Police barred list: 757 officers added in 2025-26, more than half after they had left

The College of Policing published its annual report Police dismissals (Home Office forces) 2025 to 2026 on 3 November 2026. It counts everyone placed on the police barred list after being dismissed, or found that they would have been dismissed, between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026. It covers the 43 Home Office forces in England and Wales; British Transport Police, the Ministry of Defence Police and the Civil Nuclear Constabulary are not included.

The headline numbers

757 regular police officers were placed on the barred list in the year, compared with 735 the year before: a rise of 3% by our calculation. 25 members of the Special Constabulary were also added (31 the year before), along with 348 members of police staff (280 the year before, a rise of 24% by our calculation).

Since the barred list began on 15 December 2017, 3,591 regular officers, 248 special constables and 1,616 police staff have been added to it.

The College's year by year table shows how the yearly number of officers has grown: 299 in 2021-22, 394 in 2022-23, 594 in 2023-24, 735 in 2024-25 and 757 in 2025-26. The rise this year is much smaller than in the two years before.

More than half had already left

Of the 757 officers, 334 were dismissed while serving. 397 were dismissed after they had resigned and 26 after they had retired. That makes 423 who had already left the force, 56% of the total by our calculation.

This follows from the rules. Since 2017, officers may resign or retire while under investigation for gross misconduct, but forces can continue the proceedings after they leave and find that they would have been dismissed. That finding puts them on the barred list in the same way as a dismissal while serving. Our guide to resigning before a misconduct hearing explains how this works. For police staff it is different: the report says nothing prevents staff from leaving while under investigation for gross misconduct and forces are under no regulatory obligation to hold post-employment hearings for them.

By rank, 641 of the officers were constables, 84 were sergeants and 18 were inspectors.

Why officers were dismissed

The report records which Standards of Professional Behaviour were breached. One dismissal can record several breaches, so the 757 officers account for 1,639 breaches. The most common was discreditable conduct (653 instances), followed by authority, respect and courtesy (265) and honesty and integrity (256).

The College also groups the conduct behind each dismissal into categories, 1,173 in total for officers. The most frequent were:

Two categories stand out for day to day working life. 53 instances involved inappropriate communications. 101 involved unlawful access or disclosure of information. Among police staff, the most frequent categories were dishonesty (73), keyboard jamming (57) and unlawful access or disclosure of information (41). Keyboard jamming accounted for 5 officer instances.

What the figures do not tell you

The College counts people on the date they were added to the list. The Home Office's own misconduct statistics count the outcomes of cases finalised in a year, so the two sets of figures differ. Our page on misconduct outcomes and statistics sets out both. The report gives numbers by force, but not as a share of each force's size, so larger forces will naturally show more dismissals. It does not show how many people later apply to come off the list or how many succeed.

If you are under investigation

A barred list placement means police forces and other law enforcement employers must not employ or appoint you. It does not, on its own, take away the pension you have already built up: dismissal ends your service, so you stop building more. Forfeiting pension already earned under the scheme rules needs a qualifying criminal conviction. In limited cases, money owed to the Crown or your employer, or a loss caused to the scheme, by a criminal, negligent or fraudulent act can be recovered from benefits, even without a conviction. Our guide to what happens to your police pension if you are dismissed explains it. Our guide to your rights when under investigation covers the process step by step. Speak to your Federation representative, union or solicitor before making any decision about resigning.

Being investigated is stressful. Confidential support is listed in our police mental health support directory, including Police Care UK and the Samaritans (116 123).