New league tables show how quickly police forces answer 999 calls

There are several reasons lag time between dialling 999 and connecting to a call handler can be up to 7 seconds. Some police forces are already reviewing their telephony systems and working with BT to resolve this.

The time it takes each police force in the UK to answer emergency 999 calls has been published for the first time to improve further the speed of the service provided to the public.

This delivers on a fundamental commitment in the government’s Beating Crime Plan to improve transparency and performance, forming part of the governor comprehensive’s more exhaustive ongoing work to cut crime, improve public services and make our streets safer.

Publishing the 999 league tables will reconnect the police with the public, holding individual forces accountable and helping find previously unknown issues, to drive up performance.

On average, police forces receive a 999 call across the UK every 3 seconds. Today’s data shows 71% of these are answered within the target of under 10 seconds, with an overall average of 16.1 seconds’ answer time. This is the first-time forces have been able to compare their answering times.

With considerable variation across the country, this information will empower all forces to bring their service up to the public’s expectations.

Home Secretary, Priti Patel, said: “Calling 999 can be a matter of life and death. The public deserves to know that their local police force will be at the end of the phone, ready to leap into action at seconds’ notice to protect them from harm.

“Fundamentally, publishing this data is about driving up standards in our incredible emergency services even further so that the public can have every confidence in the police’s ability to save lives and keep our streets safe.

“We can now see where forces are excelling and where vital improvements need to be made, and I thank the police for their commitment to ensuring we maintain the best emergency services in the world.”

The first data set covers calls made between 1st November 2021 to 30th April 2022. It shows some forces are consistently responsive while others require improvement. One such high-performing force was Avon and Somerset, who always answered over 90% of their 999 calls in under 10 seconds.

Where many calls are answered between 10 to 60 seconds, the public will expect to see improvements where these league tables show they are needed.

There are several reasons for disparities, and the data will likely vary each month. Police forces are operationally independent, and each will have its unique pressures to find and address. Prank calls, a lag time in connecting and inappropriate use of 999 to call for issues that are not emergencies can all contribute to delays in answering.

In some areas, the lag time between dialling 999 and connecting to a call handler can be up to 7 seconds. Some police forces are already reviewing their telephony systems and working with BT to resolve this.

Seasonal periods, such as New Year’s Eve, particularly hot or chilly weather, concerts, and festivals, can also significantly impact waiting times in some forces due to peaks in people travelling to the force area. An overall picture of a force’s effectiveness in answering emergency calls, considering these factors, will continue to be refined as the data collection continues.

The data is accessible to the public via www. police.uk, where they can access their local force’s data under the 999-performance data tab. The data will be released for the previous month's end of each month.

National Police Chiefs’ Council Lead for Contact Management, Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd, said: “Today’s release of 999 Performance Data shows the elevated level of demand being placed on call handlers daily throughout the UK.

“We can see between November 2021 to April 2022, policing answered over 3,700,000 calls in under 10 seconds and a further 1,200,000 in under 60 seconds.

“Forces of England, Wales and Northern Ireland strive to answer 90% of 999 calls within 10 seconds, with Police Scotland aiming to have a mean answering time of 999 calls in under 10 seconds.

“The 999 Performance Data is helping policing understand the experience of the public from their point of view from the moment they dial 999. We know there are sometimes lag times in connecting calls to the police, which vary across the country. However, this isn’t for a member of the public to resolve; it is for us within policing to look at our infrastructure and work with our key partners, including BT, to improve the experience of a member of the public calling 999.

“We want the public to access the data as part of policing being open and transparent. This is the first time for police forces, and the people have been able to see the time it takes to answer 999 calls from the call made by the public; it is connected to the police by BT and local providers, to its being answered by police call handlers. We will learn from this data to improve the speed at which 999 calls are responded to so that the public can expect the fastest possible response when calling 999.

“We know that most people will call the police in their time of need, but unfortunately, this is not always the case, and I would like to remind people to only call 999 in a genuine emergency.

“There is tremendous pressure put on call handlers, who work tirelessly to supply the proper support and advice in someone’s time of need. But we often see some from within our society inappropriately using 999.

“We know one of our most significant areas of concern for 999 calls to the police is prank calls. Not only do they waste police time, but they can also delay someone who needs genuine help getting it when required. When someone dials 999, every second counts, and we cannot have those selfish individuals in our society wilfully wasting police time through prank calls.

“To them, my appeal is to consider that their actions may put someone’s life at risk. People will call 999 when they need an emergency; together; together, the lines are not being put under pressure through prank calls aimed at wasting police time. Call 999 when they need an emergency; together; together, the lines are not being put under pressure through

“I also understand that some people may be concerned about whether they should be dialling 999 or not and in what circumstances. We know when someone calls 999 for something policing-related, it may not be an emergency. They must be directed to other services such as 101, which inadvertently takes up 999 emergency call handlers’ time.

“The message to the public is that you should absolutely call 999 but do so if a severe offence is in progress or has just been committed; if there is a threat to someone’s life, or they are in immediate danger or harm; if the property is in risk of being damaged; or if a severe disruption to the public is likely.

“If your call to the police does not fit within these areas but is still policing related and not an emergency, you should contact your local force via the police non-emergency number 101 or use online reporting via your local force website.”

Association of Police and Crime Commissioners Local Policing Leads Alison Hernandez, and Jeff Cuthbert said: “This performance data shows the demand for policing and the volume of calls forces are dealing with across the country.

“The public quite rightly expects the police to respond to 999 calls in a suitable time, so Police and Crime Commissioners will be using this data to get a grip on performance across our local forces, hold our chief constables to account and ensure members of the public are receiving an efficient and effective response when they report to 999.

“As the public’s voice in policing, Police and Crime Commissioners are very keen to understand the experiences of the people better when contacting their local forces, which is why the Association of Police and Crime Commissioners issued a national survey on contact management earlier this month to help identify any challenges around where the public report crime through both 101 and 999 services.

“Police and Crime Commissioners are committed to supporting excellence in policing and will use this data to continually drive improvements and hold the police accountable on behalf of the public.”