Guidance: User guide to Police use of force statistics, England and Wales

This user guide provides further information on the Home Office’s police use of force statistics publication.

In 2014, the then Home Secretary asked former Chief Constable David Shaw (Chief Constable for West Mercia until July 2016) to lead a review into what data should be recorded and published on the police’s use of force following a government commitment to improve transparency and accountability in this area.

The use of force review recommended that a range of data should be recorded every time the police use tactics which are considered a use of force. Since April 2017, all police forces in the UK have been required to record this data.

Use of force data is collected to provide the public with information on the different types of force used by the police and other data related to provide greater transparency. The data is also used by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) and College of Policing to enhance tactics, training, and equipment and improve the safety of officers and those that they come into contact with.

Police forces in England and Wales collect data on the use of force and submit it to the Home Office through the Annual Data Requirement (ADR). The ADR is a list of all requests for data made to police forces in England and Wales under the Home Secretary’s statutory powers.

By collecting the data through the ADR, there is more consistent reporting within and between police forces, and the importance of the data is visible to ministers and the public.

Data is collected, under the terms of the ADR, from the 43 Home Office police forces in England and Wales, and since the year ending 31 March 2024, voluntarily from the British Transport Police (BTP). It was collected for the first time in 2018, covering the period 1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018.

One use of force report represents one officer’s use of force on one person.

One report could include multiple tactics, reasons for using force, impact factors, locations and outcomes.