Northamptonshire Police 'requires improvement' over children at risk
It follows the latest inspection of the force
Last updated 22nd Aug 2025
His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) graded Northamptonshire Police’s performance across five areas, assessing how well it safeguards children who are at risk. It found the force was ‘good’ in one area, ‘adequate’ in two areas and ‘requires improvement’ in two areas.
HMICFRS said the force contributes well to multi-agency child protection arrangements and works productively with its statutory safeguarding partners. It collaborates well with partner agencies to carry out prompt and regular risk assessments of children at risk of, or harmed by, exploitation.
Chief officers and senior leaders make sure there are enough officers and staff to provide effective safeguarding services for children and their families. And the force has a range of measures to support the well-being of its officers and staff who work in child protection roles.
However, the inspectorate said the force should improve how it assesses risks and responds to children reported missing from home. It needs to make sure officers recognise children as victims when they are exposed to domestic abuse and protect them accordingly.
Inspectors also said the force should ensure its strategies and policies prioritise the need to protect children, and that officers and staff understand their responsibility to safeguard children and promote their welfare. This includes recording children’s concerns and views and making sure this information is always shared quickly with safeguarding partners.
His Majesty’s Inspector of Constabulary Michelle Skeer said:
“It was positive to see Northamptonshire Police is working well with its safeguarding partners, and effectively supporting its officers and staff who work in child protection. But there are some areas where it needs to make improvements.
“The force’s strategies and policies must place child protection at their centre. It’s vital that all personnel clearly understand their duty to safeguard children and support their wellbeing. The force also needs to strengthen its risk and response protocols for children who go missing from their homes.
“I was reassured that the force responded promptly and comprehensively to our feedback during this inspection. It has already put some plans in place to address the areas in which it needs to improve. I will continue to monitor its progress.”
Assistant Chief Constable Emma James, Head of Protective Services, said: “We welcome the publication of this report, which is an incredibly helpful independent assessment, assisting us in identifying the gaps in our child protection services. It is encouraging too to see we have made some positive progress since the last inspection in March 2021.
“Child protection is an especially challenging area of policing, and we don’t get everything right as the report acknowledges. It’s good to see that in some areas we are getting things right, in terms of our partnership working, the extra resource we have put into this area and good practice such as the introduction of early intervention workers where their engagement with a missing child and their family has led to an 88 per cent fall in repeat missing episodes.
“Since the inspection we have taken some very simple steps to improve the way we safeguard children, not least in assessing all missing children as high-risk cases, but I acknowledge work still needs to be done to ensure a consistency of approach to child safeguarding.
“The value of this report is to help us identify where we have gaps and to then take away the independent findings and help us to improve. Through further training and internal campaigns to raise awareness we can strive to strengthen our approach to child protection. Every single officer in Northamptonshire Police has a responsibility to safeguard children and we will work tirelessly to raise standards further across the Force.”