diff --git a/pkg/policy/apply.go b/pkg/policy/apply.go
index a204e95c36..4796d5c390 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/apply.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/apply.go
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import (
 	enginecontext "github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/engine/context"
 	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/engine/context/resolvers"
 	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/engine/response"
+	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/logging"
 	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/registryclient"
 	jsonutils "github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/utils/json"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
@@ -47,11 +48,14 @@ func applyPolicy(
 	var err error
 
 	ctx := enginecontext.NewContext()
-	err = enginecontext.AddResource(ctx, transformResource(resource))
+	data, err := resource.MarshalJSON()
+	if err != nil {
+		logging.Error(err, "failed to marshal resource")
+	}
+	err = enginecontext.AddResource(ctx, data)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Error(err, "failed to add transform resource to ctx")
 	}
-
 	err = ctx.AddNamespace(resource.GetNamespace())
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Error(err, "failed to add namespace to ctx")
diff --git a/pkg/policy/common.go b/pkg/policy/common.go
index 7798d0b5d9..5d655e10c0 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/common.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/common.go
@@ -3,12 +3,10 @@ package policy
 import (
 	"context"
 	"reflect"
-	"strings"
 
 	"github.com/go-logr/logr"
 	kyvernov1 "github.com/kyverno/kyverno/api/kyverno/v1"
 	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/config"
-	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/logging"
 	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/utils"
 	kubeutils "github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/utils/kube"
 	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/utils/wildcard"
@@ -17,33 +15,6 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/labels"
 )
 
-func transformResource(resource unstructured.Unstructured) []byte {
-	data, err := resource.MarshalJSON()
-	if err != nil {
-		logging.Error(err, "failed to marshal resource")
-		return nil
-	}
-	return data
-}
-
-func ParseNamespacedPolicy(key string) (string, string, bool) {
-	namespace := ""
-	index := strings.Index(key, "/")
-	if index != -1 {
-		namespace = key[:index]
-		key = key[index+1:]
-		return namespace, key, true
-	}
-	return namespace, key, false
-}
-
-// MergeResources merges b into a map
-func MergeResources(a, b map[string]unstructured.Unstructured) {
-	for k, v := range b {
-		a[k] = v
-	}
-}
-
 func (pc *PolicyController) getResourceList(kind, namespace string, labelSelector *metav1.LabelSelector, log logr.Logger) *unstructured.UnstructuredList {
 	gv, k := kubeutils.GetKindFromGVK(kind)
 	resourceList, err := pc.client.ListResource(context.TODO(), gv, k, namespace, labelSelector)
diff --git a/pkg/policy/policy_controller.go b/pkg/policy/policy_controller.go
index cee352a02a..1c8eda036f 100644
--- a/pkg/policy/policy_controller.go
+++ b/pkg/policy/policy_controller.go
@@ -377,11 +377,16 @@ func (pc *PolicyController) syncPolicy(key string) error {
 }
 
 func (pc *PolicyController) getPolicy(key string) (kyvernov1.PolicyInterface, error) {
-	namespace, key, isNamespacedPolicy := ParseNamespacedPolicy(key)
-	if !isNamespacedPolicy {
-		return pc.pLister.Get(key)
+	if ns, name, err := cache.SplitMetaNamespaceKey(key); err != nil {
+		pc.log.Error(err, "failed to parse policy name", "policyName", key)
+		return nil, err
+	} else {
+		isNamespacedPolicy := ns != ""
+		if !isNamespacedPolicy {
+			return pc.pLister.Get(name)
+		}
+		return pc.npLister.Policies(ns).Get(name)
 	}
-	return pc.npLister.Policies(namespace).Get(key)
 }
 
 func generateTriggers(client dclient.Interface, rule kyvernov1.Rule, log logr.Logger) []*unstructured.Unstructured {
diff --git a/pkg/policycache/store.go b/pkg/policycache/store.go
index 9ee666a980..5baa36c8c2 100644
--- a/pkg/policycache/store.go
+++ b/pkg/policycache/store.go
@@ -5,9 +5,9 @@ import (
 
 	kyvernov1 "github.com/kyverno/kyverno/api/kyverno/v1"
 	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/autogen"
-	"github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/policy"
 	kubeutils "github.com/kyverno/kyverno/pkg/utils/kube"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
+	kcache "k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
 )
 
 type store interface {
@@ -150,7 +150,11 @@ func (m *policyMap) get(key PolicyType, gvk, namespace string) []kyvernov1.Polic
 	kind := computeKind(gvk)
 	var result []kyvernov1.PolicyInterface
 	for policyName := range m.kindType[kind][key] {
-		ns, _, isNamespacedPolicy := policy.ParseNamespacedPolicy(policyName)
+		ns, _, err := kcache.SplitMetaNamespaceKey(policyName)
+		if err != nil {
+			logger.Error(err, "failed to parse policy name", "policyName", policyName)
+		}
+		isNamespacedPolicy := ns != ""
 		policy := m.policies[policyName]
 		if policy == nil {
 			logger.Info("nil policy in the cache, this should not happen")