If you have been told that the police or Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) have decided not to charge the perpetrator with any offence, you will be able to request a review of that decision under the Victim’s Right of Review (VRR). You will also have a right to a VRR if the perpetrator has been charged and the the CPS decide to discontinue the case or offer no evidence. You must make your request for VRR within three months of the date you were first told of the decision. In some exceptional circumstances the police or CPS could agree to allow a VRR where a request is made after three months if there are good reasons for the delay.

To read more about the VRR scheme see our leaflet

How to request a Victim’s Right to Review

• To request a VRR in a decision made by the police - go to the police force website and search for VRR, you will be given details of how to submit the request.

• To request a VRR in a decision made by CPS - you should receive the right email address in a letter from CPS, if the decision is sent to you by CPS, or if communicated to you by the police, the officer should tell you how to request VRR.

The CPS guidance on VRR (2020, updated 2021) is here: Victims-Right-to-Review-Policy-and-Guidance-2020.pdf

Unfortunately, the majority of solicitors who do cases against the police generally will not take on formal police complaints, apart from in exceptional situations. A support worker such as an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA), other domestic abuse support worker, Independent Sexual Violence Advocate (ISVA) or other women’s service advocate may assist in the police complaints process. To find a domestic abuse support worker look for a domestic abuse support service in your local area, or contact the National Domestic Abuse Helpline (Tel: 0808 2000 247). To find an ISVA look for your local Rape Crisis Centre.

If a solicitor does take on a police complaint, you would need to qualify financially for legal aid or pay privately. See below for information about legal aid eligibility. If the solicitor is also dealing with a civil claim they may include legal work on the complaint as part of that. See below on how to find a solicitor who specialises in civil claims against the police.

You can get free legal advice on police complaints from the following:

• Rights of Women criminal law advice line
  Free telephone legal advice on criminal justice law. The website contains details of opening times for helplines
  Criminal law advice line 020 7251 8887.

To make a formal police complaint go to the relevant police force website. Many forces have their own procedures and will provide an explanation of how to submit a complaint. You can also go to the website of the IOPC (Independent Office of Police Conduct) and submit a complaint.

However, it is important to note that if you submit a complaint to the IOPC they will not deal with it themselves, but will send it to the police force that you are complaining about for them to deal with. In some cases the force has to refer the complaint back to the IOPC for them to decide whether they will investigate it or whether the police force should investigate it. CWJ has prepared a summary of the police complaints process, which you can read here.

There is no official deadline for a police complaint but you should try to submit it within 12 months of the events you are complaining about, otherwise this could limit the way the complaint is dealt with.

To make a formal complaint to the Crown Prosecution Service, see the CPS website – there is a six-month deadline for submitting complaints.

You can get free legal advice on civil claims against the police from the following:

• Rights of Women criminal law advice line
  Free telephone legal advice on criminal justice law. The website contains details of opening times for helplines
  Criminal law advice line 020 7251 8887.

Finding a solicitor to take on a case

• Gov.UK legal aid lawyers search engine
  This is a directory of all solicitors with a legal aid contract around the country – enter the town or postcode and tick ‘claims against public authorities’.

• Chambers & Partners Directory
  For the most highly regarded solicitors search the Chambers and Partners Directory of top ranked firms and individuals doing a search on UK ‘Police law: mainly claimant’ or ‘civil liberties and human rights’.

Funding a civil claim

a) Legal aid

You will need to find out if you qualify financially for legal aid. A legal aid solicitor can do the calculation with you. If you live with a partner, their finances will also be assessed as part of yours.

If you qualify financially, a solicitor will only be able to obtain legal aid for a civil claim if they can show the Legal Aid Agency that the evidence is strong enough that there is more than 50% chance of winning the case. They will also need to show that the amount of compensation you will be likely to receive is high enough to justify the level of legal costs involved.

b) “No win no fee” agreement

If you do not qualify for legal aid, in some cases if your claim is clearly strong, you may be able to find a solicitor to take the case on a “no win no fee”. However you should be aware that this is more limited than legal aid, and you may still have to pay for court fees, expert fees and other fees which are not for the legal work. If a solicitor agrees to take a case on this basis they will explain the arrangements to you. You can try to find a solicitor for a “no win no fee” case in the same way as for a legal aid case, using the Gov.UK legal aid search engine or Chambers Directory, because the same solicitors do both legal aid and “no win no fee” cases.

There are also some solicitors’ firms who do cases against the police but do not have a legal aid contract. You can search on the Law Society website which includes all solicitors, whether they have a legal aid contract or not. Obtain a list of solicitors in different areas of law from the Law Society using “Find a Solicitor” – search by area of law and location.

c) Personal injury cases

If your case is only, or mostly for a personal injury, such as an assault by the police or a psychiatric injury, you may be able to find a solicitor who can act on a “No win no fee” agreement where you are protected from having to pay the other side’s costs if you lose, under special rules that apply only to personal injury claims. This enables your solicitor to represent you more easily than in other “no win no fee” cases.

A judicial review challenge is an application to the High Court to overturn a decision made by a public body, including a police officer or prosecutor. For example, if you have made a request for Victim’s Right of Review (VRR), and this is refused, the only way to challenge that further is by judicial review. However in order to bring a judicial review you must have grounds to show that the decision being challenged was unlawful, such as an error of law or breach of policy, so some cases cannot be challenged this way.

If you wish to consider a judicial review you must get advice from a solicitor as quickly as possible. There is a strict deadline for lodging applications with the court, and you must show that you did so as soon as possible, and in any event within three months of the decision (though you may be able to get an extension if there is a good reason for the delay).

For a solicitor to take on a judicial review case you will usually need to qualify for legal aid. Without this it is not possible to apply to court because there is a risk that if you lose, or have to withdraw the case, you will have to pay the other side’s legal costs, which could be many thousands of pounds. However, if you do not qualify for legal aid some solicitors may take on a case on a private paying basis, at least to prepare an initial pre-action letter and see if a settlement can be reached.

Finding a solicitor to take on a case

• Gov.UK legal aid lawyers search engine
  This is a directory of all solicitors with a legal aid contract around the country – enter the town or postcode and tick ‘public law'

• Chambers & Partners Directory
  For the most highly regarded solicitors search the Chambers and Partners Directory of top ranked firms and individuals doing a search on UK ‘Administrative and public law: traditional claimant’ or ‘civil liberties and human rights’

Financial means assessment for legal aid

You will need to find out if you qualify financially for legal aid. A legal aid solicitor can do the calculation with you. If you live with a partner, their finances will also be assessed as part of yours.

If you qualify financially, a solicitor will only be able to obtain legal aid for a judicial review if they can show the Legal Aid Agency that the case is strong enough that there is more than 50% chance of winning. When the judicial review is very urgent, emergency legal aid may be available.

Complaints about judges - are made to the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office

You must submit a complaint within 3 months of the events that you are complaining about.

Please note that they cannot deal with complaints about a judge’s legal decision or how a judge has managed a case, only with a judge’s personal behaviour. If you are unhappy with the outcome of a case the only option is to consider whether it is possible to appeal.

Complaints about administrative issues at a court - can be made via the gov.uk website.

These are complaints about broader trends in policing that have an impact on the public. They do not cover individual people’s complaints about their case.

They can only be submitted by a designated body and are dealt with by three police oversight bodies.