Kent Independent Custody Visiting Scheme wins national award for custody visiting

23rd July 2026

Kent Independent Custody Visiting Scheme wins national award for custody visiting

The Kent Independent Custody Visiting (ICV) Scheme has been recognised nationally, with a gold award, for the high quality of its independent custody visiting . The achievement marks an improvement on last year, when the scheme was awarded Silver.

Under this scheme, trained volunteers from the local community (Independent Custody Visitors or ICVs), managed by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner make regular unannounced visits to police custody suites to check on the rights, entitlements, wellbeing and dignity of the detainees held there.

The Independent Custody Visiting Association (ICVA) - the national membership organisation that supports, leads and represents these schemes - has developed a quality assurance framework to assess how well schemes comply with the code of practice that governs custody visiting [see note]. 

This is the third year that schemes have been assessed under the framework and have been able to gain quality assurance awards to recognise the value of their work. Kent’s scheme was presented with a gold quality assurance award by ICVA on July 8th, at a ceremony in London.

Welcoming the award, Matthew Scott, Police and Crime Commissioner for Kent, said: “Receiving the Gold award is a significant achievement and reflects the strength of Kent’s Independent Custody Visiting scheme, the dedication of our volunteer visitors and the constructive relationship they have with custody teams across the county. I am extremely grateful to our ICVs for the vital role they play in providing independent reassurance to the public, and to Kent Police custody staff for their ongoing commitment to maintaining high standards of care.”

An ICV Volunteer and North/West Panel Co-Ordinator said: “This gold award is a strong testament to the effectiveness of the Kent ICV Scheme's dedicated volunteers in taking forward their important, but unsung, role. It also reflects very positively on the essential support and organisation provided to the volunteers by the Scheme's small management team in the PCCs office.”

Dame Anne Owers, Chair of ICVA, said: "Once again, these awards show the value and importance of independent custody visiting, with even more schemes being awarded the top 'platinum' grading.  This also reflects the crucial work that ICVA does, in providing support and training for volunteers and schemes across the country.”

Sherry Ralph, Chief Executive at ICVA said: “The Quality Assurance Framework represents a significant and growing commitment from schemes to ensure that independent custody visiting is regularly reviewed, improvements are made where needed, and excellent practice is shared. This year, we have also strengthened our approach by introducing a greater focus on volunteer voices, ensuring that the experiences and perspectives of Independent Custody Visitors are embedded within schemes and reflected in assessments, particularly at the higher levels of the framework. I congratulate schemes on their accomplishments and thank them for their continued dedication and commitment."

ENDS

Note to editors

The quality assurance awards were introduced by ICVA to help schemes:

• Reflect on how they comply with the Code of Practice, the legislation that underpins custody visiting.
• Celebrate areas of strength.
• Promote custody visiting and the achievements schemes have made.
• Drive performance and increase sharing of good practice.

There were four graded levels of award:

• Code Complaint - Scheme meets statutory requirements and necessary volunteer standards.
• Silver – Scheme provides a good standard of custody visiting and volunteer management.
• Gold – Scheme provides an excellent standard of custody visiting and volunteer management.
• Platinum – Scheme provides an outstanding standard of custody visiting and volunteer management.

Within each level, there were more than 25 criteria covering key areas such as holding the force to account and requiring evidence to support each assessment. For Silver and Gold levels, schemes’ evidence was signed off by their senior management and dip sampled by ICVA. ICVA assessed each submission for a Platinum award.