Recruitment strategies and female recruitment in policing

Freedom of information request reference no: 01.FOI.25.044497

I note you seek access to the following information:

As mentioned, in trying to understand the relationship between recruitment strategies and female recruitment in policing in England and Wales we have made use of public source data. In this process we compiled the following chart for the Metropolitan Police. The chart shows an uptick in female recruitment to 40% in 2021 with further slight increases in the following years.

I’m wondering if you, or someone in the Met’s HR section, could shed light on this, perhaps from memory. In particular, in 2020 and following, were boosted female targeted recruitment campaigns introduced, or changes made to selection criteria (such as an affirmative action / preferential selection program), which would account for this change.

Decision

I have today decided to disclose the located information to you in full. Please find below information pursuant to your request above.

The predominant driver for the increase in female intakes is the role of Detective (DC). The increase in percentage of female joiners coincides with the increased volume of DC intakes and the increase percentage that DC’s are contributing to the overall officer intake.

For 2023/2024, whilst the overall proportion of DC’s remained high (27.2 %) the proportion of Police Constables (PC’s) direct recruitment dropped and the Transferees, Rejoiners and Returners (TRR) increased to 18.2 %. The TRR intakes are particularly low in terms of female representation. However, over 50% of DC applications come from female candidates.

In addition, Police Now attracts a higher proportion of female new joiners to the traditional Uniform PC role.