A review of IPSO

We have today published a review exploring assertions made in Parliamentary debate about improvements made by The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) compared to its predecessor body the Press Complaints Commission (PCC).

A comprehensive review of available data demonstrates that IPSO is not a fully operating regulator of the UK press. The report outlines how:

• In the five years 2018 to 2022, even after excluding third party complaints and clearly out of scope complaints, IPSO investigated 3.82% and upheld 0.56% of the remaining complaints it received.
• Like its predecessor the PCC (Press complaints commission), IPSO has never issued a fine against a publication or launched a standards investigation or imposed significant sanctions on any publishers even in those cases where the public interest may seem to require it.  
• IPSO’s last published expenditure is no larger than the PCC’s when inflation is taken into account, likely perpetuating the inequality of arms between an individual complainant (who relies heavily on support from the IPSO team) and a large publication with a legal team.
• Despite IPSO having a larger volume of complaints than its predecessor the PCC, the number of staff working in the complaints team at IPSO (seven) is not higher than it was under the PCC.