Information on MPS vacancies/applications/restricted duties

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.24.035209

I note you seek access to the following information:

1. The total number of people who applied to join the force, broken down by year, in 2021 and 2022 and, of those, the number of successful applicants.

2. The number of people who applied to join the force in 2023, broken down by month and, of those, the number of successful applicants.

3. The number of vacancies in the force, as of 15 January 2024.

4. The number of officers and staff, listed separately, on restricted duties as of 15 January 2024.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full.

Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

Q1 - The total number of people who applied to join the force, broken down by year, in 2021 and 2022 and, of those, the number of successful applicants.

	Applied			Successful			% Successful
Reporting Channel	2021	2022	Total	2021	2022	Total	2022	2023	Total
1 - New Police Constables	9,203	12,833	23,036	752	1,382	2,134	8%	10%	9%
2 - New Dectective Constables	7,338	4,167	11,505	916	412	1,328	12%	10%	12%
3 - Transferees and Rejoiners	353	1,054	1,407	83	229	312	24%	22%	22%
4 - New Special Constable	3,228	1,835	5,063	339	180	519	11%	10%	10%
5 - New MetCC Advisors & Supervisors	728	2,416	3,144	92	266	358	13%	11%	11%
6 - New Designated Detention Officers	231	1,726	1,957	32	160	192	14%	9%	10%
7 - New Police Community Support Officers	784	2,521	3,305	65	222	287	8%	9%	9%
9 - External Recruitment for all Other Roles	14,650	13,050	27,700	664	754	1,418	5%	6%	5%
10 - Internal Recruitment	225	162	387	43	18	61	19%	11%	16%
11 - Internal Recruitment for Firearms & Taskforce	3	4	7	2	1	3	67%	25%	43%
12 - Internal Trainee Detective Constable Scheme	2	1	3	0	0	0	0%	0%	0%
Total	36,745	40,769	77,514	2,988	3,624	6,612	8%	9%	9%

Q2 - The number of people who applied to join the force in 2023, broken down by month and, of those, the number of successful applicants.

Please see the attachment below for the response to Q2.

Q3 - The number of vacancies in the force, as of 15 January 2024.

Please note that these numbers are strength vs vacancies with relate to January 2024.

Target	Actual	Vacanies
53,855.92	47,683.74	6172.18

Q4. The number of officers and staff, listed separately, on restricted duties as of 15 January 2024.

Please see the figures for officers and staff on recuperative/adjusted duties s of 15/01/2024

	Officers	Staff	Total
Recuperative Duties	866	131	997
Adjusted Duties	3610	0	3610
Grand Totals	4476	131	4607
Grand Totals less 217 officers on both Recuperative & Adjusted Duties	4259	131	4390

*217 officers were on both adjusted and recuperative duties on 15/01/2024, meaning that they have been counted twice in the grand totals, the figures in the last row reduce the grand totals by 217
Staff are not eligible for Adjusted Duties, hence the 0 figure