Legally Qualified Persons and Independent Panel Members

Legally Qualified Persons and Independent Panel Members, independent of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary Police, who are selected by the Commissioner’s Office to help ensure that misconduct hearings are fair and transparent.

The Police and Crime Commissioner has a statutory duty under the police complaints system to maintain a list of Legally Qualified Persons (LQPs) who are available to support police Misconduct Hearings and be nominated to sit on a panel.

Police Misconduct Panels are responsible for determining the outcome of a serious misconduct case after an investigation has taken place and the facts are known. From 2024, the panel members are a Chief Officer and two independent lay members, of which one must have certain skills and experience, supported by, but not on the panel, a Legally Qualified Person.

Legally Qualified Persons (previously Legally Qualified Chairs and Legally Qualified Advisors) are individuals who remain independent of the police in order to provide fair and impartial support to Misconduct Hearings chaired by a Chief Officer.

Most local policing bodies have collectively decided to maintain lists of LQPs by region. LQPs used in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight may also support police misconduct hearings in Thames Valley, Kent, Sussex and Surrey. The below conditions outline the terms of the selection, recruitment and management of Legally Qualified Persons.

As an independent representative of the community, Independent Panel Members will be at a local level so, ideally, they will be residents of the force area in which they sit. However, there will be occasions when you may be approached to support other areas in the South East region.

 

Recruitment – LQPs

Appointments are made for a duration of four years to prevent over familiarity with police forces or lack of independence of LQPs and individual LQPs may also sit on lists for more than one policing region. LQPs may appear on any one list for a maximum of eight years (two terms) and wait an additional four years to re-apply to join the same list, unless the Commissioner applies their discretion on a continuation of service.

Opportunities to join our list of LQPs will be advertised on the Commissioners’ and police force’s websites as well as through other specialist legal webpages. All LQP appointments are made in line with the judicial-appointment eligibility condition. Expressions of interest are welcomed outside of our recruitment period.

Particular attention is paid to ensuring, where possible, that the pool of LQPs that make up the list for the region is as diverse as possible to reflect the diversity of our communities. For LQPs to be effective, and to allow for a trusted and fair process, they need to be selected on a consistent basis.

Training is provided to newly recruited LQPs through the College of Policing and the National Association for Legally Qualified Persons and continual development opportunities provided by the Commissioners’ teams.

The LQP Handbook is here: LQP Handbook – V3.0 August 2024

 

Communication with Professional Standards – LQPs

Previously, regulations stipulated that the powers given to LQPs should include the setting of all hearing dates, allowing them to effectively support the hearing process. However, as the responsibility for setting dates and chairing of such hearings has now been passed to the Chief Officer, LQPs are now only required to provide advice to the chair on legal and procedural matters and are no longer part of the decision-making process by the panel.

The relevant Commissioner’s office will remain in close consultation with the police force’s Professional Standards Departments that have knowledge of the case and awareness of various parties availability, as well as logistical information such as room availability in the force area, so that this information can be passed on to LQPs.

The Police (Conduct) regulations 2020, as amended by the Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2024, provide a clear timetable for misconduct proceedings and LQPs are provided with the case papers and other evidence in accordance with this timetable.

 

Selection of a LQP for Misconduct Hearings

The agreed method of selecting a LQP is the use of a ‘cab rank’ system and availability. On establishing the need to hold a misconduct hearing, our office will access the list of LQPs, and select the first on the list who has conducted the least hearings or heard a case the longest time ago.

The LQP is then contacted and told that a hearing is necessary, sharing with the LQP as many details about the case as possible. For example, the dates when it must be heard by and an estimate of the length of the case. This information will already have been gathered by the Professional Standards Department of the police force. The LQP can then consider their availability and are required to accept or decline the request within three working days to avoid a delay to proceedings.

If the LQP is able to support the hearing then they are formally appointed in accordance with the Police (Conduct) Regulations 2020, as amended by the Police (Conduct) (Amendment) Regulations 2024. The timetable provisions in the Regulations are then in effect. This includes the serving of a Regulation 30 Notice (written notice to an officer that they will be required to attend a misconduct hearing) and the officer in question’s Regulation 31 Response (the Officer’s written response to the notice that they must attend a misconduct hearing).

The Regulations allow LQPs to then consult with the chair on matters such as the date for any misconduct pre-hearing and the date(s) of the hearing itself. The LQP is then responsible for providing advice to the Chair/panel throughout the proceedings.

If a LQP isn’t available to be appointed to support the proceedings, then they remain at the top of the list to be selected for another hearing. The local policing body then engages the LQP second on the list, and so the selection continues. At times of high demand or lack of LQPs, all LQPs on the list will be contacted initially to establish their available to sit on forthcoming hearing and the cab rank will take effect based on those available.

 

Further information – LQPs

Contact us to find out more about the use of LQPs and the process of holding police Misconduct hearings in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.

 

Recruitment – IPMs

Police and Crime Commissioners have a statutory duty to recruit, train and resource panels with two Independent Panel Members (IPMs).

Our application pack will be available here when we are recruiting IPMs. Expressions of interest are welcomed at other times.

IPMs are people with an independent mind and keen analytical skills, potentially from a professional background such as law, audit, the regulatory sector or other relevant area. The ability to consider a great deal of information and make sound, reasoned decisions are essential requirements of the role.

IPMs sit on approximately three to four panels per year.  Terms are currently for four years, with a possibility of a further extension.  This role will require a level of Police vetting, and there are certain eligibility criteria.

The IPM Handbook is available here: IPM Handbook – V3.0 August 2024

 

Police Appeal Tribunals

The OPCC is responsible for the administration of Police Appeal Tribunals in Hampshire & the Isle of Wight. These hearings are held when a police officer or staff wishes to appeal the outcome of an internal disciplinary hearing.

The Police & Crime Commissioner is responsible for appointing a Home Office Chair, an Independent Panel Member and a serving police officer in accordance with Schedule 6 to the Police Act 1996 (including amendments).

Independent Panel Members will be drawn from the OPCC’s list of IPMs. An IPM will not be appointed to a tribunal if they heard the same case at a misconduct hearing.