PCCs say degrees take new recruits off the street

7 November 2022

The Home Secretary is facing calls from Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to get new officer recruits ‘out of classrooms and on the beat’.

Sixteen PCCs have signed a letter to Suella Braverman warning that up to 10 per cent of their officers are studying rather than fighting crime on the frontlines.

They say that regulations requiring new recruits to undertake three years of study (equivalent to a policing degree) is likely to deter the non-academically minded and older recruits who are thinking of switching careers to policing. They warn that this endangers the Government’s flagship 20,000 Police Uplift Programme.

Rich Cooke, who chairs West Midlands Police Federation, said: “We have always said that you don’t need a degree to be a good police officer. I know that this obsession with ‘policing degrees’ risks putting off some of the people we want to attract into the job, like the older recruits who don’t want to spend three years studying. That, in combination with constables’ pay that’s fallen by nearly a third in real terms since 2010, is driving away candidates we need. 

“The Police Education Qualification Framework (PEQF) has been an expensive waste of money in our view. A gross distraction from focus on students developing core policing skills known in the job as ‘street craft’. Training is vital, but the balance seems to have tilted too far in the direction of academia rather than practicality and it is ridiculous we have very capable constables stressed out writing dissertations when they could be out patrolling the streets and protecting the public.”

Kit Malthouse signed off on the new regulations during his time as policing minister, making it mandatory from March 2023 for any officer completing their three-year probation to have gained a graduate-level qualification. They must also complete an evidence-based research project as part of their final assessment.

However, the PCCs in their letter argue that a ‘more flexible approach’ would give “better options to help recruit a wider range of people with suitable experience, including military, serving Specials and PCSOs, or people seeking a career change, more quickly”.

Matthew Scott, PCC for Kent, told The Telegraph newspaper: “We are turning away perfectly good people because we have decided you need a degree to be a police officer. There are many fine police officers who have never had a degree.”

The PCCs represent forces across England and Wales and include Kent, Lancashire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Gloucestershire, Dorset, Hampshire, Bedfordshire, Humberside, Surrey, Thames Valley, Warwickshire, Essex, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire and Cleveland.

A spokesperson from the College of Policing countered: “New officers have told us the updated training has dramatically improved how prepared and confident they feel in doing the job in comparison to the previous training. A survey of almost 4,000 new recruits showed that 82 per cent undergoing the updated training said the force learning provided them with the skills for the job.”