Federation Brands ‘licence to practise’ for police officers as a “gimmick”

28 January 2026

The Government’s proposal of a ‘licence to practise’ for police officers is a “gimmick”, and won’t work unless there’s enough investment for officers to take time out of work to undertake training, the Chair of Norfolk Police Federation has said.

As part of its major reform of policing, the Home Office will require police officers in England and Wales to hold and renew a licence in order to keep working, otherwise they risk being removed from the job.

The licence is drawn from other professions such as lawyers and doctors, and officers will have to demonstrate that they have the skills needed to fight crime. The licence will create a single framework for officer training, supervision and development, and will set clear standards in areas such as violence against women and girls, and neighbourhood policing. Those who fail to reach the required standard, following opportunities to try again, will be sacked.

But Andy Symonds, Chair of Norfolk Police Federation, said that these kinds of initiatives had failed time and time again because there weren’t enough officers to cover abstractions and training.

He said: “It's a gimmick, and we're fed up with gimmicks in policing. For instance, a few years ago we were told that we needed to professionalise the police, and we need degree entry.

“But now we’re moving away from degree entry in Norfolk, because we can't cope with the abstractions that are created by giving graduate police officers the time and space to develop; we need them on the frontline because of the low numbers.

“So this licence to practise is just another gimmick, in my mind, because where are people going to find the time, operationally, to give officers a proper amount of input and development to train and have this licence to practise. Once it touches reality on the frontline, it will fall apart unless it's properly invested in.”

Andy said it all boiled down to there not being enough boots on the ground. He gave the example of the College of Policing telling officers to undertake Public and Personal Safety Training two days a year, but forces couldn’t cope with the abstractions so training was being scaled back.

He continued: “This licence to practise is a lovely idea in the clouds, but once it lands in reality, with forces and officers struggling to deal with just their day job, how on earth are we going to be able to cope?”

Andy added that police officers were annoyed that the Home Office had said they were being outsmarted by criminals and that they are not ‘match-fit’.

He said: “It’s not very nice to hear, when officers are being pulled from pillar to post. Officers are knackered from cancelled rest days and running around trying to plug all the problems in society.

“So we've got to properly manage officers’ workloads, rather than just choosing more bureaucracy. We've already got enough bureaucracy in the police. What we need is to get out from our desks, and back out into dealing with stuff on the frontline.”

Andy also feared that the Government would charge for the licence, as it does with other professions. He said: “That is an untenable position – we can't do that to police officers, because we haven't got industrial rights.

“We've already got vetting, we hold a warrant card. We've got conduct regulations, the code of ethics, and all the training we're doing at the moment.

“I agree with the Government that we do need to invest more in officers’ training. But what they need to fix first before they bring in this licence to practise is the ability for forces to deal with abstractions. We can’t just firefight issues – we’ve got to think long term.”