Police: Recruitment
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what guidance her Department provides on taking factors other than merit into consideration when it comes to police (a) appointments and (b) promotions.
Answered by Sarah Jones
Police recruitment and promotion processes are managed locally by individual police forces. All processes are based on merit and assess candidates’ eligibility, skills and competencies, in line with national guidance and standards set by the College of Policing.
Recruitment must be undertaken within a national application, assessment and selection framework, as set out in Police (Amendment) (Recruitment Standards) Regulations 2026. The recruitment standard ensures forces consistently assess candidates’ values, skills, and behaviours against the College of Policing’s competency and values framework.
The College’s National Police Promotion Framework sets out the promotion process for assessing eligibility, skills and competencies required of police officers seeking promotion to the rank of sergeant or inspector.
As set out in the Police Reform White Paper, national leadership development programmes will become a required step to access promotion opportunities at each rank. This will ensure officers seeking promotion demonstrate that they have the right leadership skills and meet the required standard for senior ranks.
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