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The Home Office has released guidance on police use of facial recognition technology, results of a public attitudes survey, alongside an open consultation seeking views on a new legal framework for law enforcement’s use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies. The consultation runs until 12 February 2026 and techUK will develop a written response. To share your views and feed into techUK’s response, please email dave.evans@techuk.organd cc in daniella.bennettremington@techuk.org and tess.buckley@techuk.org

Key information:

• Home Office guidance: Police use of facial recognition (Published: 4 December 2025)
• Open consultation on a new legal framework for law enforcement use of biometrics, facial recognition and similar technologies (Deadline: 12 February 2026)
• Public attitudes survey: Published alongside the consultation, a Home Office survey found two in three people support police use of facial recognition technology, though many expressed concerns about potential misuse and false identification risks.

Police use of facial recognition: current practice

The Home Office guidance released sets out how police forces in England and Wales currently use three types of facial recognition technology:

1. Retrospective Facial Recognition (RFR): Used after an incident to identify suspects by comparing images from CCTV, mobile phones, or social media against custody photos on the Police National Database. Over 25,000 searches are conducted monthly.
2. Live Facial Recognition (LFR): Uses live video footage to compare faces against a watchlist of wanted individuals in public spaces. Thirteen police forces have deployed this technology, with deployments in London from January 2024 to September 2025 leading to over 1,300 arrests for serious crimes including rape, domestic abuse and knife crime.
3. Operator Initiated Facial Recognition (OIFR): A mobile app allowing officers to verify identity on the street without taking someone into custody. Currently used by South Wales Police and Gwent Police.

The guidance highlights that while a legal framework exists based on common law powers and data protection, human rights and equality legislation, the current approach is complex and difficult for both police and the public to understand fully.

New legal framework consultation

Recognising that confident and consistent use of facial recognition at greater scale requires clearer rules, the Government is consulting on a new legal framework with four core objectives:

• Accessibility and transparency: Making it easier for law enforcement and the public to understand how data and technology will be used
• Clear limits on authority: Defining when facial recognition can be used and who can be on watchlists
• Consolidated oversight: Clarifying who sets rules, standards and checks compliance
• Future-proofing: Creating consistent principles that can apply to emerging biometric and similar technologies

Scope of the consultation

The consultation explores whether the framework should extend beyond facial recognition to cover:

• Other biometric technologies (voice recognition, iris scanning, gait analysis)
• Inferential technologies that analyse behaviour or emotions
• Object recognition for clothing, vehicles or personal belongings

Key questions include:

• Seriousness thresholds: Should the level of harm being addressed determine when technologies can be used?
• Authorisation levels: Should certain uses require senior officer approval or independent oversight body authorisation?
• Cross-database searching: Under what conditions should police search other government databases like passport or immigration records?
• New oversight body: The Government proposes creating a single regulatory body to consolidate existing oversight roles, with powers to set standards, investigate misuse and enforce compliance.
• Guarding against bias: What specific rules should law enforcement follow to ensure equitable use? The consultation notes that algorithms funded by the Home Office must be independently tested for bias, with recent National Physical Laboratory testing finding no statistically significant differences in performance based on age, gender or ethnicity at current police settings.

Sue Daley OBE, Director of Tech and Innovation at techUK.

"Facial recognition technology can deliver real benefits for law enforcement and help create safer communities. This powerful technology offers opportunities but raises concerns that must be properly understood and addressed.

"We welcome the Home Office consultation; regulation clarity, certainty and consistency on how this technology will be used will be paramount to establish trust and long-term public support. We stand ready to support the consultation process to ensure that we get this right."

Next steps

techUK plans to respond to the consultation. To share your views and feed into techUK's response, please email dave.evans@techuk.org and cc in daniella.bennettremington@techuk.org and tess.buckley@techuk.org