The police do not always act with the care that is required of them and sometimes this causes harm to people.

In certain circumstances, if the police have acted carelessly in the course of their duties and this caused you a foreseeable injury, we can help you get accountability and compensation.

How can we help

Our Actions Against the Police team has many years’ experience bringing claims arising from police negligence. This is a complex and highly specialised area of law, and having expert legal representation is essential to give your claim the best chance of success.

Who can claim

To succeed in a claim for negligence against the police you must be able to prove:

1. The police owed you a duty of care – the police generally owe members of the public a duty not to carelessly do an act which would cause a foreseeable injury. In some very limited circumstances, the police may also owe a duty of care to protect a specific person or group of people from being caused foreseeable harm by a third party.
2. The police breached that duty – the duty will be breached if the police carelessly do an act which causes someone a foreseeable injury; or, in limited circumstances, carelessly do or fail to do something which results in a third party causing someone foreseeable harm.
3. This caused you ‘foreseeable injury’ – the injury must have been reasonably foreseeable by the police, based on what they knew or ought to have known at the time.

Claims for negligence resulting in personal injury (including psychiatric injury) must usually be started at court no later than 3 years after the date of injury or, if there is no personal injury, no later than 6 years after the date of other harm caused.

Other types of claim, such as breach of the Human Rights Act (for example, by the police failing to effectively investigate certain types of crimes), false imprisonment and assault and battery may also apply. Claims for breach of the Human Rights Act must usually be started at court within 1 year of the breach.

Depending on your case and what you want to achieve,we can also advise you on the benefits of pursuing a police complaint aimed at holding individual officers to account.

Funding your claim

If you are on a low income or receive a means-tested benefit, you may qualify for legal aid to cover the cost of your claim. If not, we may be able to offer a Conditional Fee Agreement (commonly known as a no-win, no-fee arrangement) or other flexible funding options.

Get expert advice

If you think you may have a claim against the police for negligence, we’re here to help. Please complete our new enquiries form and a specialist solicitor will review your case. We aim to respond within two working days.