The Home Office has officially opened a consultation on the use of facial recognition by UK police, saying the government intends to introduce a legal framework setting clear rules for the technology.
Originally announced by Police Minister Sarah Jones in early October 2025.The 10-week consultation will allow stakeholders and members of the public to share their views on how controversial technology must be regulated.
While police use of real-time facial recognition (LFR) since the Met's deployment at Notting Hill Carnival in August 2016, has increased sharply in recent yearsso far it has been minimal public debate or consultationThe Home Office has said for years that a “comprehensive” legal framework already exists.
The Home Office said that while there is a “patchwork” legal framework for facial recognition by police (including wider use retrospective And “operator initiatedtechnology versions), this does not give confidence to the police themselves “to use it on a significantly larger scale… and yet it does not provide the public with confidence that it will be used responsibly.”
It added that the current rules governing police use of LFR are “complex and difficult to understand” and that the average member of the public would need to read four pieces of legislation, national police guidance documents and a number of detailed legal or data protection documents from individual forces to fully understand the basis for the use of LFR on high streets.
The Home Office also added that it would consider whether any new system would also cover police use of “other biometric and logic technologies”, including voice and gait recognition and emotion detection algorithms, which could “help police identify behavior associated with criminal activity” or detect suicidal intent in members of the public.
“While police use of facial recognition has prompted the government to examine the law in this area, other technologies with similar characteristics raise similar questions, such as under what circumstances can their use be justified?” it said. “This consultation therefore raises the broader question of principles that can be applied to a wider range of technologies, all of which have the potential to violate people's rights.”
Legislative regime
However, the Home Office noted that “any covert (secret) use of these types of technology will be subject to a strict legislative regime, in particular the Regulation of Investigative Powers Act 2000” and therefore does not form part of the consultation.
The Home Office said any new laws resulting from consultation would take about two years to pass through parliament.
In response to the launch of consultations, human rights group Liberty: which won the first court case against police use of the technology in August 2020. – called on the government to halt the expansion of police facial recognition while it consults, and spelled out the types of safeguards it believes will protect the public.
This includes ensuring independent approval before using facial recognition, limiting its use to preventing an immediate threat to life, searching for missing persons and searching only for people suspected of committing crimes. serious offenses.
Liberty added that police should be required to give at least 14 days' notice before implementing real-time facial recognition unless there is a pressing need to do otherwise. “The public has finally had a chance to have their say on this surveillance technology, but it is disappointing that the Home Office is launching a consultation with a promise to step up its use,” Liberty director Akiko Hart said.
“Facial recognition cameras are powerful new technologies that allow police to track and monitor each of us as we go about our daily lives,” she said. “Police have been able to make their own rules for too long – and only this week we learned these cameras were being used to target children as young as 12 years old.
“The government must stop the rapid rollout of facial recognition technology and ensure safeguards are in place to protect each of us and prioritize our rights – something we know the public wants.”
Nuala Polo, head of UK public policy at the Ada Lovelace Institute, added that while consultation is welcome, focusing solely on police risks creates dangerous regulatory gaps that leave people unprotected.
“Private companies are already introducing biometric technologies such as FRT and fingerprint scanning into retail chains“, in workplaces and schools,” she said. “Meanwhile, a new generation of equally invasive biometrics is being deployed in public spaces to determine people's emotions, intentions and attention – despite low levels of scientific certainty.
“Any forthcoming legislation must cover the full range of biometrics, not just police use of FRT, to ensure the safe and proportionate use of these powerful technologies.”
Over the years, both parliament and civil society have repeatedly called for regulation of police use of facial recognition.
This includes three separate investigations by the Justice and Internal Affairs Committee on shoplifting, police algorithms And police facial recognition; two former UK Biometrics Commissioners, Paul Wiles And Fraser Sampson; A independent legal expertise Matthew Ryder QC; That UK Equality and Human Rights Commission; And House of Commons Science and Technology Committeewhich called for a moratorium on real-time facial recognition back in July 2019.
More recently, the Ada Lovelace Institute published report in May 2025 It says the UK's patchwork approach to regulating biometric surveillance technology is “inadequate”, putting fundamental rights at risk and ultimately eroding public trust.
