Met continues drive to raise standards following historical vetting review

The Met has today published a review into historical vetting and hiring practices as part of its unprecedented drive to raise professional standards across the organisation.

The review – initiated by the Commissioner - outlines the actions we have taken to strengthen our processes and address previous failings in vetting and recruitment. It comes in response to public concern and after we identified a number of serving officers and staff who were not properly checked.

The findings bear out concerns raised by His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Service (HMICFRS) in 2022 about the need to maintain vetting standards given the scale and pace of officer recruitment during the national Police Uplift Programme (PUP). Given the wider implications for policing and government policy, we have shared several recommendations from our review with partners to support best practice in vetting and recruitment across all forces.

HMICFRS has also been commissioned by the Home Office to inspect the Met’s recruitment and vetting processes after we made them aware of our findings.

Our review, called Operation Jorica, examined the Met’s vetting and hiring practices over the 10 years prior to April 2023. It was launched after analysis showed vetting refusal rates had declined between 2020 and 2022 and following several high-profile misconduct and criminal cases involving Met officers.

This period covered the PUP - a national programme that began in July 2019, with the aim of recruiting an extra 20,000 police officers across England and Wales by March 2023. The Met had a target to recruit 4,557 extra officers.

The review highlights the challenges the Met faced in hastening recruitment and our vetting and onboarding processes while striving to meet government-set PUP targets, create a more diverse workforce and deal with key operational challenges such as an increase in violent crime.

In response – and with best intentions - the Met deviated from aspects of Vetting Authorised Professional Practice (APP), national guidance and Police Regulations 2003 immediately before and during the PUP.

The deviations varied from not carrying out national security and Ministry of Defence vetting checks on new recruits and no additional vetting for officers transferring from other forces or returning to the Met less than a year after leaving, to reduced checks for vetting renewals. For just over four years we did not obtain some or all pre-employment references and there was also greater reliance on a vetting panel to look again at cases where officers had failed vetting.

The combined effect of these deviations meant a number of police officers and staff joined or remained in the Met who would not have passed vetting checks using the strengthened standards we have today. Sadly, some became involved in criminal behaviour or misconduct.

However, over the last three years the Met has exited more than 1,500 officers and staff who have fallen short of the high standards we expect from our workforce – the biggest clear-out in the force’s history.

All officers identified through Operation Jorica and who remain with the force have now been subject to further checks to meet our strengthened standards. A total of 39 officers needed to be fully re-vetted, with eight of that group now referred into the Police (Vetting) Regulations 2025 (PVR) process to consider whether they should have their vetting removed and be dismissed.

Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams said:

“In publishing this report today, we are being open and transparent about past vetting and recruitment practices that led, in some cases, to unsuitable people joining the Met.

“We have been honest with Londoners on many occasions about previous shortcomings in our professional standards approach. This review is part of our ongoing work to demand the highest standards across the Met so the public can have trust and confidence in our officers.

“We found that some historical practices did not meet the strengthened hiring and vetting standards we have today. We identified these issues ourselves and have fixed them quickly while making sure any risk to the public has been properly and effectively managed.

“It is important to highlight that the Met recruits hundreds of officers and staff every year - the overwhelming majority of exemplary character who are dedicated to protecting the public.”

Notes for editors

The review’s findings

Vetting checks and renewals:

• Around 5,100 recruits were subject to limited checks – for example they were not checked against Special Branch or Ministry of Defence indices. In addition, 3,338 existing officers and staff who were due for vetting renewal had only limited checks completed.
• In the context of national security checks, it is important to stress that the Met did not waiver national security vetting (NSV), with Counter Terrorism Clearances (CTC) still a requirement.

• It is possible that around 1,200 people who joined the Met may have had their vetting refused, out of around 27,300 applications over this period.  That is 4.4 per cent.

• Of a potential 17,355 applicants who may not have had all their references taken, it is estimated around 250 people would have failed pre-employment reference checks and may not have been suitable to join the Met. That is 1.4 per cent.
  
