Chief Police Officers' Staff Association, R (on the application of) v Police, Fire and Rescue and Crime Commissioner for Staffordshire

A Police and Crime Commissioner has no power to appoint a temporary chief constable under the general incidental-powers provision in Schedule 1, paragraph 14 of the Police, Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. That provision must be read within the statutory scheme, including the detailed provisions governing appointment and removal of a chief constable. It is also subject to those provisions and cannot be used to create an unrecognised office or bypass the statutory safeguards. Section 41 provides the statutory mechanism for the deputy chief constable to exercise the chief constable’s functions when the chief constable is absent, incapacitated or suspended. The permissive word “may” gives practical flexibility as to which functions are exercised, but does not authorise the Commissioner to appoint another person instead.

The claimant challenged the Commissioner’s decision to recruit, and proposed appointment of, a temporary chief constable after Staffordshire’s chief constable was suspended pending an IOPC investigation. The claimant argued that the Commissioner lacked statutory power to create such a role, that the statutory appointment and scrutiny procedures could not be bypassed, and that section 41 required the deputy chief constable to perform the chief constable’s functions during the suspension.

The Commissioner relied principally on Schedule 1, paragraph 14 of the Police, Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011, together with the need to secure an efficient and effective police force. Permission was granted on ground 1, namely whether the Commissioner had power to appoint a temporary chief constable.

1. Ground 1 succeeded. The decision to recruit, and any forthcoming decision to appoint, a temporary chief constable was unlawful.
2. Schedule 1, paragraph 14 is an ancillary power. Its context, examples and express sub-paragraph 14(3) limitation show that it cannot override or bypass the detailed statutory scheme governing the appointment of a chief constable under sections 38 and 28 and Schedule 8 of the Police, Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011. Appointing a person to perform the functions of chief constable through an unregulated temporary appointment would undermine that scheme.
3. The same conclusion follows from section 41. Parliament expressly provided for the deputy chief constable, and in defined circumstances an assistant chief constable, to exercise the chief constable’s functions when the chief constable is absent, incapacitated or suspended. The word “may” permits the deputy to exercise some or all functions, and does not require a complete substitution in every case. It does not indicate that the Commissioner may appoint an unspecified alternative person.
4. Allowing both the deputy chief constable under section 41 and a temporary chief constable to exercise the same functions would create an incoherent statutory position. The Act contains no basis for treating section 41 as applicable only where no temporary chief constable has been appointed.
5. Common advice or practice among policing bodies and other forces could not alter the legal meaning of the Act. The reference in advice to section 12 of the Police Act 1996 did not assist because that section had been repealed by the 2011 Act.
6. The court did not need to determine the de facto officer issue or the effect on earlier appointments elsewhere. The question on ground 1 was statutory lawfulness, not irrationality.

This was a first-instance judicial review. Permission was granted on ground 1 by Bourne J on 24 September 2025, with an expedited hearing before the Administrative Court.