerned is below the rank of superintendent, members of the metropolitan police force who hold the rank of superintendent.

    (4) As soon as the chief officer of police has appointed the chairman, the personnel officer shall arrange for a copy of any document - 

(a) which was available to the interviewing officer in relation to the first interview;

(b) which was available to the countersigning officer in relation to the second interview; or

(c) which was prepared or submitted under regulation 11, 12 or 13,

to be made available to the chairman; and a copy of any such document shall be sent to the member concerned.

    (5) Subject to the provisions of this regulation, the procedure at the inefficiency hearing shall be such as the chairman may determine.

    (6) The inefficiency hearing shall be held in private unless the chairman, with the consent of the member concerned, decides otherwise.

    (7) The chairman shall afford the member concerned an opportunity to make representations in relation to the matters referred to in the notice sent under regulation 13(1) and to call any witness in respect of whom notice has been given under regulation 13(2).

    (8) A verbatim record of the proceedings at the inefficiency hearing shall be taken and, if the member concerned so requests within the time limit for any appeal and after he has lodged notice of appeal in accordance with rules made under section 85 of the 1996 Act, a transcript of the record or a copy thereof shall be supplied to him by the chairman.

    (9) Subject to regulation 15(1), if the member concerned does not attend the inefficiency hearing or at any adjournment thereof, the hearing may be proceeded with and concluded in his absence if it appears to the chairman just and proper to do so.

    (10) Where, owing to the absence of the member concerned, it is not possible to comply with the whole or any part of the procedure described in this regulation or regulation 15, the case may be proceeded with as if that procedure had been complied with.

Postponement or adjournment of an inefficiency hearing
     15.  - (1) If the member concerned intimates to the chairman that he will be unable to attend the inefficiency hearing, or in the absence of such intimation does not attend the hearing, and the chairman is satisfied that a good reason for such non-attendance is given by, or on behalf of, the member concerned, he shall postpone, or as the case may be adjourn, the hearing.

    (2) The chairman may also adjourn the inefficiency hearing if, having given the member concerned the opportunity of making representations under regulation 14(7), he considers it appropriate to allow a further period for assessment of the performance of the member concerned.

    (3) Where the chairman adjourns the inefficiency hearing for the purposes of paragraph (2), he shall - 

(a) specify a period (not exceeding 3 months) during which the reporting officer and the countersigning officer shall assess the performance of the member concerned;

(b) fix a date on which the hearing shall resume; and

(c) require the member concerned to attend on that date at a specified place.

    (4) Not later than 14 days after the date on which the period for further assessment specified by the chairman under paragraph (3)(a) ends - 

(a) the reporting officer and the countersigning officer shall prepare a report containing their assessment of the performance of the member concerned during that period; and

(b) the countersigning officer shall send the report to the chairman of the inefficiency hearing and a copy of the report to the member concerned.

    (5) At the continuation of the inefficiency hearing the chairman shall afford the member concerned an opportunity to make representations in relation to the matters referred to in the report mentioned in paragraph (4) and to call any witnesses in respect of whom notice was given under regulation 13(2).

    (6) Where at the time the report mentioned in paragraph (4) is sent under paragraph (4)(b) the chairman of the inefficiency hearing is absent, incapacitated or suspended from duty and it is likely that his absence, incapacity or suspension will continue for a period of more than 28 days, the chief officer of police shall arrange for another member of a police force, being a person who would have been eligible for appointment as chairman of the inefficiency hearing under regulation 14(1) and (2) in relation to the hearing in question, to carry out in relation to the member concerned the functions of the chairman of the inefficiency hearing specified in paragraph (5) and in regulations 16 and 17.

    (7) The chairman of an inefficiency hearing may adjourn the hearing to a specified later time or date if it appears to him necessary or expedient to do so.

Finding
     16.  - (1) Subject to paragraph (2), at the conclusion of the inefficiency hearing, the officers conducting the hearing shall reach a decision whether the performance of the member concerned - 

(a) in the period referred to in regulation 10(4)(d); or

(b) where the hearing was adjourned under regulation 15(2), over the whole of the period comprising the period referred to in regulation 10(4)(d) and the further period specified by the chairman under regulation 15(3)(a),

has been satisfactory or not.

    (2) The chairman may, at the conclusion of the hearing, defer reaching a decision until a later time or date if it appears necessary or expedient to do so.

    (3) The decision of the officers conducting the hearing shall state the finding and, where they have found that the performance of the member concerned has not been satisfactory, their reasons as well as any sanction which they impose under regulation 17.

    (4) The chairman shall record the decision in writing, and shall, not later than three days after the finding is stated under paragraph (3), send a copy of it to - 

(a) the member concerned;

(b) the senior manager; and

(c) the personnel officer;

and the copy sent to the member concerned shall be accompanied by a notice in writing informing him of his right to request a review under regulation 19.

    (5) Any decision of the officers conducting the hearing under this regulation or regulation 17 shall be based on a simple majority, but shall not indicate whether it was taken unanimously or by a majority.

