A government-backed inquiry has found that leadership across all 43 police forces in England and Wales is compromised by nepotism and bias, that citizens receive markedly different levels of police service depending on where they live, and that senior officers are not sufficiently focused on preventing crime, according to The Guardian.

The findings come from the Police Leadership Commission, a six-month review led by the College of Policing with Home Office support and included in the government's January 2026 policy document, From local to national: a new model for policing. The commission was co-chaired by former Home Secretary David Blunkett and Nick Herbert, Lord Herbert of South Downs, who chairs the College of Policing and previously served as Policing Minister. Blunkett described some findings as "staggeringly" poor. Herbert said some forces "have lost focus on cutting crime."

What the Report Found

The report identifies systemic problems, not isolated failures. Leadership across the police service has deep issues with consistency, capability, and culture — problems embedded in how forces hire and promote officers.

Promotion decisions, the report found, are shaped "in the image of the leaders who are responsible for them at a local level." This means officers advance because of personal connections, not merit. The outcome is a self-perpetuating leadership culture that excludes talented outsiders and passes the same cultural weaknesses down through generations.

The data illustrates the scale of the problem. Only 13% of constables and 17% of sergeants agreed they worked in a well-led and managed organisation. Since 2018, 78 investigations have been opened into officers at assistant chief constable level and above. Eight chief constables or former chief constables are either under investigation or facing disciplinary proceedings. The Independent Office for Police Conduct, which investigates the most serious cases, reports that recurring themes include cronyism, nepotism, sexual misconduct abuse of position, and corruption.

A concrete example underscores this pattern. Former Northamptonshire Chief Constable Nick Adderley was dismissed for fabricating his CV and has since been charged with fraud and misconduct in public office.

The report also identifies what it calls a "postcode lottery" — the quality of policing varies significantly depending on which force area a resident lives in. The commission argues that this variation flows directly from inconsistent leadership quality, not from differences in funding or local demand.

The 27 Recommendations

The commission proposes 27 recommendations. The central proposal is a new national academy of police leadership, designed to establish a common training system that does not currently exist. The report also calls for a fast-stream programme to identify and develop future leaders, and significantly increased funding for leadership development.

The underlying logic is clear: if promotion currently depends on local connections, a national pathway with standardized assessment criteria could break that pattern. A substantial question remains whether police forces and Police and Crime Commissioners — who currently operate with significant local independence — will accept a centralized talent identification function. The government's white paper frames this as a shift toward a more nationally coordinated policing model, which provides some political support, but putting these recommendations into practice will demand sustained pressure from both the Home Office and the College of Policing.

The scope of the report's findings makes it difficult to dismiss the recommendations as minor adjustments. A 13% confidence rating among the lowest ranks is not a marginal complaint — it reflects a near-complete loss of trust in leadership at ground level. Seventy-eight investigations into senior officers over eight years, with eight chief constables currently facing proceedings, is not a handful of individual problems. It signals a governance failure across the system.

That this review was formally incorporated into a government policy document carries weight. Earlier inquiries into police culture — following Hillsborough and the Macpherson report — produced recommendations that forces adopted selectively and at their own pace. By anchoring this commission within an active policy framework, the government has created at least a nominal accountability structure that previous reviews lacked.

What occurs next will depend substantially on whether the Home Office is willing to use the authority it now possesses. The recommendations are public. The data is available. The harder question — enforcement — remains open.