Police recruitment in England and Wales is assessed against the Competency and Values Framework, which sets out six competencies and four values with defined behaviours at each level. Your application, online assessment and interview are all scored against it. Read the framework at the level you are applying for, then supply one specific example per behaviour rather than describing the job you want.
What the Framework Contains
The Competency and Values Framework replaced earlier behavioural models and is used across forces for recruitment, promotion and development. It describes what good looks like in observable terms, which is what makes it scorable.
The six competencies cover how you work: making effective decisions, taking ownership, working collaboratively, delivering and supporting, analysing critically, and being innovative and open-minded. Alongside them sit four values: impartiality, integrity, public service, and transparency.
Levels Matter as Much as Competencies
Each competency is described at several levels. Level one describes a constable operating within established procedure. Higher levels describe those setting direction for others. Applying for a constable post and writing at a strategic level reads as poorly targeted, not as ambitious.
Find the level descriptors for the role you are applying for and write to those specific behaviours rather than to the competency title alone.
Evidence Comes From Any Part of Your Life
Candidates routinely assume they need policing experience. They do not. The framework assesses behaviour, and behaviour shows up in retail, care work, the armed forces, voluntary roles, sport and family responsibilities.
A supermarket supervisor who defused an aggressive customer, followed a procedure, recorded it accurately and reported a safeguarding concern has evidence for several competencies simultaneously. The setting is irrelevant. The observable behaviour is the point.
Examples That Score Well
- A situation with genuine difficulty, not a routine task performed correctly
- A decision you made, with the reason you made it
- Something you did while under pressure, with time or information missing
- A point where you challenged something or reported a concern
- An outcome, including what you would do differently
Structuring the Written Answers
Use a structure that separates your actions from the group's. Assessors mark what you did, so "we" is context and "I" is evidence.
- Situation: where, when, and what made it difficult, in two sentences
- Task: what you were responsible for specifically
- Action: what you did, step by step, in the first person
- Result: what happened, plus what you learned
Keep to any word limit exactly. Assessors mark against the criteria and an over-length answer can be truncated at the point where your best evidence sits.
The Stages You Will Face
Processes vary by force, but the shape is broadly consistent. Expect an application form with competency questions, an online assessment process, an interview structured around the framework, and then fitness, medical and vetting stages.
The Online Assessment Process
This typically includes situational judgement exercises and a written exercise, often built around a realistic briefing pack. Situational judgement questions ask what you would do, and the strongest answers usually balance public safety, proportionality and accurate recording rather than picking the most decisive-sounding option.
Vetting Is Where Applications End Late
Police vetting is significantly broader than a standard employment check. It considers your financial position, your associations, your online presence and matters involving family members. Undisclosed issues are treated far more seriously than disclosed ones, and non-disclosure is itself an integrity concern.
Declare cautions, county court judgments, tattoos where asked, social media accounts and any close association with someone with a criminal record. Disclosure does not automatically bar you. Concealment frequently does.
Values Are Assessed in How You Answer
Integrity and impartiality are not tested by asking whether you have them. They show in whether your examples include moments where you did the harder correct thing, reported something inconvenient, or treated someone fairly when it cost you effort.
An example in which you are entirely blameless and universally admired usually scores less well than one in which you made a judgement call, explained your reasoning and acknowledged a limitation.
Preparing the Examples Before the Form
The most common reason a capable candidate scores badly is writing examples straight into the form under time pressure. Build a bank first and the application becomes selection rather than invention.
Build Eight, Use Six
- A time you dealt with someone hostile or distressed
- A time you followed a procedure when it was inconvenient
- A time you reported a concern about a colleague or a situation
- A decision made with incomplete information
- A time you worked with another organisation or team
- A mistake you made and what you changed afterwards
- A time you treated someone fairly when it was difficult
- A time you noticed something others had missed
Write each as ten lines with the date, the setting, what you did and what resulted. Most competencies can be evidenced from more than one of them, so you are choosing the best fit rather than starting from nothing.
Keep the bank for interview. Assessors sometimes probe the examples you submitted, and being able to expand on the same incident consistently is considerably stronger than producing a fresh story that contradicts the written answer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I Need a Degree to Join the Police?
There are several entry routes, including degree-holder and apprenticeship pathways, so a degree is not required for every route. Check which routes your target force currently runs, as availability varies.
Can I Apply With a Criminal Record?
It depends on the offence, its age and its nature. Some convictions are an automatic bar and many are not. Declare everything, because vetting will find it and non-disclosure is treated as a separate integrity failure.
How Fit Do I Need to Be?
The fitness test standard is published and includes a multi-stage shuttle run to a defined level. It is achievable with preparation, and candidates who train for it specifically pass more often than generally fit candidates who do not.
Does Tattoo or Appearance Policy Still Apply?
Forces have their own policies, generally focused on visible content that could cause offence rather than tattoos in principle. Declare them as asked and check the force's published policy.
How Long Does the Process Take?
Commonly several months from application to start date, with vetting and medical clearance accounting for much of it. Plan on that basis rather than expecting a quick appointment.
Where to Start
Download the Competency and Values Framework, find the level descriptors for the role, and write one real example against each behaviour before you open the application form. Candidates who prepare that way write better answers faster, and they arrive at interview already able to talk about the same evidence without contradicting what they submitted.
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