Home Office

The National ANPR Service's data protection impact assessment (version 4, January 2025, page updated 29 July 2026) states that there are 12,076 camera sets and 1,878 mobile ANPR cameras nationally. It gives three inconsistent daily volumes in different sections: over 100 million, can exceed 90 million, and in excess of 80 million reads per day. It says data in national systems is retained for 12 months, that local systems hold data for a maximum of 90 days, and that the 12-month period requires further consideration to demonstrate compliance with the storage limitation principle. The national ANPR standards (version 3.5, July 2026) add that mobile reads must be transferred to the national service within 48 hours and that vehicle of interest lists must be deleted no later than 56 days after their last review. A force may connect to the national service only after approval by the NPCC policing lead for ANPR.

Recorded as one body for the national service, under the name Home Office, which publishes the national ANPR standards on behalf of the joint controllers. The impact assessment says the system is run by police forces and other law enforcement agencies as joint controllers, with the NPCC ANPR lead as lead controller; the Home Office is a joint controller because of Border Force's operational use, supports the other controllers on policy, and handles ANPR procurement and the management of processors. The processors it names are Leonardo MW Ltd (software) and Redcentric plc (data storage). Use by individual forces should be added force by force as sources confirm it.