Our business

Commissioner's foreword

Tasked with investigating incidents involving the police and reviewing how policing bodies handle complaints from the public, PIRC plays a key role in safeguarding the rights of those who come into contact
with the police.

Our independent, evidence-based oversight means that policing bodies are held to account where appropriate and supported wherever possible to improve the service delivered to the public. 

In last year’s annual report, I noted that PIRC continued to exceed our strategic objectives despite our workload having increased significantly. I also noted that our workload continued to grow beyond our capacity and that this risked compromising the service we provide to the public, referring agencies and stakeholders. I predicted that our performance would begin to decline as a result of demand out with our control.

Through the concerted efforts of PIRC’s staff, we continued to perform well in 2025-26. However, as anticipated, our ability to deliver investigations within reasonable timescales reduced.

So far as we can, PIRC has prepared for and managed the challenges facing our small organisation. I am grateful to our staff for their significant achievements throughout the year, including the delivery of a Strategic Review and a refreshed Strategic Plan for 2026-29. This work has laid a strong foundation from which we will face the further challenges ahead and continue to promote improvement and public confidence in policing.

In 2025-26, our investigations team assessed 745 referrals and progressed 185 to full investigation. The matters under investigation grew in complexity and seriousness. For example, we commenced 41 death investigations. This was a 128% increase on the 18 death investigations commenced the previous year.

Of the 185 investigations commenced, 175 (95%) were carried out on the instruction of the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service. Only 10 (5%) of investigations were commenced at the discretion of PIRC, following incidents that were referred by the police. In comparison, in 2021-22, 25% of all PIRC investigations were discretionary.

Given our finite resources, inevitably any increase in Crown directed work limits our ability to initiate discretionary investigations, which we consider afford value in identifying opportunities for learning and improving policing.

We exceeded our strategic objective to complete 80% of the highest-level category A investigations (including those relating to deaths) within 90 days. However, our performance reduced from 100% in 2024-25 to 83% in 2025-26.

We did not meet our objective of completing 80% of category B and C investigations within 120 days. Instead, we completed 71% within 120 days, down from 98% the previous year.

While investigations have become more protracted as a result of the significant demands placed on our investigations team, we continued to focus on delivering high quality investigations and prioritising the most serious and sensitive matters.

In 2025-26, we received 295 applications for a complaint handling review (CHR) from members of the public. This was a 29% rise from the previous year and involved the assessment of 965 individual complaint allegations.

We assessed 98% of CHR applications within five working days, exceeding our target of 90%. We also concluded 99% of CHR applications within 90 working days, exceeding our target of 80%.

Our reviews team has continued to perform well despite an increase in their workload. While this increase had been anticipated, it was not of the scale we had expected.

In last year’s annual report, I noted that we anticipated a far larger increase in CHR applications, linked to delays in complaint handling by Police Scotland. As Police Scotland attempted to address its backlog of complaints, we predicted this would lead to an increase in applications to PIRC for a CHR.

However, Police Scotland’s efforts to manage its backlog have not yet had the desired effect. This means many hundreds of complainers still await a response to their complaint and are, therefore, not yet eligible to apply to PIRC for a CHR.

Police Scotland’s complaint handling performance is of considerable concern. Not only are complainers having to wait lengthy periods of time before their complaints are dealt with, the proportion who remain dissatisfied with the response and apply to PIRC for a review has increased. In addition, we assessed that only 48% of the complaints we reviewed were reasonably handled by the police. 

More recently, we have noted delays in Police Scotland’s implementation of the recommendations arising from our reviews. This concerning trend is being closely monitored. Throughout the year, PIRC has engaged with Police Scotland regarding its complaint handling arrangements, highlighting the need to identify a longterm, sustainable solution to not only address its current backlog, but to prevent its recurrence.

We have also developed a Complaint Handling Assessment and Reporting Toolkit (CHART), which will
provide a structured and evidence-based framework for assessing the effectiveness and efficiency of police complaint handling arrangements. In the year ahead, we will engage with policing bodies and stakeholders regarding CHART prior to its implementation.

In light of the increased demands across PIRC’s functions, our commitment to supporting a highly skilled, diverse workforce who deliver an efficient and high performing service is stronger than ever. Each staff member has an individual training plan which incorporates job specific and aspirational learning to help them reach their full potential.

Our notable achievements across the year include the launch of an online HR portal designed to improve the experience of those applying to work with PIRC and to streamline recruitment activity. The portal will assist us to increase the diversity of candidates and gather insights about applicants through anonymised equal opportunities data monitoring.

Also in 2025-26, PIRC achieved a Bronze Award from the then Employers Network for Equality and Inclusion which indicates that we have embedded the key building blocks for service users, staff and partners to feel welcomed, listened to and respected.

PIRC has also remained committed to strengthening independent investigation and oversight of complaints. The Police (Ethics, Conduct and Scrutiny) (Scotland) Act 2025 extends our powers and duties. During the year, we have managed the implementation of some of its provisions and have prepared for those provisions which had yet to be commenced.

The Act established a Statutory Advisory Board for PIRC. The Board will play a similar role to that previously provided by our non-statutory Audit and Accountability Committee (AAC). The AAC met for the last time in February 2026. Throughout the year, we engaged with the Scottish Government in preparations for new Board members taking up their role in April 2026. I am grateful to the members of the AAC for their support, scrutiny and constructive challenge over the years and look forward to working with our new Board members in 2026-27.

In light of PIRC’s increased workload, in June 2025, we submitted a business case to the Scottish Government for additional funding for 2025-26 and subsequent years. The government advised that while our business case was supported in principle, no additional funding would be available during the year. We were, however, grateful to receive additional funding for 2026-27.

Since then, demand on PIRC has continued to grow. This has further compromised our ability to deliver timely investigations. Most affected are next of kin, complainers and officers who await the outcome of our investigations. We have taken a range of steps to manage our increased workload, including streamlining and modernising processes, embedding efficiencies and directing resources to the area of greatest need.

Throughout 2025-26, PIRC carried out a Strategic Review to provide a comprehensive assessment of our strategic direction, performance and governance, as well as the environment in which we operate.

We considered how PIRC had fulfilled our statutory duties to date, and how we could best prepare for the challenges facing PIRC in the short, medium and long term. We also considered how we could maintain an efficient and sustainable service that contributes to Scotland’s national outcomes and delivers person-centred, trauma-informed scrutiny of policing.

The Review’s findings and recommendations formed the basis of a new Strategic Plan for 2026-29, which we have published. It sets out five new strategic objectives for PIRC. Our progress against these objectives will be independently assessed by our Statutory Advisory Board and reported in our future annual reports.

These new objectives focus not only on delivering our statutory duties, but also on the transformational work needed to ensure PIRC continues to develop and improve our service to meet the needs of the public and our partners. Delivering our objectives while managing demand for our service will be challenging. Nonetheless, we remain committed to promoting and supporting public confidence in policing in Scotland through our robust, independent oversight.

Finally, I record here my sincere gratitude to all PIRC staff for their commitment, professionalism and resilience throughout the year. Against a backdrop of increasing demand, greater complexity and heightened public expectation, staff have consistently demonstrated dedication and integrity in delivering our statutory responsibilities. Their work, often carried out under significant pressure, has delivered meaningful outcomes for the public we serve. I am immensely proud of their contribution and the values they
uphold every day.

*Correction: page five, column one, paragraph four of the Annual Report and Accounts 2025-26 incorrectly references 72% when it should be 71%.