Action has been promised to “urgently” bring down 101 waiting times in the North East, with less than half of calls being answered promptly.
Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness vowed on Monday that she would be putting pressure on force bosses to improve responses on the non-emergency number. Latest figures reveal how Northumbria Police’s performance in answering 101 calls has plummeted over recent months.
From a highpoint of 91% of 101 calls being answered within the force’s 60 second standard in January 2021, that figure dropped as low as just 15% last October – albeit increasing steadily since then to 24% in November, 31% in December, and 44% in January. Ms McGuinness told members of the region’s police and crime panel on Monday that the increasing demands on officers and rising call volumes since the lifting of lockdown had impacted on 101 response times.
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The Labour PCC, who recently announced plans to recruit dozens of new call handlers funded by a council tax rise, said that the performance was “going in the right direction” but is still “not good enough”. She added: “I expect it to improve and we will be keeping pressure on the police to make sure that happens.”
The PCC’s office said that a high number of 999 calls, which was 22% higher in 2021 than 2020, was having a knock-on effect for 101 but that recruitment of 50 new call handlers was now under way. Latest data from December 2021 shows that 65% of 999 calls to Northumbria Police were answered within 10 seconds, which is the force's standard for emergency calls. That figure had been consistently around the 90% mark for much of the Covid pandemic and in the months before the virus hit the UK.
Northumberland councillor Colin Horncastle warned that the prospect of having to wait “30 or 40 minutes” on the line to 101 meant that volunteers that are part of the Operation Checkpoint rural policing initiative would struggle to report incidents. Sunderland representative Sean Lewis also raised concerns about communities resorting to vigilantism if they are put off by the long waiting times, before asking if hiring extra staff would resolve the problem.
Ms McGuinness replied: “It is not that the service is not up to standard, but it is more than that [just hiring more staff]. It is a real concern to me when I look at police performance and we are not getting reports [of crime].
“One of the areas we have to deal with is the ability to report properly online, I don’t think that system is fit for purpose and I have asked the police to make improvements. As well as increasing the number of call handlers, they have also launched a call back system. They have updated the physical systems too to make them better and more efficient.”
She added: “The public want the police to answer the phone, we have to do something about it urgently.”
A Northumbria Police spokesperson said: “We have seen a substantial increase in the number of calls received to the Force, particularly via 999. Significant work is ongoing to help make sure those who need us can do so as quickly as possible, and that includes more people than ever making use of our online reporting tools to report non-urgent issues.
“We are already starting to see improvements with the number of 101 calls being answered within 60 seconds increasing in recent months, while we have introduced a Callback Assist which further improves the service we provide. The Force is also looking to recruit additional call handlers that will help enable us to provide the best possible policing service that our communities expect and deserve.”
