Workers sacked after investigation into claims they made hundreds of 999 calls to improve perceived performance

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Two police control room staff have been fired following an investigation into claims they made hundreds of 999 calls at quiet times to improve their perceived performance.

The workers, who were employed by G4S Public Services and worked for Lincolnshire police, were among five suspended as part of an inquiry into “test calls” earlier this year.

Two G4S employees resigned while under investigation, the firm said. They quit before disciplinary hearings, which took place at the end of July. The fifth returned to work after being cleared of any wrongdoing.

It had been claimed that the handlers made hundreds of illegitimate calls in October, November and December 2015 in order to meet their target of answering 92% of calls within 10 seconds or less. If the target is not met G4S is fined, and figures showed 724 calls were made across those three months.

The five suspended officers were all former Lincolnshire police employees who transferred to G4S four years ago when the private security company took over a £200m contract – the largest ever – to run the force’s back-office services.

G4S claimed the contract would save the force £6m a year and hailed it as a potential model for the rest of British policing.

A Lincolnshire police spokesman told the Guardian in May that an investigation had been started in January after its anti-corruption unit received internal allegations.

G4S police control room staff suspended over claims of bogus 999 calls Read more

“We immediately informed the Independent Police Complaints Commission of the allegations and they have been kept fully informed of our investigation which has been under their supervision,” the spokesman said at the time.



The force also said that at no stage had there been any risk to the safety of members of the public.

Data for the control room seen by the Guardian showed that between January and September last year the number of 999 calls made to test the equipment were running at an average of between 30 and 40 a month and as few as eight in September.



In October the number jumped to 139, then 236 in November and peaked at 349 in December.

The figures showed that the control room received 8,153 calls in December of which 349 were test calls. Only 89% of the genuine calls were answered within the target of 10 seconds, but the inclusion of the test calls pushed answering performance one percentage point above the target of 92%.

G4S has said two staff resigned before disciplinary hearings, which took place at the end of July. Two members of staff were dismissed and a fifth returned to work after being cleared of any wrongdoing.