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About the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship

Salary: Your starting salary will be £29,907 with annual increments rising to £48,231 per annum after 7 years’ service.

The Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship route into policing is for those who want to become Police Officers and gain a degree at the same time. Becoming a Police Officer via the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship allows you to earn a salary, whilst you undertake a work-based funded degree programme.

The Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship is delivered by the University of Salford, in collaboration with Greater Manchester Police and the University of Central Lancashire.
On completion of the programme, you will be awarded a BSc Professional Policing Practice.

What is the PCDA?

The PCDA is an exciting three-year, work-based programme. It combines academic study and practical training, with periods of operational deployment that collectively support you to gain the knowledge and skills needed in 21st Century policing.

From your first day, you will be both a serving Police Officer and a University of Salford student. Greater Manchester Police and the University of Salford will work together at every stage.

The programme focuses on exploring the main areas and challenges that police officers will face. These include working with vulnerable people and communities, digital policing and cyber-crime.

The programme provides an introduction into the role of the Police Constable, followed by core areas of professional policing practice, including Valuing Diversity and inclusion, Communication Skills, Decision Making and Discretion, Victims and Witnesses, Criminal Justice System, Conducting Investigation, Prevention & Problem Solving, and Community Policing & Partnership Working.

Students will study academic modules in weekly blocks, followed by periods of operational deployment. The use of simulation exercises is a key feature of the programme. Student officers will be involved in simulation exercises using the excellent facilities which include a flat, a hospital ward, and a virtual reality suite. The tasks that are presented to students will be based on real life scenarios. The university assessments will equally be varied and practical in nature, as far as possible. They will include a multiple-choice exam, group presentation, professional discussion and a research project (exploring a practical policing problem).

After the first academic phase on campus students will work a Tutor Phase where, accompanied by a Tutor Constable, you will deal with incidents and use those experiences to complete a number of operational competencies. After gaining Independent Patrol status, you will move onto a full operational deployment phase, which will continue throughout the course. During this phase, students complete a further portfolio of competencies.

The course ends with the End Point Assessment. Students will have the opportunity to discuss aspects of both academic and operational work with an independent assessor. On successful completion of this, you will be awarded the degree qualification and be confirmed in rank as a Police Constable.

The Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship is fully funded by the Government Apprenticeship Levy, as the College of Policing recognise that policing is a degree-level profession.

The world of policing is an ever-changing and ever-more complex landscape of crime. As such, the new entry routes into policing introduced by the College of Policing cover a greater breadth and depth of training and education for police constables than previously offered. They are rooted in an evidence-based approach and, notably, reposition initial policing education within a national framework of professional education.

Recognising that the degree entry route is not for everyone, the College of Policing have also developed a non-degree entry route into policing, known as the Police Constable Entry Programme (PCEP). This follows the same Curriculum content as the PCDA but the assessments students complete on each Programme differs. For a detailed comparison of all entry routes into Policing please review the additional information on our recruitment page

Is policing for me?

Policing, more so now than ever, is an extremely varied and fast paced role. Greater Manchester Police are looking for honest, committed, dedicated, brave and tenacious individuals who are keen to make a difference to individuals’ lives and the lives of the communities that they serve. Student police officers, early on in the programme, will have the opportunity to tackle crime, such as burglaries, hate crimes, investigations, serious incidents, and make critical decisions to keep the communities of Greater Manchester safe.

The role of a Police Constable, however, also demands resilience, physical fitness, and conflict management skills. There will be elements of the role that will put these skills and attributes to the test, the role of a Police Constable is really like no other.

If you are interested in joining Greater Manchester Police through the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship, Greater Manchester Police wants to hear from you.

What support is in place?

Greater Manchester Police have a wide range of support services across a range of areas available to staff. This includes financial and wellbeing support. There are also a range of societies and support network that staff can join, including LGBT, women in policing and family support groups. Greater Manchester Police is fully committed to supporting all members of the policing community to excel and succeed in their roles.

What do I need to apply?

You must:

Be 17 years old or over. You can start the application process if you are 17 years old, but you must have reached 18 to be employed as an officer.

