Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs)

Eligibility requirements for PCSO’s are fairly detailed, but we've provided a summary of the basic requirements.

Age requirements

Applicants can go through the recruitment process at the age of 17 but cannot be appointed until the age of 18. There is no upper age limit for applying to the police service, but bear in mind that being a PCSO is demanding both physically and mentally.

We welcome all ages as we believe a diverse workforce that is reflective of everyone who lives in our community is the best way to be effective. No matter your age, you bring important skills and perspectives that are key tools for being a PCSO.

Educational requirements

There are currently no minimum education requirements to apply to become a PCSO.

Nationality requirements

You must be a British citizen, an EC/EEA national or a Commonwealth citizen or foreign national with no restrictions on your stay in the United Kingdom. As we need a minimum of five years' residential history in the UK to be able to complete background checks, foreign nationals and UK citizens who have lived abroad may have to wait some time for security and vetting clearance. You must have been resident in the UK for at least 3 years with no breaks of longer than 3 months during this time immediately before applying.

Criminal record

A number of crimes will mean a definite or likely rejection of your application, including anyone who has received a formal caution in the last five years, committed a violent crime or public order offence. If you are at all unsure, get in contact and ask.

Financial status

Applicants will have their financial status checked. These checks are carried out because PCSO’s have access to privileged information which may make them vulnerable to corruption.

Applicants with, or who have had, County Court Judgements or who may be on a Debt Recovery Plan will be assessed on a case by case basis. If you have any concerns, please ask before applying for more information.

Health

PCSO’s encounter stressful situations, trauma, physical confrontation and work long hours on shifts. They need to be resilient enough to cope with the demands and pressures of police work. Applicants must therefore be in good health mentally and physically to undertake police duties. You will be required to complete a medical questionnaire to ensure you meet the health standards required.

Residency criteria

The need for the residency rule arises from the requirement to vet all applicants in an equitable manner. This is because the UK police service does not currently have any means of facilitating vetting enquiries overseas to the extent required for those who are resident in the UK.

The purpose of the residency criteria is to ensure that applicants have a checkable history in the UK, so that meaningful vetting enquiries can be undertaken. The criteria provide reassurance when considering the health and safety of police personnel and the public. Effective vetting cannot be conducted if there is no way to assess the honesty, integrity, reliability and overall suitability for clearance of appointees against the information available.

The residency requirements refer to the period immediately before an application is made, and not any other three-, five-, or ten-year period, or any other accumulation of time spent in the UK.

Application of the residency criteria

If an individual resides permanently in the UK, they are considered to be a UK resident.

An individual who has moved overseas and severed major ties to the UK (e.g., closed bank accounts and sold property) is considered to have surrendered their residency in the UK. This would also apply to people who maintain bank accounts purely for the purpose of receiving regular payments, e.g., a UK pension.

An individual is considered to be on an extended holiday if they have:

• Spent a significant period of time overseas without returning to the UK, but intend to return in the future.
• Taken a gap year before or following university.
• Travelled for a year.
• Spent time overseas visiting family.

This is not an exhaustive list.

Individuals who meet the above criteria maintain their UK residency and may therefore be considered for vetting clearance.

Serving with His Majesty's Government or Armed Forces

An individual who has been posted overseas as part of their service with the government or the armed forces is considered to have been resident in the UK for the period that they were abroad.

Where an individual has been overseas as the spouse, partner or dependent of a member of the armed forces posted overseas, they can be considered to have been resident in the UK if their place of residence was within the confines of the establishment, eg, a military base. If they were residing outside this, they are considered to have been resident overseas.

For the purposes of force vetting, the following residency requirements apply:

• Recruitment vetting (RV) – three years
• Management vetting (MV) – five years
• Non-police personnel vetting (NPPV) – three years

PCSO’s start on a scale 4 salary of £24,921 rising to a maximum of £27,351 within this scale. PCSO’s will also get their 26.5% shift allowance for working weekends and unsocial hours on top of their basic salary.

Our PCSO recruitment is currently closed.

Any future recruitments will be added to this page in due course.

You must first submit an eligibility application form for the role you are applying for. 

As part of the application process, you will be asked to submit the following details:

• Academic qualifications
• Details of your employment history to cover the last 5 years.

This process is run by the College of Policing and is a virtual process designed to assess your capabilities, strengths and behaviours to ensure you have the relevant competencies and values to become a Police Community Support Officer.

You will have 1 week to complete the two exercises:

• Situational Judgement Test (SJT)
• Behavioural Style Questionnaire (BSQ)

You should receive your results within two weeks of completing the National Sift. If successful at this stage, you will be invited to an interview.

If you are unsuccessful you must wait for 3 months before you can apply again within a Police Community Support Officer campaign.

If you are successful at the SIFT stage, you will then be invited to an interview. 

The interview will be based on the Competency and Values Framework (CVF). You will be sent a copy of the CVF prior to the interview.

If you are successful in the interview, you will be required to undergo a vetting process.

The vetting process is where we carry out security checks on you and your:

• Spouse/partner
• Father
• Step father/mother's partner
• Mother
• Step mother/father's partner
• Brothers/sisters (full/half/step)
• Children/children of your partner (only those age 10 years and above)
• Any other adult living at your address.

Please note that vetting can take between 8 to 10 weeks to complete.

Financial circumstances – Applicants will have their financial status checked. These checks are carried out because police officers and police staff have access to privileged information, which may make them vulnerable to corruption. Applicants with outstanding County Court Judgements (CCJs), Individual Voluntary Agreements (IVAs) or who have been registered bankrupt with outstanding debts, will be rejected.

If you have discharged bankruptcy debts then you will need to provide a certificate of satisfaction with your application. At least three years will need to have passed since the date of discharge.

Ideally you should not have a criminal record, but some minor offences may not exclude you.

Medical Questionnaire

If you are successful at the interview, you will be required to fill out a medical questionnaire. This will enable the constabulary to make sure that we are able to put in place any reasonable adjustments that may be required to support you to undertake the role (as defined by the Equality Act 2010).

Biometric Vetting

Prospective PCSO's are required to have their fingerprints and a DNA sample taken in accordance with Regulation 10A of the Police Regulations 2003 (as amended by the Police (Amendment) Regulations 2015).

The purpose of obtaining fingerprints and DNA samples is to allow for a speculative search to be made against the local and national databases prior to your appointment to the police service.

Your fingerprints will be retained separately on the Police Elimination Database and your DNA profile will be retained on the Centralised Elimination Database in line with the Police Regulations 2003. Your fingerprints and DNA profile will be used for the purposes of elimination only.

References

We will send reference requests to your current and previous employers in the last 5 years. If you haven’t been employed for 5 years, we will ask for a character reference or an educational reference.

Successful candidates will be contacted by our Resourcing department with an offer of employment.

The below information is an example timeline taken from the most recent recruitment.

Recruitment opens

Wednesday 3 January 2024 at 9am

Recruitment closes

Wednesday 17 January 2024 at midday

SIFT week

Week commencing 22 January 2024

Interviews

Week commencing 5 February 2024

Vetting

Begins approximately 12 February 2024

Medical questionnaire

Week commencing 26 February 2024

Biometric vetting

Week commencing 26 February 2024

Uniform

From end of April 2024

References

As soon as conditional offer is accepted

Notice to successful applicants

3 May 2024

Intake

3 June 2024