Page 16 - WMPF Federation Oct-Nov 2020_Neat

Director’s views

Force is faring well

with recruitment

he Force is currently managing almost other changes in our processes around
1,000 candidates a month for student medical appointments, fitness testing,
Tofficer roles as the Government’s plans uniform fittings, attestations and induction
to recruit 20,000 more officers across to ensure we are able to recruit the right
England and Wales gather momentum. people and adhere to the guidelines set out
The recruitment drive has led to extra by the Government around social distancing.
staff being taken on to speed up processes “We have also been working closely with
and get successful applicants started on their the Home Office and national uplift team to
training programmes. ensure we have the latest national guidance
Nicola Price, the Force’s director of people in place, to help us bring new student
and organisation development, admits it has officers safely into the Force and their new
been a case of stepping things up to enable policing careers.”
the Force to cope with the increased number The Force was one of the first to launch
of applications. the new College of Policing Online
“In July, we welcomed 234 new student Assessment Centre in May this year.
officers to West Midlands Police, which is the Completely different to Search, candidate
most we have ever recruited in one month feedback has been really positive, so this will
and actually more than we recruited in the be continued, and developed, as the year
whole year in 2017. We are attracting a progresses.
significant amount of people, and have really A large proportion of student officer
reduced the amount of time it takes from training has taken place online due to
someone applying to receiving an offer,” she Nicola Price. Covid-19 and the Force will try to ensure
explains. As the second largest force in England training remains as a ‘blended’ delivery
“The current volume is significantly and Wales, West Midlands Police has the model including both face to face and online
different to the volume of hires over the last second biggest officer uplift target (366) sessions.
few years. The nature of applications is also and, taking into account all recruitment Given the immense amount of work that
very different than it has been in previous activity, is looking for almost 3,000 new goes into recruiting and training student
years. Prior to Covid, it was a very candidate police officers to join by March 2023. officers, the Federation has had some
driven market, we were seeing candidates Coupled with the pressure put on the concerns about the number of new recruits
applying for multiple roles in various Force to ramp up its recruitment process, who, very early in their careers, seek a
organisations, so the way we communicate there has also been a period of adjustment transfer to another force.
with them has had to change and we have as, starting last year, it implemented the The direct costs in terms of the training
had to move much quicker to engage them new policing entry routes – the Police provided by the Force to support the
and keep them interested in a policing career. Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) Staffordshire University courses alone give
“We have seen a huge increase in the and Degree Holder Entry Programme (DHEP) an insight into that investment.
numbers of applications for our roles in June – through which 580 people have so far For the PCDA, this is roughly £19,850 per
and July this year, which is really good for us been recruited. student which is the net amount the Force
as people are interested in joining. We are Work is also ongoing with the regional invoices the university for the training it
managing almost 1,000 candidates per forces and Staffordshire University to provides over the three years. DHEP amounts
month just for student officers at the develop a detective constable entry route to £4,934 which is spread out over 24
moment.” while Police Now has also launched a months.
Nicola continues: “We have had to ensure detective scheme with new colleagues So, while recruitment – and then
we have more people to manage our expected through that route early next year. retaining those new recruits - is one element
recruitment pipeline – in terms of recruiters, All this would cause challenges at the of getting officer numbers back to pre-
vetting officers, occupational health and best of times but the pandemic has added austerity levels, what is the Force doing to
learning and development to ensure we are to the mix. try to halt the departure of existing officers?
managing our candidates effectively and Nicola explains: “We had a dip in “It is as important to retain great skills
enabling them to start. applications when lockdown was and experience as it is to recruit good people
“We have also made changes - and announced, but since then we have seen a aligned to our Force values and mission to
continue to make changes - to our systems large increase in applications. We have protect our communities from crime,” Nicola
and processes to make them more user- moved to the new online assessment centre, explains.
friendly and automating where possible to which has been helpful with managing “We need to balance our organisation
make the process faster and the experience social distancing. with people who have experience and those
better for our candidates.” “We have also had to implement many who will develop and grow. We are looking

16 federation October/November 2020 www.polfed.org/westmids