Claims against the MPS by members of the public from 2019 to 2024
Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.041597
I note you seek access to the following information:
- In the past 5 years, how many claims have been made against the police force? (Between March 31 - April 1) Broken down by years 2019/2020, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24.
1a. Can this be broken down by reason for the claim (i.e. traffic accident, assault, wrongful arrest, sexual misconduct, property damage etc.) - Can you provide the number and cost of such claims closed (or settled with a periodical payment order) between financial years 2019/20, 2020/21, 2021/22, 2022/23, 2023/24 with a damages payment?
Decision
I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.
Please find below information pursuant to your request above.
In relation to question one, please find attached two spreadsheets which contain the number of cases registered on the Directorate of Legal Services case management system in the financial years requested.
In relation to question one a, please note the following:
The spreadsheets are broken down into the following categories:
Civil Claims - (Malfeasance) Claims from members of the public which may include allegations of excessive force; false evidence; misapplication of the law; misunderstanding of the law; deliberate wrongdoing or failure to act; deliberate or accidental neglect; breach of European Convention rights.
Employment Claims – claims relating to employment matters including cases brought in the Employment Tribunals by police officers or staff
Employers Liability - Claims by police officers or staff for accidents, injury or illness relating to their work.
Public Liability (Civil Claims) - Claims brought by members of the public – eg: Damage to property.
Road Traffic (Civil Claims) - Claims brought by members of the public – eg: Damage to car by police.
It is not possible to provide a more detailed breakdown of the reasons for these claims. This information is not recorded in an easily extractable format and it would exceed the cost/time allowed under FOIA to check each individual case for the information.
In relation to question two, please note the following:
The spreadsheets below also include the number of settlement (compensation) payments and payment totals for each of the requested financial years.
It is not possible to provide the cost to the Metropolitan Police of dealing with cases where there was a settlement payment in the financial years requested.
In the first instance, it is not possible to disclose the full cost of cases as budgets are broken down into categories by how money is spent, for example, pay, overtime, supplies and services. In-house staff and facilities costs cannot be broken down further into a level of granular detail that can attribute costs to individual cases. Furthermore, in-house staff do not have hourly rates like external lawyers. The only recorded costs on cases are any fees paid to external counsel and external professional fees.
Secondly, it would not be possible to provide those costs that are recorded (counsel and professional fees) as this would involve checking the financial information for each case which would exceed the cost/time allowed under FOIA.