Tenth of all 999 calls to Greater Manchester Police take more than a minute to be answered

A tenth of all 999 calls to Greater Manchester Police take more than a minute to be answered, according to new data published by the Home Office. Only one police force in the UK is currently meeting a target to answer 90 per cent of 999 calls in under 10 seconds, the statistics show.

The figures reveal GMP, which as one of the UK's largest forces would get more calls than the majority of other forces, isn't meeting the target - with 69 per cent of calls picked up in under 10 seconds, according to the figures. The force's average answering time is 24 seconds.

The percentage of calls answered between 10 and 60 seconds stands at 19 per cent, with the percentage of calls answered after 60 seconds 12 percent, equating to just over one tenth of all 999 calls the force receives. GMP bosses said, in response, 'several million pounds' has been invested into new leadership, the recruitment of 'hundreds' of additional call handlers and technology for the force's contact centre.

"Due to the demand on policing rising and falling throughout the year, the overall reduction of our speed of answer is not expected to be linear," said Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes. "Though we are not yet where we want to be, we are moving in the right direction and are continuing to liaise with Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary to update them on our progress."

Avon and Somerset Police was the only force to meet the standard, according to national statistics released for the first time by the Home Office. A total of 43 forces failed to meet it over the six months from November 2021 to April 2022.

Overall, 71 per cent of 999 calls were answered nationally within 10 seconds. Humberside Police recorded the worst number, with only 2 per cent