Police Constable Entry Programme (PCEP)

Our new Police Constable Entry Programme (PCEP) blends classroom learning at one of our Met in-house training centres with learning ‘on the job’. You'll spend the majority of your time working alongside experienced police officers out on London's streets.

It’s a two year programme that counts as your probation. The training is based on the national policing curriculum and focuses on preparing you for a hands-on policing role. You will spend the first few weeks of your training learning the law and specialist policing knowledge, ready to join your team out on the streets. While you will learn and develop your policing knowledge and practice you will not gain an academic qualification.

The starting salary is over £38,269. On successful completion you'll earn £40,789. All salaries include allowances. 

Eligibility criteria

You must meet the eligibility criteria to be a police constable set out in 'Who we are looking for'. You will need a Level 2 qualification in English language at a GCSE grade C or above, or grades 4 to 9, and one of the following:

• Two A Levels at grade E or above in any subject or be working towards these
• Level 3 qualification or be working towards one, including an International Baccalaureate Diploma or NVQ. We will also consider the equivalent overseas qualification
• Training or work experience that’s equal to a Level 3 qualification
• To have served as a Police Community Support Officer, a Special Constable or Designated Detention Officer for 12 months
• To have been a member of the Met’s Volunteer Police Cadets for 24 months
• Service in the Armed Forces. You must have successfully completed the minimum term of service and have an exemplary reference. Service must have been a minimum of two years within the last five years

We will also consider an English Language equivalent overseas qualification in place of the Level 2 qualification.

Training and assessment

This is a two year programme in which you’ll learn at one of our own Met training centres, and on the job working in one of our police teams.

Our training centres are at:

• Colindale in north London
• Sidcup in south London

After a week’s introduction to the Met, you start 16 weeks classroom learning. The training follows a shift pattern on alternate weeks:

• Early: 7am to 3pm
• Late: 2pm to 10pm

This covers policing and the law, giving you the basic knowledge and skills to be a police constable.

The next two months you will spend working in a police team, based on a London borough. This will be alongside a dedicated experienced police officer acting as your ‘tutor constable’. This is called 'Street Duties'. It is where you can put into practice what you have been taught.

The remainder of your two years will be spent building on your learning and experience. You'll get to enhance your skills and knowledge, through a number of different policing roles. This will include working within teams that respond to emergency calls from the public and police London’s neighbourhoods, working with communities.

You’ll return to your training centre for other short blocks of classroom learning. Upon successfully completing your two year programme you’ll be a fully qualified police constable. 

Application and recruitment process

The following information will help you have the best chance of success with your application. It will tell you what you can expect from our recruitment process at each stage.

It can take around six months for people to complete our recruitment process. At each stage you will be contacted by and receive more information from our recruitment team who are there for you throughout.

If you have any questions or concerns you can:

• call our recruitment team on 01633 632500
• live chat with recruitment team, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm