Of the 43 Home Office territorial forces in England and Wales, 20 currently use the comb style, eighteen use the rosetop style, and four use the ball style. Some forces wore spikes on top of the helmet, although these have now been completely phased out.

Since the 1950s, helmets have no longer been worn by police officers in Scotland, but may be seen worn by Metropolitan Police officers when on Royal duties in Scotland. They ceased to be worn in Northern Ireland after the 1920s, except for night patrol work in Belfast and Derry until the early 1960s.

In 2001 residents of Southend called for Essex Police to bring back the white custodian helmet formerly worn by Southend-on-Sea Borough Police officers patrolling the seaside in the summer, but this was rejected by the force.[citation needed]

During 2002, attempts were made by police forces in England to replace the custodian helmet. Some forces adopted baseball caps for a very short time and almost all reverted to the helmet or peaked cap. Humberside Police have tried and adopted a "squat" helmet which was considerably shorter than the normal size helmets. This is currently in use.

Thames Valley Police discarded the helmet in 2009 due to budget constraints but brought them back for use in 2018 following a successful trial in Reading, whereas West Yorkshire Police have announced that helmets will cease to be worn after 2015 because staff find them unsuitable for normal duties.[10] West Yorkshire Police will, however, retain the helmets for use on ceremonial occasions. Lancashire, Cheshire and Gloucestershire Constabularies announced in February 2017 that as part of uniform changes their custodian, bowler and peaked caps were to be replaced by unisex reinforced baseball caps, known as "Bump Caps".[11] A small number of the traditional headdresses will be retained for ceremonial occasions.[12]

In 2006/7 Gwent Police and North Wales Police replaced all headgear in favour of baseball caps. In 2010/12 the two forces announced that peaked caps and helmets would return as baseball caps were seen as unprofessional and difficult for the public to see and recognise as police headgear. This change to revert to wearing helmets led to all forces in Wales to continue wearing the custodian helmet.

Greater Manchester Police attempted to phase out custodian helmets around 2011/12 in favour of peaked caps. A few months later the custodian helmet was brought back and peaked caps are no longer issued to officers below the rank of Inspector. This means that the custodian is the only headgear worn by constables and sergeants. However, since 2017 peaked caps and custodian helmets have both been issued for use on patrol.

In 2017, Northamptonshire Police announced they would replace the helmet with Gender Neutral Caps but after 18 months the helmets were brought back into use.