Procedure for the removal of the Metropolitan Police Commissioner from Office

This note sets out the formal legal position  about who has the power to remove from office the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis.

The Metropolitan Police Authority has that power, and no other person or body has it, but the Authority can only exercise its power with the approval of the Home Secretary or if it is required to act by the Home Secretary

The powers of the Metropolitan Police Authority are set out in the Police Act 1996 (as amended by the Police Reform Act 2002).

Section 9E of the Police Act 1996 provides that the MPA, acting with the approval of the Home Secretary, "may call upon the Commissioner in the interests of efficiency or effectiveness, to retire or to resign". Before seeking the approval of the Home Secretary the MPA must give the Commissioner an explanation in writing of the grounds for calling upon him to retire or to resign, and must allow him an opportunity to make representations, and the MPA must consider any representations made by or on behalf of the Commissioner.

If the Commissioner is called upon to retire or resign he must do so with effect from the date specified by the Authority or such earlier date as may be agreed between him and the MPA.

The MPA also has power to suspend the Commissioner if it is proposing to consider calling upon him to retire or resign and if it is satisfied in the light of its proposal that the maintenance of public confidence in the metropolitan police force requires the suspension.

The MPA has similar powers in relation to the other Chief Officers in the MPS that is to say the Deputy Commissioner, Assistant Commissioners, Deputy Assistant Commissioners and Commanders.

Section 42 of the Police Act 1996 provides that the Home Secretary may require the MPA to exercise its power to call on the Commissioner (or other Chief Officer) in the interests of efficiency or effectiveness, to retire or resign. The Home Secretary may also where she considers it necessary for the maintenance of public confidence in the force, require the MPA to suspend the Commissioner or other Chief Officer.

Before requiring the MPA to take action, the Home Secretary must give the Commissioner notice of her intention and of the grounds and must give the Commissioner the opportunity to make representations. The Home Secretary must appoint one or more independent persons to hold an inquiry and report to him. If such an inquiry takes place, the Commissioner and the MPA may make representations.

The exercise of these powers by the Authority and the Home Secretary are also covered by a Protocol agreed in March 2004 by the Home Office, the Association of Police Authorities, the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Chief Police Officers' Staff Association. This Protocol lays down the arrangements for consultation with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary, and stipulates the timescales and arrangements for the Commissioner to make representations to the Authority before he can be required to retire or resign. From the date he is told of the MPA's grounds for calling upon him to retire or resign, the Commissioner has 14 days to indicate if he wishes to make representations and a further 14 days to prepare for making representations. After that period he must be ready to make representations when invited by the MPA to do so. The MPA, having heard the Commissioner's representations, must then respond in writing to his representations. At that stage, if the MPA is still proposing to call upon the Commissioner to retire or resign, it will put its proposals to the Home Secretary for her approval. If the Home Secretary gives approval, the MPA will then formally require the commissioner to retire or resign on a specified date, and he must leave his post on or before that date.

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