I recommend the creation of an overall professional development approach which adopts the four core elements of police training:

Operational, Specialist, Command and Leadership.

The approach I recommend combines vertical development from front line officer, to manager, to senior manager, to strategic manager, with lateral development from generalist, to specialist to advanced specialist and expert. That approach can be applied to a range of specific specialisms within the profession, ranging from neighbourhood policing, response and roads policing to crime investigation, public order and firearms. In each case it will be open to develop those skills both laterally and vertically. For example a senior investigating officer will require professional development qualifications in senior management whilst at the same time a level of

high expertise as a crime investigator. The model has the benefit of emphasising both the vertical development up through the management layers of the organisation and the lateral development of specialism. Whilst that has been implicit in the approach we have taken over the last decade, we have never explicitly spelt out a single model for professional development in the service. Critically this model is not about time served, but about skills acquired, sustained and developed. The model can be applied equally to the development of managers and leaders as to the development of specialist skills in the organisation and therefore to both police officers and police staff.

This model describes how the pre-qualification approach feeds into a structured route to training and development through career. The diagram below illustrates how the professional development in role will influence the level of professional membership. Expertise in a specialist area, alongside strategic leadership, will be recognised as critical elements of professional development and can be developed through stages:

Generalist – those new to policing and still learning. This will include student

officers, PCSOs and Special Constables.

Specialist – those who are demonstrating a basic level of competence on a regular

basis as all or part of their role. This is likely to be at Police Constable rank.

Advanced Specialist – will be experienced in their particular field of expertise and

be able to demonstrate continuing professional development in this area. These people are likely to have responsibility to lead teams and are likely to be in the rank of Sergeant or Inspector

Expert – this group represents those who are leaders in the field of expertise. They

will be those with a public and professional reputation, and likely to be those whose advice will be sought and whose skills and judgement is trusted at the highest level. Development to expert status will not be founded on an academic qualification, but on demonstrated behaviours at this level.

The responsibility for defining the requirements of designation within each of these levels of expertise will sit with the Professional Body with support from the specialist groups.

Fig 8 : Through Career development model linked to (suggested) Professional Body membership level

Opportunities to reconnect professional development with promotion

Within the context of finding efficiencies and effectiveness in a changing culture of learning and leadership, there is opportunity to consider further the alignment of the approach to professional development and progression through the leadership roles.

A common assessment and accreditation framework will allow a new landscape for promotion based on the accreditation of expertise and lateral development as is the case with other professions, for example, nursing and teaching.

The new approach to progression from pre-join through initial and operational training supported by national standards set by a professional body needs to be

Expertise Pre-Join Providing a service Leading Local Policing Strategic Leadership Leading the Team

Specialist Advanced Specialist Expert

Leadership Member Fellow Honorary Associate Generalist

implemented as a tool to enable progression through rank and role. On the basis of this, it is recommended that suitability for promotion to the rank of Sergeant and Inspector is enhanced by a requirement to achieve a recognised professional qualification. This should be delivered and assessed to national standards as defined by the Professional body for Policing.

The opportunities afforded by the proposed revised approach are therefore:

 A progressive approach to professional development linked to career progression.

 It creates the opportunity to develop people at a pace which suits both the individual’s circumstance and force opportunities for progression;

 A cost effective approach which prevents multiple assessment of competence; and

 Aligns the approach to that of initial training and development in operational roles.

To achieve these benefits a re-examination of the current regulatory framework for Police progression is required. Consideration of the stage at which officers are able to take the responsibilities of the higher rank and how the opportunities for ‘acting up’ are managed is needed.

Through a framework of professional qualifications sitting on a professional development framework, there is opportunity for forces and individuals to engage with approved providers of training against the national curriculum. In the context of leadership this is most likely to be Higher Education Providers. The assessment units required for progression can therefore be achieved in a range of contexts. Officers need to be able to transfer credit achieved between awards.

Talent Management – Opportunities for accelerated progression.

