Councils' use of surveillance powers shows "high levels of compliance", Investigatory Powers Commissioner finds

Lord Leveson of Liverpool's report, published on 29 October, records that the Investigatory Powers Commissioner's Office carried out 114 inspections of local authorities during the year, alongside 53 of wider public authorities such as regulators and government departments.

The report described local authority use of directed surveillance, covert human intelligence sources and communications data as "generally low volume activity" and says inspectors "observed high levels of compliance", identifying "no instances of non-compliance or concerns requiring formal inclusion" in the report.

The 768 local authority authorisations sit within a total of 366,976 warrants and authorisations across all public authorities, up from 363,656 in 2024. Law enforcement agencies accounted for 343,230, the intelligence agencies 19,635, wider public authorities 3,098 and prisons 245. Communications data applications rose 8.7% to 349,097, and the report records 690 individual errors across 345 qualifying reports, four of which met the definition of a serious error, including innocent people arrested on the strength of mistaken subscriber or IP data.

Local authorities may only use directed surveillance under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 to investigate offences carrying at least six months' imprisonment or relating to underage sales of alcohol and tobacco, and must obtain magistrates' approval for surveillance, CHIS and communications data authorisations. Most councils acquire communications data through the National Anti-Fraud Network, which acts as their single point of contact.

The annual report is at https://www.ipco.org.uk/publication/annua-report-2025/.