New recruits report ‘high satisfaction’ with entry routes into policing

The 2023 New Recruits Survey was conducted by the College of Policing together with the Home Office between March and May 2023 to support evaluation and improvement of police constable initial education.

It was sent to all new recruits, on any entry route, who joined the police service between the beginning of February 2020 and the end of November 2022, as well as earlier joiners to the police constable degree apprenticeship and degree holder entry programme.

The survey was carried out prior to changes to the entry routes which are being introduced through a national optimisation programme.

In total 8,086 officers took part in the survey, a response rate of 24 per cent.

The college said there have been common findings across the three years of the survey. Again, the 2023 results show that across all entry routes:

• High satisfaction with education and training delivered by force trainers and with support from force staff;
• High self-reported mental wellbeing; and
• High satisfaction with the police officer role.

Additional questions in the 2023 survey provided “positive evidence” of:

• Recruits’ motivation to think critically; and
• Recruits’ confidence to challenge and report inappropriate behaviour.

The 2023 survey results also show greater awareness and understanding of evidence-based policing and problem-solving approaches among joiners through the police constable degree apprenticeship and degree holder entry programme.

“The police constable entry routes are constantly reviewed to make sure they are delivering for policing and recruits,” said the College of Policing.

“Issues raised in the survey are already being addressed as part of the national Optimisation Programme for the entry routes.

“This programme focuses on the collective findings from the three years of the new recruit survey and wider learning. It is enabling all routes to be fully vocational and work-based, and supporting truly collaborative programmes with forces and universities.”

Achievements from the Optimisation Programme to date include:

• The release of revised curricula and assessment requirements for all routes;
• The launch of a single procurement framework, locking best practice into force and university contracts; and
• The launch of a new entry route, the ‘police constable entry programme’ (PCEP).

The PCEP route can be delivered entirely in-house by forces and with no requirement for learners to achieve a professional policing qualification. Its introduction means forces can now operate four different police constable entry routes (PCER), all underpinned by the same core curricula.

The mix of entry routes offers choice about preferred learning and assessment methods for potential applicants.

“Changes to police constable initial education has been the most fundamental workforce reform for policing in decades. There has been a huge amount of innovation and learning since new routes first launched in 2018,” said Jo Noakes, director of Leadership and Workforce Development at the college.

“I am grateful to the new officers who have shared their feedback on their learning and development, in this survey and also in the 2021 and 2022 surveys. Together, they’ve been informing a major programme to embed best practice and make the routes the best possible start to police officer careers.

“Thanks to the collective efforts of so many, all police constable entry routes are having a refreshed emphasis on the vocational nature of policing together with a focus on work-based assessment and learning. There are extra measures to ensure consistent high standards.”