FOI 33292
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: HRC0033292/26
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 2nd October 2026. Please find below the response to your request:
I would be grateful if West Mercia Police could provide the following financial information for each of the last four completed financial years, with the figures broken down separately by financial year.
For each year, please provide the total expenditure incurred by West Mercia Police in relation to:
Police misconduct hearings and proceedings Costs of convening and conducting misconduct hearings.
Legally Qualified Persons/Chairs and Independent Panel Members.
Hearing venues and other directly attributable hearing costs.
Any other identifiable expenditure associated with misconduct hearings.
Professional Standards Department investigations Total expenditure attributable to PSD investigations into police officers and staff.
If a single overall figure is not recorded, please provide any available breakdown of identifiable investigation expenditure.
Please distinguish, where possible, between internal staffing costs and external/additional investigation costs.
Legal services
Total expenditure on external solicitors, law firms or other external legal services relating to police misconduct or disciplinary proceedings.
Please identify separately any expenditure on external legal services relating to Police Appeals Tribunals.
Counsel/barristers
Total expenditure on barristers/counsel instructed in connection with misconduct proceedings.
Please identify separately, if recorded, counsel fees relating to:
misconduct hearings;
Police Appeals Tribunals; and
judicial review or other litigation arising from police misconduct proceedings.
For clarity, I am seeking the figures for each of the last four completed financial years individually, rather than one cumulative four-year figure.
Where the Force does not record expenditure under precisely these headings, please provide the closest categories held and explain briefly what is included within each figure.
I am seeking aggregate financial information only and do not require personal information concerning individual officers, staff members or individual misconduct cases.
Reply
Your request for information has been considered in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (“the Act”), and I am not obliged to provide the information requested.
S.12(1) of the Act states that a public authority is not obliged to comply with a request for information if the authority estimates that the cost of complying with the request would exceed the “appropriate limit”. For police forces in England and Wales, the "appropriate limit" is £450 or 18 hours of work as set by the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
The information you have requested is not available in a readily retrievable format. There are over 166 records. In order to ascertain whether the information you have requested is held would take in excess of 18 hours as each record would have to be checked individually.
In accordance with s.17(5) of the Act, this acts as a Refusal Notice.
Under s.16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request.
However, in accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to your request. You may wish to refine and resubmit your request to receive part of the information.
You could make a request for one specific hearing costs which we may be able to provide