As is the case with each quarter, NetWatch are pleased to report the average turnaround times of each police force within the UK and how they compare with each other.
We take this opportunity to now report that we are aware of some significant delays with a number of police forces around the country. Many forces previously experiencing delays remain unchanged. However, it may also be noted that Kent Police and Northamptonshire are working with a skeleton staff at the moment, so they are currently dealing with significant backlogs.
Another force that we note are having significant issues with the supply of collision reports are Gwent Police. This is something we are very aware of, and have opened a dialogue with the force to establish their current position. Please note that their current median turnaround time is 96 days.
One force with a significantly high response time is Surrey Police. After some particularly difficult months in terms of fulfilling requests, they have recently overhauled their request process and appear to be getting back to business as usual. However, fulfillment remains slow and their median turnaround time at present is 104 days.
Since our last report, 17 police forces have improved their turnaround times. Notably, some forces continue to improve their reported turnaround times from our previous reports. Three such forces who have made such improvements are Durham, South Wales, and Warwickshire.
It may further be noted that Greater Manchester Police are continuing to improve their turnaround times, though they maintain significant delays. Their median response time in this quarter is 61 days.
The police forces with the shortest turnaround times are Norfolk and Suffolk Constabularies, with response times of 6 and 7 days respectively. As we have previously raised in our reports, it must be considered that they do not accept payments for reports or information until it is confirmed that this is available – often six months post-incident. We are looking at altering our comparative tools for a fairer comparison in 2023.
In terms of reports and similar information, we request the most information from the Metropolitan Police. Their turnaround time has remained the same since the last quarter, with their average response time of 21 days. Finally, it’s worth noting that we get very few requests relating to City of London police, and there were zero processed in Q3 and as such the response time remains as in Q2.
As you may be aware, Royal Mail and CWU strikes are scheduled for the next couple of months, which we anticipate may have a small impact on the turnaround time of requests. In spite of this, the majority of our requests are made electronically, so we do not believe it will significantly increase the times we spend waiting for reports.
We have recently released our police document fulfilment update, which allows police forces to upload documents directly to the NetWatch portal. This provides a faster, cheaper and more secure means for police forces to fulfil requests which should be mutually beneficial to both police forces and NetWatch RPR clients.
If you are interested in the specific turnaround times of each police force, please download our full 2022 Q3 statistics sheet below.
If you’re an insurer and would like an account please contact us via support@netwatchglobal.com.
Interested in the full statistics on every police force?
Download Q3:2022 Stats Sheet