Have Level 2 / GCSE (A*-C or 9-4) English Language and Mathematics. There are a wide range of Level 2 Maths and English qualifications (past, present and international) that are acceptable. Please get in touch if you are unsure whether your qualifications are eligible.

Have Level 3 qualifications which are equivalent to 80 UCAS points, or:

If you do not have a Level 3 qualifications or sufficient UCAS points, but you do have lots of relevant experience in previous roles, we will take this into consideration through the Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL). We are particularly interested in applications from other frontline roles with relevant experience and knowledge. This could be a role already in the policing family or a role from outside of Policing for example military/armed forces personnel, custodial or probation services, another emergency services, social work, and any victim support or restorative justice related role.

To be eligible to join an apprenticeship. You must satisfy the above requirements and not be claiming funding for any other degree apprenticeship. Some Level 2 maths and English funded qualifications will not affect your eligibility.

It is mandatory for you to upload certificate confirmation of your qualifications with your completed application form. This should be in a PDF or Word attachment, please include all of your certificates on one document; the copies must be clear and easy to read.

Recruitment to GMP is subject to successful completion of the National Sift and National Assessment Centre process alongside specific GMP requirements.

At the Final Interview stage you are required to provide fingerprints and DNA samples. These will be used to speculatively search against local and national databases prior to appointment. This is to ensure that you have not previously come to adverse police attention and are not linked to any outstanding crime scenes.

Job Related Fitness Test (JRFT):

We also want to make you aware at this early stage of the requirements for the fitness test. This is a test of endurance whereby you will be asked to run along a 15 metre track in time with a series of bleeps, which become increasingly faster to level 5.4. You are advised to commence training after taking advice from your own GP. If you haven’t already done so, it is recommended that you build up to running at least 3 miles per week. This needs to be done immediately as you may be invited at short notice for your JRFT appointment.

Driving Licence

A Driving Licence is not required upon application, but you will be required to hold a full a driving licence within 12 months of joining GMP as a student officer.
As well as offering the chance of a rewarding career, there are other benefits to working for GMP.

Pay
Annual leave
Shift work and work-life balance
Pension scheme
GMP’s Sports and Social Club
Eligibility for Blue Light Card
Access to a Credit Union
Wellbeing support
Car lease scheme

Schedule: Rotational shifts

Student officers will be recruited to regular intakes during 2024/2025.

Please note, all of our communication will be sent to you via the e-mail address you provide on your application form, therefore please ensure noreply@gmp-recruitment.co.uk is in your mail safe senders / safe recipients list to prevent our e-mails going into your junk mail. However, experience has shown that this does not always work, therefore please can we request that you routinely check your junk mail for correspondence from GMP throughout the recruitment process. This will ensure that you do not miss any updates in relation to your application.

The Equality Act 2010 makes it unlawful to discriminate against a disabled person in all areas of employment, including recruitment. The Police Service welcomes people with disabilities and will do its best to make adjustments to the working arrangements and/ or the working environment provided it is possible to do so. If you have a disability and you require support with your application, please let us know so we can consider and support you with any reasonable adjustments you may require. If you need any support completing this application please contact gmpstudentofficers@gmp.police.uk and the recruitment team will be happy to assist.

As an equal opportunities employer, GMP is committed to the equal treatment of all current and prospective employees and does not condone discrimination on the basis of age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, gender identity, or marriage and civil partnership.

We aspire to have a diverse and inclusive workplace and strongly encourage suitably qualified applicants from a wide range of backgrounds to apply and join GMP.

Should you require reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know during the selection process.

Due to the Equality Act (2010) the criteria surrounding sickness absence will not be checked until the later stages of the recruitment process. With this in mind all candidates need to ensure that they can display a good attendance record for the last 2 years.

May we take this opportunity to wish you the best of luck with your Student officer application form and we look forward to guiding you through the Recruitment process.

Please note that this vacancy may close early if we receive a high volume of applications.

Please ensure you read all the attachments carefully, you may find it helpful to save these for future reference.

Closing Date

31 Dec 2024

Greater Manchester Police

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Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) - 2024