State of Policing Monitor

Publication frequency

Annual

Most recent report

10 Sept 2025

Next report expected

Sept 2026

2024-25 report, published 10 September 2025

Of the 43 forces inspected, 10 were routinely outside the statutory 28-day disclosure timescale for Clare's Law applications. Governance and oversight processes often were not good enough. The better-performing forces had invested in the right resources and training and had well-established processes.

• In the 2023-25 PEEL inspections, grades for protecting vulnerable people declined for 21 of 43 forces since 2021-22
• Domestic abuse crimes continued to be poorly recorded in most forces, a finding that has appeared in consecutive State of Policing reports
• All forces have formally adopted Operation Soteria for rape and serious sexual offences, but in most forces inspected about half of rape investigation team members were trainees
• In most cases it takes nearly a year before a charging decision is made, and several years before cases reach trial in the Crown Court

No recommendations this year

Sir Andy Cooke stated that he had chosen not to make any recommendations in the 2024-25 State of Policing report, so that the police service has time to respond to the Home Secretary's November 2024 reform programme. This is the first State of Policing report without recommendations.

What the pattern tells us

VNS documents cases where the first report, the one that establishes the narrative, is made by the person causing harm rather than the victim. If the officer receiving that first report lacks the investigative mindset to assess it critically, the narrative is set before the actual victim has been heard. A poorly initiated investigation, allocated to an under-skilled investigator with an excessive workload, managed without proper oversight, is how these cases go wrong.

For the 2025-26 report, VNS is watching for

• Whether PEEL has begun to assess how forces handle digital evidence in stalking and harassment cases
• Whether the 205% increase in tech-facilitated abuse referrals to Refuge has been met with any substantive improvement
• Whether enforcement of Stalking Protection Orders improves following the 2024-25 finding
• Whether domestic abuse recording has improved or the same finding appears for a fourth consecutive year
• Whether the pledge to halve VAWG within a decade is accompanied by measurable improvement at force level
• Whether progress against the 29 stalking super-complaint recommendations is assessed, with force-level implementation data