Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office

UK body supporting the Investigatory Powers Commissioner and Judicial Commissioners

Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO)
Type	Oversight body
Founded	September 2017
Key people	Lord Leveson, Investigatory Powers Commissioner (from October 2019)
Website	ipco.org.uk

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office (IPCO) supports the Investigatory Powers Commissioner and the Judicial Commissioners in carrying out their duties under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016. It was formed in September 2017 from three earlier bodies: the Office of Surveillance Commissioners, the Interception of Communications Commissioner's Office and the Intelligence Services Commissioner's Office. It employs about 150 people, among them inspectors, authorising officers, lawyers and policy officials. IPCO is funded by the Home Secretary, but says it "carries out its functions independently of the Government and is not part of the Home Office".

The Investigatory Powers Commissioner is responsible for "reviewing the use of investigatory powers by public authorities, such as intelligence agencies, police and local authorities". Judicial Commissioners are serving or retired senior judges who provide "independent authorisation of applications for the use of certain investigatory powers".

History

According to IPCO, oversight of investigatory powers before 2017 was divided between several commissioners:

• the Interception of Communications Commissioner, established by the Interception of Communications Act 1985;
• the Security Service Commissioner, established by the Security Service Act 1989, which the Intelligence Services Act 1994 replaced with an Intelligence Services Commissioner covering all three agencies;
• the Office of Surveillance Commissioners, established under the Police Act 1997, whose functions were extended by the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA).

IPCO says that "a number of high-profile allegations" made in 2013 about the use of investigatory powers led to several reviews. Among them was "A Question of Trust", the June 2015 report of David Anderson, then Independent Reviewer of Terrorism Legislation, which recommended new legislation. The Investigatory Powers Act 2016 was enacted on 29 November 2016 and created the post of Investigatory Powers Commissioner. The Office for Communications Data Authorisations, which began processing communications data applications in March 2019 under the Commissioner's authority, merged with IPCO in 2024.

Commissioners

The first Investigatory Powers Commissioner, Sir Adrian Fulford, was appointed by the Prime Minister in March 2017 and stepped down in 2019. Sir Brian Leveson replaced him in October 2019. Leveson had been President of the Queen's Bench Division and had chaired the inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press, which reported in November 2012. He became a crossbench peer in 2026 as Lord Leveson of Liverpool. He was appointed for a further term in October 2025. In 2025 the Deputy Investigatory Powers Commissioner was Sir John Goldring.

Organisations overseen

IPCO says it oversees "the use of covert powers by over 600 public authorities", in six groups: intelligence agencies, police and law enforcement agencies, local authorities, prisons, warrant granting departments and others.

• Intelligence agencies: each is inspected "at least annually", and IPCO inspectors are in each agency "for a number of days each month". IPCO also inspects the Ministry of Defence "three times a year". The government says the Commissioner inspects Defence Intelligence records for activity that may fall within RIPA and the Investigatory Powers Act.
• Police and law enforcement agencies: "usually inspected annually". Inspections include "how covert human intelligence sources are recruited, tasked and managed".
• Prisons: IPCO inspects His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service, the Northern Ireland Prison Service and the Scottish Prison Service each year, along with a selection of prisons.
• Warrant granting departments: the Home Office, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Northern Ireland Office and the Safer Communities Directorate of the Scottish Government, inspected annually.
• Wider public authorities: inspected "annually or every 2 to 3 years". They include the Charity Commission, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Serious Fraud Office.

Annual Report 2025

The Commissioner's Annual Report for 2025 was ordered to be printed by the House of Commons on 29 October 2026. It records that "366,976 warrants and authorisations were issued across all public authorities" in 2025. It says the Home Secretary "has allocated £16.6 million to the IPC" for 2026/27 and says IPCO "operated under a recruitment freeze" in 2025.

Agent X. In July 2025 the Divisional Court found that "the special advocates, the High Court, the IPT and the Investigatory Powers Commissioner were all misled on the key question whether MI5 had departed from NCND in relation to X's CHIS status". It said a further investigation should be carried out "under the auspices of the Investigatory Powers Commissioner", and the Investigatory Powers Tribunal agreed in a judgment of 30 July 2025. In September 2025 the Prime Minister directed the Commissioner, under section 230 of the Investigatory Powers Act, to investigate the circumstances in which false evidence was provided to the High Court and the Investigatory Powers Tribunal. The Deputy Commissioner, Sir John Goldring, led the investigation.

Ministry of Defence. The report says IPCO has "identified repeated non-compliance in the standard of MoD CHIS risk assessments" since 2021. A focused inspection in December 2025 "found serious failings in case management and wholly inadequate risk assessments". This followed an error notified in January 2025 "in a CHIS case involving a serious operational security compromise". The Chief of Defence Intelligence then commissioned an internal review of MOD CHIS policy and practice, and all its recommendations were accepted.

See also

• Office of Surveillance Commissioners
• Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000
• Intelligence and Security Committee
• Investigatory Powers Tribunal
• Defence Intelligence
• Home Affairs Committee