The PSNI assessment centre: six exercises and what to bring

The PSNI officer assessment centre is a single session of up to about 3.5 hours with six exercises: two written action plans, three role plays and a report writing exercise. You attend after passing the Initial Selection Test and meeting the education and right to work criteria. It is held in and around Belfast. You play a new constable in a fictional police service and are marked against the Competency and Values Framework (CVF).

The six exercises

The PSNI describes the centre as work-based exercises, trained assessors and clear criteria, with the results combined to decide whether you progress. The six are:

• Two action plans: written exercises where you set out plans for discussing issues or problems with different people.
• Three role plays: you discuss an issue or problem with a role player.
• One report writing exercise: you summarise information you collected during the centre.

The setting is the “Rossgall Police Service”, a fictional force. The PSNI says scenario data is created only for the assessment, names are fictional, and some exercises may be sensitive. Exercise content can be rotated to protect the integrity of the process. The centre may also include a re-test of the Initial Selection Test and a check of your computer literacy.

How you are marked

You are assessed against Level 1, the practitioner level, of the CVF. The PSNI names three values to study: courage, respect and empathy, and public service. It also lists six competencies: being emotionally aware, taking ownership, collaborating, supporting and inspiring, analysing critically, and being innovative and open-minded.

Professional assessors and lay assessors mark you independently, then agree a rating for each exercise. Their decision is final. The PSNI does not publish the score for each exercise or a pass mark, so a figure quoted elsewhere did not come from the PSNI.

Scheduling and rescheduling

Sessions run mostly on weekdays, in morning and afternoon slots. The venue details are emailed no later than 4pm on the business day before. If registration has closed when you arrive, you cannot register or attend, so check travel times to Belfast in advance. The PSNI suggests arriving about five minutes before your registration time and not excessively early, because waiting space is limited.

If the slot does not suit you, email [email protected] with your name, your unique identity number (UID) and the date and time of the original appointment in the subject line. Slots are not guaranteed, and repeated requests without good reason will not be considered. If you were granted personalised adjustment arrangements, rescheduling is not possible for logistical reasons. If you fall ill during the session you must tell the team, leave, and ask for another appointment within seven days.

What to bring and what to leave

Bring a printout of your invitation email showing your UID, plus an original, in-date piece of photographic ID. Accepted forms are a passport, a driving licence with photograph, a Northern Ireland Electoral Identity Card, an EU national identity card, an HM Forces identity card or a UK Citizen Card. Employer ID cards are not accepted. The name must exactly match your application, and if it differs because of marriage, civil partnership or a deed poll, bring the original certificate too.

Also bring your own pens, a wristwatch, glasses if you wear them, and a drink and snack, as no catering is supplied. The PSNI warns that rooms can be cold. Do not shake hands, stay seated until told to move, and keep role plays free of shouting.

Do not post assessment dates or venues on social media, which the PSNI prohibits. Because of the local security situation, it also asks applicants to be discreet about their application.

Reasonable adjustments

Adjustments are agreed before the centre. If you declared a need at application, your evidence was reviewed and the arrangements are built into your invitation. New requests at this stage are accepted only where the need could not have been known earlier, such as an accident or illness since you applied. The PSNI cannot consider requests made on the day at the venue. See asking for reasonable adjustments in recruitment.

What to check

• The CVF values and Level 1 behaviours, using the College of Policing material the PSNI points to.
• Your ID, name match and printed invitation the night before.
• A watch that does not connect to a phone.
• The PSNI’s warning that its process is designed and copyrighted by Deloitte, and that unofficial tutors are not endorsed.
• The PSNI’s own familiarisation video, which uses actors to show what the session involves.

For general advice on group and individual exercises, see assessment centres. The PSNI recruitment process step by step covers the stages before and after this one.