FAQs

This Review is an opportunity to provide an independent stocktake on the Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) progress across the entire range of Baroness Casey’s findings and recommendations from her final report in 2023, as well as the reforms to fix the Met’s foundations, focus on community crime fighting and make it an anti-discriminatory organisation. The Casey Review made several recommendations on specific standards and culture matters, alongside wider recommendations on the prioritisation and reform of neighbourhood policing, the force’s response to violence against women and girls, stop and search, frontline policing, workforce planning, and oversight and accountability.

The scope of the Fairfield Independent Review aligns with that of Baroness Casey’s 2022-23 Review of the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS). We are focusing on what progress the Met has made against the Casey Review’s recommendations and assessing the effectiveness of any changes that have been implemented. As part of this, the Review will:

  • Listen to and engage with current Met police officers and staff, statutory partners, key stakeholders, community representatives and the public to understand their experiences of, and confidence in, the Met’s reforms.
  • Assess the progress with, and extent to which the Met’s internal reforms (through ‘A New Met for London’) have fixed and are fixing its foundations.
  • Identify areas where the Met has made progress implementing the recommendations as well as where acceleration is required or serious concerns remain.
  • Consider recent incidents and reviews that speak to public trust and confidence that have emerged since the Casey review was published in 2023.
  • Make recommendations for action to ensure the full and prompt implementation of any outstanding Casey recommendations, and any further action needed to improve public trust and confidence in the Met.
  • Consider what work should be prioritised, given the wider context in which the Met is operating and any barriers or opportunities which arise as a consequence.

Baroness Casey of Blackstock DBE CB was commissioned by the MPS to Chair an independent review of the standards of behaviour and internal culture of MPS in 2023. Baroness Casey’s Review found “widespread bullying, discrimination, institutional homophobia, misogyny and racism, and other unacceptable behaviours which are a far cry from the high ethical standards the public rightly expects of its police officers” (page 20, Baroness Casey’s final report, published March 2023).

The Fairfield Independent Review is an opportunity to provide a stocktake on MPS’ progress across the full range of Baroness Casey’s findings and recommendations as well as the reforms to fix MPS’ foundations. Baroness Casey made several recommendations on specific standards and culture matters, alongside wider recommendations on the prioritisation and reform of Neighbourhood Policing, MPS’ response to Violence Against Women and Girls, Stop and Search, Frontline Policing, workforce planning, and oversight and accountability.

Baroness Casey’s recommendations included:

“15. The Met and the Mayor of London should commission independent progress reviews after two years, and again after five years, so that Londoners can have trust and confidence that reform is taking place.

  1. The key measures used to test whether these reforms are taking place and delivering reforms at the scale and pace necessary should include:
  • Improvements in public trust, confidence and fairness amongst Londoners, and a narrowing of the gaps in these measures between Black, ethnic minority and LGBTQ+ Londoners and all Londoners
  • Increases in the proportion of misconduct cases where action is taken
  • Reductions in racial disparity in misconduct cases
  • Improvements in the charge rates for reported crimes and, in particular, improvements in charge rates for crimes involving violence against women and girls
  • Increases in the number of adult rape cases reaching court in line with Operation Soteria ambitions
  • Improvements in response rates and times
  • A narrowing in the gap between the diversity of the Met’s workforce, including its officers and senior officers, and the make-up of the city it polices.

If sufficient progress is not being made at the points of further review, more radical, structural options, such as dividing up the Met into national, specialist and London responsibilities, should be considered to ensure the service to Londoners is prioritised.”

(Baroness Casey Review final report, pages 24-25)

No. The Review is underpinned by a comprehensive methodology, to collect the breadth and depth of evidence needed to produce robust findings that meet the objectives of the Review and ultimately make London safer. We will be speaking with those most impacted by the issues the Casey Review originally brought to light, particularly racism, misogyny, homophobia and other forms of discrimination both within the Met and in how it interacts with London’s communities. Dr Fairfield and the Review Team will listen to London’s communities, including those that have been impacted by crime. 

Dr Fairfield is launching the Review’s call for evidence and setting out opportunities for engagement on 5th March 2026.

Dr Fairfield and the Review Team are taking numerous steps to ensure those who submit evidence to the Review can do so confidentially if they wish.

Following the launch of the Review’s call for evidence on 5th March 2026:

  • Londoners aged 18+ can make written submissions from this website entirely anonymously. We particularly welcome submissions from those who have had a direct experience of crime and policing in London, including as a victim of crime, as well as officers and staff within the MPS, and the general public. Organisations can also make written submissions and can choose to do so anonymously if they wish. To this end, we welcome submissions from community groups, the third sector and other stakeholders. All those providing written submissions can choose whether to consent to anonymised quotes being used in the Review’s report. 
  • Anyone aged 18+ who lives in London and would like to participate in a Citizens’ Engagement Forum will be able to register their interest via our online Expression of Interest form. In advance of the forums, we will be asking all participants to agree to respect the confidentiality of other attendees at the forum. 

Information shared with the Review will remain confidential except in rare circumstances where we’re legally required to share information (for example, if there’s a safeguarding concern involving a child or vulnerable adult, or suspected terrorism, money laundering, or child abuse).

The Review’s approach to engagement is underpinned by our Ethical and Safeguarding Protocol and a robust approach to data security and privacy, set out in our Data Protection Impact Assessment. 

We invite anyone aged 18+ who lives in London and would like to participate in a Citizens’ Engagement Forum to register their interest via our online Expression of Interest form. We plan to hold a Citizens Engagement Forum in each of the Metropolitan Police Service’s 12 Basic Command Unit (BCU) areas. We aim to have 12-15 participants in each the 12 Citizens Engagement Forums. We expect more than this number will register their interest in participating. If this occurs, we will aim to ensure participation reflects those living in that Basic Command Unit area, and as closely as possible reflects the demography of London, so we hear from a representative sample of Londoners.

The voice of young people in London is important to us. We need to put the right arrangements in place to hear this, so that young people are safe and supported in the process. We hope to organise engagement through frontline organisations in London who work with young people, and would welcome contact from these organisations if they would like to assist with this.