In April 2026, NPM bodies agreed a new, one year Business Plan to fulfil its mandate under OPCAT, and prevent torture and ill-treatment in places where people are deprived of their liberty.
The UK NPM updated its four organisational objectives in 2026. To prevent torture and ill treatment of people deprived of their liberty, the UK NPM will:
- Promote awareness and understanding of the UK’s obligations under OPCAT and support NPM bodies and duty bearers to meet their OPCAT responsibilities.
- Identify systemic issues and their causes and take collective action with stakeholders within and outside the NPM to address the issues.
- Maximise external transparency of treatment and conditions in places where
people may be deprived of their liberty, to drive duty bearer accountability and evidence-based decision-making. - Strengthen international and domestic prevention efforts by exchanging
learnings and good practice with international NPMs, treaty bodies and
organisations.
The UK NPM is currently undertaking work on segregation and isolation, health and social care, mental health in detention, deaths in custody, and artificial intelligence in scrutiny, among other projects. The outputs of this work, including guidance and toolkits, can be found on our Resources page.