  
• Our review saw evidence that the joint PUP delivery team, which included the Home Office and National Police Chief’s Council, were aware that some other forces in England were not taking references. We have led the way in examining these issues in the Met.

Vetting panel:

• The Met operated a vetting panel designed to review vetting refusals by vetting officers. Most of the cases involved applicants from ethnic minority groups with the aim of reducing disproportionality in vetting decisions.

• While the panel upheld the decisions made by vetting officers in 391 cases, it overturned vetting refusals for 114 people who went on to join the Met. A number of those people – along with individuals across our wider workforce considered by the review - went on to commit misconduct and crime.

Work since the review

We know from this review there is more to do, but we also know the numbers remaining within the Met who should not be here are small. We look forward to working with HMICFRS to implement a plan to strengthen our processes as well as further discussions with government and national policing. We have taken rapid action already which includes:

• A significant number of these individuals have already left the Met as a result of our work on standards. This is due to data washes – checking every member of staff against police databases - targeted operations, more decisive decision-making and improving vetting standards. Due to these efforts 947 officers and staff left the Met during 2023 and 2024, compared with 287 during 2020 and 2021.

• We have taken immediate action to address gaps in vetting, including completing more than 5,000 missing checks where needed or requiring officers or staff members to undergo a full re-vet.

• We identified 39 people who needed to be fully re-vetted. This does not mean those people are unfit to serve, but their vetting was not effective when they joined the Met.

• A total of 23 of that group have been cleared through vetting and work continues for six more. One officer has been dismissed for an unrelated matter and another has resigned. Eight of those 39 people have been referred into the Police (Vetting) Regulations 2025 (PVR) process to consider whether they should have their vetting removed and be dismissed.

• We have amended the practices that led to some new recruits inappropriately passing vetting. All recruits, including any transferring from another police force, are subject to much strengthened vetting processes introduced in June 2024. The Met now has one of the strongest entry vetting policies in UK policing and refusal rates have more than doubled.

• Obtaining pre-employment references for officers was reinstated in April 2022.

Standards work more widely

Londoners rightly expect the highest standards from our officers and staff and we've overhauled our vetting and professional standards processes as part of our New Met for London plan:

• We have relentlessly pursued and removed almost 1,500 officers and staff over the last three years who failed to meet our standards, at an unprecedented pace.

• Forced exits have trebled to around 550 last year compared to 150 in 2020.

• The confidence of our workforce to report wrongdoing has led to internal reports trebling over the past three years thanks to the courage and conviction of colleagues. This is testament to the decent majority of our people who have rightly stood up and refused to accept poor behaviour.

• We have invested in 200 more officers who are specifically and proactively focused on uncovering and dealing with wrongdoing – and we’re using covert tactics to tackle the few most corrupt.

• Operation Onyx reviewed 1,636 completed sexual and domestic abuse cases to check they had been dealt with correctly – 378 individuals left the Met as a result.

• Operation Assure reviewed vetting failures, with 96 people dismissed. This is now replaced by new national vetting regulations following a legal challenge so our work can continue.

• The Met screens its entire workforce against crime and intelligence databases every day to proactively identify any issues.

• Working with the private sector, we are piloting a new approach for greater intelligence capability to ensure we don’t miss any issues of concern. We are also making better use of open source intelligence to further strengthen our vetting processes and ensure the integrity of our workforce. This is part of a far more rounded approach, rather than just vetting or taking references which only provide an indication at a point in time.

Recommendations from the review

We have made 11 recommendations which include:

• The College of Policing and Home Office consider a review of national recruitment and vetting standards across policing.

• The National Police Chiefs’ Council and Home Office consider the Met’s review during the design and funding of any future large scale national police recruitment projects.

• Any deviations in recruitment practices should be recorded and agreed by every force’s Executive Committee.

• Met recruitment processes should be routinely assessed for compliance with legislation and professional practice.

• The legal status of obtaining and checking references should be clarified with HMICFRS, and the College of Policing should consider a review of the relevant APP to ensure there is clarity about the need to obtain references.

• The College of Policing reviews the concept and operation of vetting panels nationally.

• The Met sets realistic workforce planning ambitions.