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Five English police forces will not take a Palantir data pilot further

September 21, 2026 at 14:29 EDT

Policy & Regulation

Five police forces in England's East Midlands will not take a Palantir data pilot any further, after the regional unit that ran it for two years said the project should stop there. The decision is a setback for the US software firm's push into British policing, but it does not end Project Nectar elsewhere.

21 SEPTEMBER 2026 · UK POLICING

Five forces will not take the Palantir pilot further

The East Midlands unit has ended a two-year Project Nectar trial. Seven other forces were still reported in a separate rolling pilot.

FORCES, SAME UNIT

Five leave. Seven were still in the eastern pilot.

East Midlands
not taken forward

Eastern forces
rolling pilot reported

One block equals one force. The East Midlands exit does not, on current reporting, close the Bedfordshire-led trial.

2 yrs

Length of the East Midlands pilot

12/43

Forces linked to Nectar pilots this month

£3.6m

Bedfordshire spend on its rolling pilot

£50m

Met contract blocked in May

WHY IT STOPPED

MPs call it a value test

The unit cited scoping, funding and what the pilot would deliver. Lawmakers say the software is not meeting its own promises or showing value for money.

WHY IT IS DEFENDED

Organise data already held

Palantir says it adds no new data and only speeds decisions. It cites a Bedfordshire safeguarding result, and the Met still wants a shorter misconduct pilot.

WHAT WAS LEFT UNSAID

The stop was announced. The assessment was not.

Scoping. The unit said preparatory work came before the decision.

Funding. Home Office money paid for the trial, but the cost is undisclosed.

Sensitive fields. An internal plan contemplated race, religion, politics, sex life and genetic data in one view.

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