Complaints and Standards Committee
A joint committee between the Chief Constable and the PCC, the purpose of the Complaints and Standards Committee (C&SC) is to conduct regular, thorough reviews of the complaint-handling and review processes within the force and the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC).
This includes identifying any discrepancies between the force and OPCC’s perception of proper procedures and the actual experiences of the end user but does not extend to adjudicating on individual complaints.
The Complaints and Standards Committee is a scrutiny group. It:
- assesses the facts of complaints and the effectiveness of their handling and investigation in line with the relevant statutory guidance.
- helps to ensure that Thames Valley Police achieves the highest levels of integrity and service delivery, thereby enhancing trust and confidence in local policing.
It does not investigate individual complaints or overturn police decisions. View a copy of the Terms of Reference document for more information.
Meet the Committee
Meetings and output
The Complaints and Standards Committee Annual Report 2025/26.
| Meeting date | Key meeting updates | Minutes and papers |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 5 June 2025 | Minutes | |
| Thursday 7 August 2025 | Minutes Report on positive scrutiny undertaken Scrutiny Q&A | |
| Wednesday 1 October 2025 | Meeting updates | Minutes |
| Thursday 4 December 2025 | Meeting updates | Minutes |
| Friday 20 March 2026 | Meeting updates | Minutes |
| Wednesday 24 June 2026 | Meeting updates | |
| Thursday 17 September 2026 |
The role of the IOPC
The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) is the police complaints watchdog for England and Wales. They investigate the most serious complaints and conduct matters and set the standards by which the police should handle complaints.
Hear from Daniel Palmer, IOPC’s Stakeholder Engagement Officer about it role in independent scrutiny and the benefit that community scrutiny brings to increasing trust and confidence in the police complaint process.
00:00:06:00 – 00:00:38:10
The IOPC oversee the police complaints system in England and Wales. It is completely independent of the police and government. Our role is to make sure complaints about the police are handled fairly, proportionately and in line with legislation. We also deal with the most serious cases death and serious injury, serious allegations of misconduct and criminal cases. We also handle reviews which were previously called appeals on the most serious complaints.
00:00:38:11 – 00:01:01:10
The force deal with everyday service complaints, such as relating to rudeness, delays or poor communications. False complaints are able to deal more quickly with service recovery or local resolutions or investigations.
00:01:01:12 – 00:01:31:08
The IOPC have our oversight team, who work with Thames Valley Police and Thames Valley PCC, who will have an overview of all complaints data made by a force area. Our oversight team are there to identify themes, concerns and trends within complaints data and to assist in ensuring best practice in how police handle complaints. Our oversight team also produce regular guidance for policing the focus newsletter.
00:01:31:10 – 00:01:48:13
Most recent additions have focused on advising how police handle complaints surrounding discrimination or violence against women and girls.
00:01:48:14 – 00:02:24:10
The Macpherson report recommendations called for systemic openness and transparency, as well as independent investigation of complaints. The report called for police to work in partnership with communities to rebuild confidence. Independent advisory groups and scrutiny panels originate from that recommendation and ensures communities are involved in shaping policing practice. IOPC role focuses more on individual incidents and conduct matters. It investigates death or serious injury cases.
00:02:24:12 – 00:03:12:05
Allegations of serious misconduct, corruption or criminal behaviour, as well as how police handle complaints, are also a relatively small organization covering England and Wales and with staff of around 1000 people. Scrutiny panels will be more representative of local communities and ensure local communities have a say in how their areas are policed. It is vital for key stakeholders in police accountability System to work closely to support one another in order for us to develop trust and confidence in policing through robust transparency and accountability.
00:03:12:06 – 00:03:34:01
There are varying levels of scrutiny across the country, some more resource than others. Thames Valley PCC are striving towards a best practice model around scrutiny of police complaints, and have recently established a Complaints and Standards Committee to provide assurance to local communities around how complaints are handled.
The OPCC has a role in monitoring how the police respond to complaints, but does not become involved in complaint investigations against Thames Valley Police or any of its officers or staff. The appropriate authority in law to deal with complaints and expressions of dissatisfaction is Thames Valley Police’s Professional Standards Department (PSD). To find out more about the complaints process and how to make a complaint, please visit our Complaints page.
Get involved
Committee members are expected to commit up to 2 working days (16 hours) a month to Committee responsibilities (which will be distributed across multiple tasks) and will meet on a quarterly basis.
C&SC members must be 18 years or over and live, work or study within TVP. They must not be a serving TVP police officer, member of staff, Independent Member or Legally Qualified Person for misconduct panels.
If you are interested in becoming a committee member, please email scrutiny@thamesvalley.police.uk to find out more.