Meet - Metropolitan Police

Our officers and staff are at the heart of policing in the Met. Every day we rely on thousands of officers and staff who are committed to working together and with our communities and partners to successfully deliver the policing that Londoners need and deserve; people who share our values, are committed to high standards, and want to help create change for a better London.

If you’re looking for a challenging and rewarding role, our Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship allows you to earn as you learn and gives you a qualification in Professional Policing. You’ll get loads of experience, build your skills, and be an officer from your first day.

Skills Apprenticeship Details Locations How to apply What our apprentices do Behind the scenes Related Resources Where to go next

Skills we look for

What makes us a great employer

Starting salary

The starting salary for a Police Constable Degree Apprentice (PCDA) role with the Met is £42,210. After three years, you’ll graduate from your degree and the probation, and your salary will go up to £47,475.

Earn as you learn

Our Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) means you can learn as you earn, gaining a free (BSc) Hons degree in professional policing practice. The Met covers all qualification fees, so that you can get a degree that is relevant to policing.

Completing the training programme opens up a number of career paths and opportunities for you. The Met is the largest police service in the UK, and naturally, offers a wide variety of specialist units and opportunities to progress your career.

A range of Discounts

As a police constable, the work you do matters. To thank you for your service, you can receive benefits, including:

Access to our dedicated discount site, offering money off a host of high street shops, grocery shops, days out, and gyms
Eligibility for the Blue Light Card, which will give you discounts on a variety of things, from restaurants to experiences

Health and Wellbeing Benefits

Policing is a physically demanding job, so it’s important to take care of your health. That’s why you’ll get:

Access to free physiotherapy
Free eyesight tests
On-site gym facilities in our buildings across London
Four sport club houses, offering free or low-cost access to sporting facilities to our officers and their families

Free travel

Whether you are on or off duty, you will receive free travel inside London and heavily discounted travel from up to 70 miles outside London.

Apprenticeships Details

Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship

Our Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) is a three-year programme that combines classroom learning with frontline experience on London’s streets. Real-world policing experience will be central to this programme.

You’ll build on everything you learn, working in a number of different policing roles, from responding to emergency calls from the public to policing London’s neighbourhoods and working directly with communities. Each role will help you advance your skill set, enhance your knowledge and help you gain valuable experience.

You’ll also be required to complete operational and academic assessments from time to time, including exams, essays and presentations.

For more information visit: Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship – Metropolitan Police Careers

Training

Your initial training will consist of 17 weeks at Hendon, including a 4 day introduction to the Met.

The initial learning at Hendon will include:

policing, the law and police powers
protection, vulnerability and public protection
policing communities, response policing and investigating crime
police leadership, coaching and mentoring
officer safety training
emergency life support
safeguarding
crime investigation and operational policing skills

The first four days you will work 08:00 – 16:00 shifts. From then on the shift pattern at Hendon during your training is alternating weeks of earlies and late shifts. It is Mon – Fri, 07:00 – 15:00 (early), and 14:00 – 22:00 (late).

The next ten weeks you will spend working in a police team, based on a London borough. This will be alongside dedicated experienced police officer’s acting as ‘tutor constables’. This is called street duties, and is where you can put into practice what you have been taught.

The remainder of your three years will be spent building on what you have learnt so far. You’ll enhance your skills, experience and knowledge through a number of different policing roles, including working on teams that respond to emergency calls from the public, and as officers policing London’s neighbourhoods working with communities.

You’ll complete further learning in year two, twice for up to three weeks of learning. In your final year, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake research into an area of policing you’re particularly interested in. You’ll then present your research by way of an academic poster and short briefing.

Throughout your training you will need to complete operational and academic assessments. Academic assessments include exams, essays and presentations.

Upon successfully completing your three year programme you’ll be a fully qualified police constable and will graduate from your degree.

Graduating as a Police officer

The three-year training will also count as your probation. On successful completion, you’ll graduate from both the degree and the probation.

Entry requirements for the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship

It can take up to six months for the entire process to be completed, but the career that you will be building is worth the wait.

London is one of the most diverse cities in the world. That’s why in the Met, we welcome applications from people from all backgrounds who are committed to making a difference for the communities we serve. We are looking for people who share our values of integrity, courage, accountability, respect and empathy.

In addition to this, we also have our standard eligibility criteria, including

Academic Qualifications

You must have, or be working towards, 1-2 A-Levels or a Level 3 qualification.
English at GCSE at Grades 4 to 9 (Grade C or above)
Training or work experience equivalent to a Level 3 qualification is also acceptable.

Health and Fitness

You will need to pass a fitness test. You will be required to run up and down a 15-metre track, beating a ‘bleep’. At the end of each level, the time between bleeps gets shorter, meaning you have to run faster. The whole test takes three minutes and 35 seconds and covers a total of 525 metres.

Medical Conditions

Some medical conditions can prevent you from being able to cope with the physical and mental demands of the job. HM government medical standards information gives full details on illnesses, injuries and disorders that will affect your ability to work as a police officer. For more information visit: National recruitment standards – medical standards for police recruitment – GOV.UK

Eyesight

You must meet the police eyesight standards. These are the same no matter which force you join. Your eyesight is tested as part of your medical, which takes place during the application process. For more information visit: Determinations of The Secretary of State under the police regulations 2003 – GOV.UK

Vetting

Everyone joining the Met must be vetted. Vetting checks are an important way to maintain our high standards and reassure Londoners that appropriate checks are done on people who hold a position of trust.