Sanctions
     17.  - (1) If the officers conducting the inefficiency hearing make a finding that the performance of the member concerned during the relevant period has been unsatisfactory, they may - 

(a) require the member concerned to resign from the force either one month after the date on which a copy of the decision sent under regulation 16(4) is received by him or on such later date as may be specified;

(b) order reduction in his rank with immediate effect and issue a written warning to the member concerned that unless a sufficient improvement in his performance is made within such period as the chairman shall specify, he may, following consideration of his performance during that period in accordance with regulation 18, be required to attend a first interview in respect of that performance; or

(c) issue such a written warning as is mentioned in sub-paragraph (b).

    (2) Where the sanction under paragraph (1)(a) is imposed and where the member concerned has not resigned from the force in accordance with the requirement, then the effect of the decision shall be to dismiss the member concerned from the force as from the time referred to in that paragraph.

Assessment of performance following inefficiency hearing
     18.  - (1) This regulation applies where the member concerned has been given a written warning under paragraph (1)(b) or (c) of regulation 17.

    (2) Not later than 14 days after the end of the period specified in the warning, the reporting officer shall - 

(a) assess the performance of the member concerned during that period ;

(b) cause to be prepared a report on the performance; and

(c) send a copy of the report to the member concerned.

    (3) Where the report prepared under paragraph (2)(b) concludes that the performance of the member concerned has been satisfactory during the period specified in the warning, no further action shall be taken in respect of that performance during that period.

    (4) Where the report prepared under paragraph (2)(b) concludes that, in the opinion of the reporting officer, the performance of the member concerned has been unsatisfactory during that period, the reporting officer shall request the member concerned to attend a first interview in accordance with regulation 4; and these Regulations shall have effect for the purposes of the performance of the member concerned during that period as if he had been invited to a first interview under regulation 4.

Request for a review
     19.  - (1) Where the officers conducting the inefficiency hearing have imposed a sanction under regulation 17, the member concerned shall be entitled to request the chief officer of the police force concerned, or where the member concerned is a member of the metropolitan police force the Assistant Commissioner, ("the reviewing officer") to review the finding or the sanction imposed, or both the finding and the sanction.

    (2) A request for a review must be made to the reviewing officer in writing within 14 days of the date on which a copy of the decision sent under regulation 16(4) is received by the member concerned unless this period is extended by the reviewing officer.

    (3) The request for a review shall state the grounds on which the review is requested and whether a meeting is requested.

Conduct of the review
     20.  - (1) The reviewing officer shall hold a meeting with the member concerned if requested to do so.

    (2) Where a meeting is held, the member concerned may be accompanied by a member of a police force and by counsel or a solicitor.

Finding of the review
     21.  - (1) The member concerned shall be informed of the finding of the reviewing officer in writing within three days of completion of the review.

    (2) The reviewing officer may confirm the decision of the hearing or he may impose a different sanction but he may not impose a sanction greater than that imposed at the hearing.

    (3) The decision of the reviewing officer shall take effect by way of substitution for the decision of the hearing and as from the date of that hearing.

    (4) Where as a result of the decision of the reviewing officer the member concerned is required to resign or reduced in rank he shall be notified in writing of his right of appeal to a Police Appeals Tribunal.

Hearing of review in absence of chief officer
     22.  - (1) Subject to paragraphs (2) to (4), where the chief officer is an interested party or the circumstances in section 12(4)(a) or (b) of the 1996 Act apply, the review shall be conducted by the assistant chief constable designated under section 12(4) of the 1996 Act.

    (2) Where the designated assistant chief constable is absent or an interested party, the review shall be conducted by the chief officer of another force who has agreed to act in that capacity.

    (3) Where the member concerned is a member of the metropolitan police force, the review shall be conducted by the Assistant Commissioner or if he is absent or an interested party by the commander designated under paragraph 4(7) of Schedule 6 to the Police Regulations 1995[3] or, if the commander is absent or an interested party, by another assistant commissioner.

    (4) Where the member concerned is a member of the City of London police force, the review shall be conducted by the Commissioner or, if he is absent or an interested party, by a chief officer of another force who has agreed to act in that capacity or an assistant commissioner of the metropolitan police force who has agreed to act in that capacity.

Amendment of Police Regulations 1995
     23.  - (1) In regulation 17(2) of the Police Regulations 1995 - 

(a) in sub-paragraph (g), for the words "punishments other than cautions," there shall be substituted the words "sanctions other than cautions imposed under regulation 31 of the Police (Conduct) Regulations 1999[4] or under regulation 17 of the Police (Efficiency) Regulations 1999"; and

(b) in the proviso - 


(i) for the word "punishment" wherever it occurs there shall be substituted the word "sanction"; and

(ii) after paragraph (ii) there shall be inserted the following paragraph:


" (iii) a sanction under regulation 17 of the Police (Efficiency) Regulations 1999 shall be expunged after 2 years free from any such sanction;".

    (2) After regulation 17(2) there shall be inserted the following paragraph:

    " (2A) Where following a review of a sanction imposed under regulation 31 of the Police (Conduct) Regulations 1999 or under regulation 17 of the Police (Efficiency) Regulations 1999 the reviewing officer substitutes for the decision of the conduct hearing or, as the case may be, inefficiency hearing a decision that the member concerned had not failed to meet the appropriate standard or, as the case may be, that the performance of the member concerned was not unsatisfactory, the sanction imposed by that hearing shall be expunged forthwith.".

Jack Straw
One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State

Home Office
10th March 1999

[4] S.I. 1999/730.back