Talent management includes recruitment, induction, goal-setting, performance

management, assessment, learning, career planning and succession planning processes. To effectively manage talent within the service the organisation needs to

become more strategic in the way in which it selects, trains, develops, retains and rewards individuals.

The High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS) selects and develops a cohort of high achievers with potential to progress to seniority within the service. This scheme is underpinned by a professional leadership qualification and the provision of enhanced development opportunities.

Fig 9: The current national talent management strategy

The police service already has comprehensive strategies which support workforce planning. These HR processes need to work closely with learning and development to ensure there is an effective strategy to enable progression at a pace which suits both individual and organisational needs.

As the consultation survey highlighted, there remains significant frustration with the current talent management approach. Whilst respondents recognised the value of the High Potential Development Scheme (HPDS), there was a sense that there was an overreliance on this as a talent management tool, sometimes to the detriment of other forms of talent development:

As the comment from the Chief Inspector above highlights, I think that the police service is over reliant on HPDS as the key tool for recognising and rewarding talent; the culture needs to shift to encourage individuals to want to develop as professionals. Managers should be encouraged to be ‘talent facilitators’ who recognise and encourage individuals to develop. Placement opportunities both within and external to the force should be encouraged as a way of developing individuals with potential. Experience from these placements, through application of the professional framework, can be used to support demonstration of competence against criteria for progression. Leadership from the top of the organisation is key to changing the culture of the organisation.

An on-going NPIA evaluation of promotion processes for ranks to sergeant and inspector reveals that a significant proportion of current and recent candidates are dissatisfied with the promotion route in their force (50% of respondents involved with the trial ‘work-based assessment route’ and 40% of respondents involved in the OSPRE process.) When asked how they would like to be assessed for promotion, 46% of all respondents would choose work-based assessment alone, without additional national police assessment centre testing or requirements for professional qualification. A combination of professional qualification and work based assessment was the second most preferred stated method.

‘In terms of promotion to Sergeant from Constable, the current system is not fit for purpose,

with the OSPRE pt.2 exam completely detached from reality and not an effective method of identifying any ability to manage in the real world.’

Consultation respondent, Constable ‘At this time talent management is very subjective. A more structured approach would make for a fairer assessment.’’

Consultation respondent, Constable ‘As an HPDS officer I feel the support has been there, I wonder how I would answer if I was not on HPDS? I think talent management is the way forward but a more corporate approach across the board needs to be developed. PNAC and SCC are good but they need reviewing, for example currently it is beneficial to show you have worked a couple of forces or been a BCU Commander, we need to address this criteria in the future, with BCUs diminishing and less opportunity to transfer that's why building secondment opportunities with forces is a way forward!’

“Work-based assessment is onerous and time consuming but at least it is relevant to the rank which the previous workstations examination was not”

Consultation respondent, rank unknown

The current promotion process has been in a process of flux and change for over a decade. After reform of the examination system in the 1990’s to introduce competency based assessment through role play scenarios (OSPRE® Part 2 (Objective Structured Performance Related Examination), a trial to replace this with a more workplace based assessment has been rumbling on far too long. Both models (OSPRE® and work based assessment) have deficits; both fail to integrate a qualification in management with the law and behavioural elements; OSPRE Part 2 is very carefully assessed but not linked to workplace performance; work based assessment has provided a much clearer link to the workplace but has struggled to overcome confidence in the assessment process, mainly this is due to a lack of understanding; work based assessment is a tool to confirm competence and as such should not be used as the sole tool for selection for progression.

I do acknowledge that both have some strength. OSPRE 1 is a relatively efficient examination process conducted to very high standards; and work based assessment provides a workplace link and peer assessment process which an ongoing evaluation suggests is a valued part of the process by candidates. However, without the link to management skills and standing on their own neither are the right way forward. In contrast, the Scottish Police Service has chosen to move away from the England and Wales approach and have developed an integrated and accredited management qualification.

Recommendation 6: I recommend a new management qualification in policing