Government response to the police accountability rapid review
Published 23 October 2025
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The Home Office’s response to the report is as follows:
The government’s accountability review set out bold plans to ensure that the police have the confidence of the communities they serve, and that officers also have the confidence that they need to do their vital and often extremely difficult job of keeping us all safe.
In October 2024, the Home Secretary and Lord Chancellor appointed Timothy Godwin and Sir Adrian Fulford to undertake a rapid review looking at 2 issues arising from recent Supreme Court judgments:
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the legal test for use of force in misconduct cases, and whether it should be raised to the criminal standard. (Home Office lead)
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the threshold for determining a short-form conclusion of unlawful killing in inquests (Ministry of Justice lead)
Tim and Adrian conducted their review between November 2024 and May 2025.
Based on their findings, they recommend that the Home Office change the test for use of force in police misconduct cases from the civil law test to the criminal law test, via an amendment to the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020.
The Home Secretary has accepted this recommendation and will lay changes to the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020, following a consultation with the Police Advisory Board for England and Wales.
On the standard of proof for unlawful killing, the Lord Chancellor is minded to accept the recommendation to consult and will seek further agreement on the detail of a consultation paper in due course.