Independent Office for Police Conduct
Independent watchdog for police and law-enforcement complaints in England and Wales.
The IOPC sent Reform figures' complaints over a bank-data leak back to the National Crime Agency's own Professional Standards Unit on 24 July, a local investigation rather than an independent one.
Last refreshed: 3 August 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Why is the body probing the NCA's data leak the one the NCA answers to?
Timeline for Independent Office for Police Conduct
Returned the complaints for local investigation by the NCA
UK Local Elections 2026: Crime agency to investigate its own data leakBackground
The Independent Office for Police Conduct is the statutory watchdog for complaints about policing and law enforcement in England and Wales.
It received complaints from Reform UK figures Richard Tice and Nigel Farage over the leak of Reform bank data, and passed them back to the National Crime Agency for handling by its own internal complaints unit instead of opening an outside inquiry.
Its decision on the referral, rather than the leak itself, is what makes the case a durable reference point: the watchdog chose the Agency's own internal unit over an outside investigator, a distinction that sets the bar future self-referrals will be measured against.
Watchdog returns the leak complaint to source
The National Crime Agency referred itself to the IOPC on 24 July over the leak of Reform figures' bank data, material that included an £80,000 loan to Richard Tice's company Tisun Investments and a £1m donation, both tied to George Cottrell.
Rather than opening its own independent probe, the IOPC handed the complaints from Reform's Richard Tice and Nigel Farage straight back to the Agency, to be looked at internally by its Professional Standards Unit, meaning the body that suffered the leak ends up investigating itself.
What is the Independent Office for Police Conduct?
Why did the IOPC hand the Reform data leak complaint back to the NCA?
Did the IOPC investigate the National Crime Agency over the Reform data leak?
Who complained to the IOPC about the Reform bank data leak?
