Andrew Rhodes OBE QPM

Tab 01 · Profile

Profile

Andrew Rhodes OBE QPM is Service Director of Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service for England and Wales, National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Policing Wellbeing, and former Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary. He conceived the UK's first national benchmarking tool for organisational wellbeing; it now underpins the nationally mandated wellbeing standards for policing in England and Wales.

Andrew joined Lancashire Constabulary in 1991 and was appointed Chief Constable in 2017, working in uniform, specialist operations and covert policing. He sat on the national counter-terrorism cadre as a counter-terrorism search and firearms commander, and was NPCC Counter Terrorism Strategic Firearms Commander from 2014 to 2017. As NPCC lead for wellbeing he set up the first national wellbeing and engagement portfolio in 2014 and secured Home Office funding in 2016 for the National Police Wellbeing Service, Oscar Kilo. The service is built for officers and staff who are repeatedly exposed to traumatic material and to violence: it runs trauma support, peer support training, training for first-line managers, and the 'leading well' programme for chief officers.

He conceived and led development of the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework – the UK's first national benchmarking tool enabling police forces to self-assess and improve their organisational wellbeing provision – and led its evolution into the Workforce Prioritisation Guidance, the current national benchmarking framework for policing wellbeing, developed with the Chief Medical Officer for Policing. That body of work underpins the nationally mandated wellbeing standards for Home Office police forces announced in the Police Reform White Paper (January 2026) and given legislative weight through the Police Covenant and the Crime and Policing Act 2026. He continues to oversee the National Police Wellbeing Survey, the largest employee-voice exercise in UK policing, with over 55,000 responses in 2026.

As Chair of the Royal Foundation's Blue Light Together programme team, Andrew leads the cross-sector partnership – with The Ambulance Staff Charity, The Fire Fighters Charity, Police Care UK and Mind – delivering a uniform set of mental health standards and support for the UK's emergency responder community and their families. His doctoral research, a PhD by Professional Practice at the University of Manchester (in progress), is an autoethnographic study of the development of Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Survey and the associated governance and policy infrastructure underpinning workforce wellbeing in UK policing.

Andrew's qualifications include an MBA from the University of Central Lancashire and a Postgraduate Certificate in Psychodynamic Coaching from Lancaster University Business School; he is an accredited ACE Recovery Trainer and a graduate of the NPCC Strategic Command Course. He was appointed OBE in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to emergency responder wellbeing and mental health, and awarded the Queen's Police Medal in the 2015 New Year Honours for outstanding services to policing.

Tab 02 · Areas of expertise

Areas of expertise

• Workforce wellbeing Service Director of Oscar Kilo, the National Police Wellbeing Service for England and Wales, and NPCC Lead for Policing Wellbeing.
• Wellbeing standards & benchmarking Conceived and led development of the Blue Light Wellbeing Framework – the UK's first national benchmarking tool for organisational wellbeing – and led its evolution into the Workforce Prioritisation Guidance, the work underpinning the nationally mandated wellbeing standards for Home Office police forces.
• Policing & health collaboration Developed a national policing and health consensus between Public Health England and Wales and all 43 police forces, influencing the funding and establishment of 18 Violence Reduction Units; Chair of the Royal Foundation's Blue Light Together programme team.
• Executive policing leadership Chief Constable of Lancashire Constabulary (2017 – 2021); chaired the Chief Police Officers' Staff Association and the Police Covenant Delivery Group; member of the NPCC Audit & Assurance Board.
• Crisis management & CT command NPCC Counter Terrorism Strategic Firearms Commander (2014 – 2017), a CT search and CT firearms commander on the national counter-terrorism cadre; chaired the NPCC COVID-19 workforce task force, co-ordinating the purchase and supply of over £100m of PPE.

Tab 03 · Service record

Service record

• Current Service Director, Oscar Kilo – National Police Wellbeing Service; NPCC Lead for Policing Wellbeing Chairs the National Police Wellbeing Service Board, the Police Covenant Delivery Group and the Royal Foundation's Blue Light Together programme team; oversees the National Police Wellbeing Survey (over 55,000 responses in 2026); CEO of Thornberg Ltd.
• 2017 – 2021 Chief Constable, Lancashire Constabulary Led the force to be graded one of only five of the 43 forces outstanding for efficiency by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary (2019), rated the UK's 12th most inclusive company (2019) and a top 100 Stonewall employer, raising overall engagement from 62% (2016) to 73% (2020); chaired the Chief Police Officers' Staff Association and the NPCC COVID-19 workforce task force.
• 2012 – 2017 Deputy Chief Constable, Lancashire Constabulary NPCC Counter Terrorism Strategic Firearms Commander (2014 – 2017); established the first national wellbeing and engagement portfolio in 2014 as NPCC lead, securing Home Office funding in 2016 for Oscar Kilo; established Lancashire's first Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub in 2015.
• 2009 – 2012 Assistant Chief Constable, Specialist Operations & Crime, Lancashire Constabulary Led the specialist operations and crime portfolio, and conducted high-profile peer reviews into challenged forces at national level.
• 1991 – 2009 Lancashire Constabulary Joined in 1991, specialising in uniform, specialist operations and covert policing; held operational command of local policing in some of the UK's most diverse communities, jointly chairing the East Lancashire PREVENT Board.