Police Now

Police Now is a charity that runs graduate entry programmes into policing in England and Wales, in partnership with individual forces. There are two main routes. The National Graduate Leadership Programme puts you in a neighbourhood policing team as a constable, and the National Detective Programme trains you as a detective constable. On both you are employed by the force from the start and paid on the national constable scale.

The two programmes

The National Graduate Leadership Programme places you in a neighbourhood team, working on a specific area or ward. Alongside the usual work of a constable (responding to calls, dealing with crime and antisocial behaviour, attending incidents) you work on long-running local problems with residents, councils, schools and other agencies. The programme is built around problem-solving and community engagement, and participants complete a project on a local issue.

The National Detective Programme trains you to investigate crime from the start of your career. Instead of spending years in uniform before moving into CID, you join as a trainee detective constable and work toward the national investigator qualification. The detective guide explains what that work involves and how the qualification fits.

Both programmes last two years. They count as the initial training period every new officer goes through, including probation, and lead to a degree-level qualification in professional policing practice through the partner forces’ arrangements.

How training works

Both programmes start with an intensive residential academy before you go into a force. It covers law, police powers, officer safety training, first aid, investigation basics and community engagement. You then join your force and work under supervision, with tutoring from experienced officers, until you are signed off for independent patrol or investigation.

Over the two years there are regular development days, learning modules and assessments. Police Now staff support you alongside your force supervisors. You work the same shift patterns as other officers in your team, which means nights, weekends and bank holidays.

Pay as a Police Now constable

You are paid exactly as any other constable in your force. The pay award for police officers in England and Wales is 3.5 per cent from 1 September 2026. The constable scale for officers appointed on or after 1 April 2013 is:

Pay point	Annual pay from 1 Sep 2026
PP1	£32,255
PP2	£33,609
PP3	£34,972
PP4	£36,335
PP5	£39,058
PP6	£44,544
PP7	£52,015

Some forces start graduate entrants above PP1, so check with the force you are applying to. London forces pay London weighting and allowances on top, and those also rose by 3.5 per cent. Overtime and certain allowances add to basic pay. The police pay guide explains how progression up the scale works, and the take-home pay calculator shows what a given point leaves you with after tax, National Insurance and pension.

Who can apply

Police Now is aimed at people with a degree or about to finish one, including career changers. Any degree subject is accepted. You also need to meet the standard police entry rules for the force you join. These cover nationality and residency, criminal record, health, fitness and eyesight, and in most forces a full driving licence or a plan to get one.

The force applies national vetting. Some convictions and cautions are a bar, others are judged case by case, and financial checks look for unmanaged debt. Declare everything in the application, because leaving something out is treated more seriously than what you declared. The criminal record guide covers how records are treated in public sector recruitment generally, though police vetting is stricter than a DBS check.

The selection process

The usual stages are:

1. An online application and eligibility check.
2. Online tests, typically situational judgement and reasoning.
3. A video interview.
4. An assessment centre, which includes the national police assessment stages.
5. Force allocation, then pre-employment checks: fitness test, medical, biometric checks, references and vetting.

The fitness test is the job-related bleep test used across policing. You can practise it in advance, and forces usually allow a retake if you do not pass first time. Vetting can take several weeks or more, so offers often come well before a start date.

What happens after two years

At the end you are a confirmed constable (or detective constable) with a degree-level qualification. You can stay in neighbourhood policing or investigation, apply for specialist roles, go for promotion to sergeant, or leave. Police Now keeps an alumni network, and some participants move into policy or other public service roles. The police constable guide sets out the other entry options into policing, and the graduate schemes comparison sets Police Now against the other public sector schemes.