31locations Locations

Applying for our Apprenticeships

Start
1

First, you’ll need to submit an online registration form and an application form to make sure you pass our basic eligibility criteria. A basic security check will be conducted, which takes around seven days.
2
You will be asked to complete an online test, known as the “National Sift”. The test is made up of two exercises:
- the Situational Judgement Test (SJT)
- a Behavioural Styles Questionnaire (BSQ)
The exercises will assess if you have the key behaviours and values to join us as a police constable. No prior policing knowledge is required to complete the national sift exercises.

National sift candidate guidance is available on the College of Policing website

You can expect this stage of the process to take about two weeks.
3
The online assessment is made up of three exercises:
- Competency-based interview: use examples from your work and personal life to answer a series of questions.
- Written assessment: complete an urgent written task whilst assuming the role of a police constable.
- Briefing exercise: read the material and answer questions based on what you have read as if you were a police constable.
You should complete this stage within about three weeks of Step 1. You can expect your results within three weeks of completing the assessment.
4

We’ll invite you to our Met recruitment centre in South London for an interview focused on our values. If you pass the interview, you’ll then be invited to complete a medical and job related fitness test (JRFT).

You can expect your results within four to eight weeks, depending on personal circumstances.

A training programme to support your test can be found here.
5

These checks are there to make sure we are recruiting police officers who meet our standards of behaviour and share our values. The length of time this takes can vary. On average, it takes about two months.

You can find out more on the vetting process here.
6

If you’re successful, we’ll make you a formal offer of employment and discuss the best date for you to join.
End

Start

Online registration form and application

First, you’ll need to submit an online registration form and an application form to make sure you pass our basic eligibility criteria. A basic security check will be conducted, which takes around seven days.

National sift

You will be asked to complete an online test, known as the “National Sift”. The test is made up of two exercises:

the Situational Judgement Test (SJT)
a Behavioural Styles Questionnaire (BSQ)

The exercises will assess if you have the key behaviours and values to join us as a police constable. No prior policing knowledge is required to complete the national sift exercises.

National sift candidate guidance is available on the College of Policing website

You can expect this stage of the process to take about two weeks.

Your online assessment

The online assessment is made up of three exercises:

Competency-based interview: use examples from your work and personal life to answer a series of questions.
Written assessment: complete an urgent written task whilst assuming the role of a police constable.
Briefing exercise: read the material and answer questions based on what you have read as if you were a police constable.

You should complete this stage within about three weeks of Step 1. You can expect your results within three weeks of completing the assessment.

Face to face Met assessment

We’ll invite you to our Met recruitment centre in South London for an interview focused on our values. If you pass the interview, you’ll then be invited to complete a medical and job related fitness test (JRFT).

You can expect your results within four to eight weeks, depending on personal circumstances.

A training programme to support your test can be found here.

Pre-employment checks and vetting

These checks are there to make sure we are recruiting police officers who meet our standards of behaviour and share our values. The length of time this takes can vary. On average, it takes about two months.

You can find out more on the vetting process here.

Offer of employment

If you’re successful, we’ll make you a formal offer of employment and discuss the best date for you to join.

End

Need some extra support?

If you have any questions or concerns, you can call our recruitment team on 01633 632 500 or email [email protected].

Our aim is to support every application and give you all of the tools necessary to give you the best chance of being successful in your application.

Disability Confident Statement

The Met is committed to being an equitable (fair and impartial) and inclusive employer for disabled people, striving to have a diverse and representative workforce at all levels. We encourage applications from people from the widest possible range of backgrounds, cultures and experiences. We particularly welcome applications from people with disabilities and long-term conditions, ethnic minority groups and women.

As a Disability Confident Leader, the Met has committed to making disability equality part of our everyday practice. We ensure that people with disabilities and those with long term conditions have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.

The Met is committed to making reasonable adjustments to the recruitment process to ensure disabled applicants can perform at their best. If you need any reasonable adjustments or changes to the application and recruitment process, we ask that you include this information within your application form. All matters will be treated in strict confidence.

Please note, if you are applying for a police officer role or to become a police community support officer (PCSO) or designated detention officer (DDO), there is a minimum requirement that you must pass a job-related fitness test (JRFT) at point of entry. This does not apply to police staff roles. Find out more about police fitness standards.

What our apprentices do!

“I’ve always had that inner feeling of wanting to protect people and make a difference in people’s lives.”

I was a Special Constable for 4 years and during that time I found I enjoyed the adrenaline and the positive impact I was having. Each day is different and there’s something exciting about that.

The most rewarding part of my job is knowing I’ve helped someone in their darkest time. People call the police when they have no other option and often in their time of need. It’s rewarding to go home knowing I’ve made a difference in someone’s life and knowing I’ve done the right thing.

Tony

Police Constable

Level 6-7 (Degree)

“Knowing that when you finish for the day, you have made a difference to someone’s life and have ensured they are safe and out of harm’s way.”

PC Leigha joined the Met four years ago and works as part of Safer Neighbourhoods team.

My day to day role is a mixture of fast and slow pace. When my team and I are out and about we conduct a lot of plain clothes and uniform operations to tackle drug dealing or robberies that happen in main hot spot areas. However, we also conduct a lot of community events and help local partners tackle problems on the ward by working together, which is more long term partnership working.

Leigha

Police Constable

Level 6-7 (Degree)

“My drive is to protect and serve Londoners”

PC Akeem has been in the Met two years and works on the Emergency Response team.

The most rewarding part of my job is going home at night knowing I have given it my best, that I’ve tried my absolute best. If I have done everything and helped a victim as much as I can, although as an officer you might not get the response you sometimes deserve, I am still happy and can sleep at night.

During my two years of service, we are definitely more diverse and more transparent. Irrespective of what background you are from or where you were born, everyone is treated the same and are offered the same opportunities.

Akeem

Police Constable

Level 6-7 (Degree)