Nearly 200 Met officers barred from serving in record year

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Ms Williams says change can only happen in the Metropolitan Police if Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley goes (PA) standard.co.uk

The figure in 2026 was an increase from 735 in 2024/25 and 594 in 2023/24 (Alamy/PA) (Alamy/PA) Alamy/PA

The College of Policing set out the different reasons that officers were sacked and banned from working in policing (Alamy/PA) (Alamy/PA) Alamy/PA

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Nearly 200 Metropolitan Police officers were barred from serving in the past year, part of a record 757 officers removed from forces across England and Wales in the twelve months to March 2026 — the highest figure since the barred list was introduced in December 2017, according to the College of Poling. The total is up from 735 the previous year and 594 the year before that, and more than double the annual average of the preceding four years.

The Met, Britain's largest force with 31,495 officers, contributed 195 names to the list; Greater Manchester Police added 46. Since the list began, 3,591 regular officers have been barred outright — and notably, 397 of last year's additions resigned and 26 retired while under investigation, meaning most of those removed chose the exit before it was imposed on them. The list exists precisely because leaving the job was once enough to escape scrutiny.

The reasons are catalogued with bureaucratic precision. Dishonesty led in 142 cases; discriminatory behaviour in 110; unlawful access or disclosure of information in 101. Sexual offences or misconduct accounted for 87 cases — including six involving child sexual abuse, five involving rape, and 46 involving abuse of position for a sexual purpose. The ranks bar disproportionately low: 641 of those barred were constables, but the list also includes 84 sergeants, 18 inspectors and four chief superintendents.

Assistant Chief Constable Arman Mathieson, the College of Policing's director of operational standards, noted the 757 represent 0.5 percent of all serving officers and insisted the figures show the service rooting out those who fall short: "Where standards are breached, we will find out and we will act." The Met declined to comment on its own numbers.

The annual record arrives after years in which British forces expanded headcount rapidly and scrapped degree requirements to hit recruitment targets — lowering the barrier at the door while building a second one on the way out. Every officer caught after hiring was, by definition, vetted and admitted first. The barred list keeps a tally of what slipped through.