Department - Police Officer

Location - Berkshire

Rank/Grade - Police Constable

Salary - £34,164 (which includes a £3,000 South East living allowance)

Part/Full Time - Full Time

Type of Contract - Permanent

The Police Constable Entry Programme (PCEP) offers a comprehensive programme of training, which takes two years to complete. You will undertake a period of initial learning across 24 weeks at our Training Centres in Sulhamstead and Kidlington, before moving to your designated Local Command Unit (LCU) for further operational coaching and tutoring. On this entry programme there will be no academic assessment and your training will not include academic accreditation. Once you have successfully completed your two-years’ probation on the PCEP you will be a substantive Police Constable and able to consider a wide-range of opportunities for progression and specialism within the Force.

The starting salary for all new recruits is £34,164 (which includes £3,000 South-East allowance). On the current system, officers can expect to be earning a salary in excess of £53,000 per annum by your seventh year in the job.

This application is primarily for Berkshire covering Bracknell, Maidenhead, Slough, Loddon Valley, Reading and Newbury police stations. However, if you can reach other main stations in Buckinghamshire or Oxfordshire, those locations will also be taken into account when a posting decision is made. You should not apply for multiple locations.

All applicants must meet the following criteria:

Age - be at least 17 years of age upon application but must be 18 years of age by your first day in the role, there is no upper age limit

Citizenship - be a British citizen, an EC/EEA national with Pre-Settled/Settled status, or a Commonwealth citizen or foreign national with Indefinite Leave to Remain and no restrictions on your stay in the United Kingdom

Residency - have been a UK resident for the last 3 years

Qualifications/Experience - have achieved English GCSE (A*-C/9-4) or an equivalent Level 2 qualification (e.g. Functional Skills, O-Level or CSE Grade 1) and two A-Levels (A-E) or equivalent, OR relevant professional experience. If you don't have A-Levels but do have at least one year of professional experience working in areas such as those below, we encourage you to apply. Note that this is not an exhaustive list and all previous experience will be assessed on a case-by-case basis.

• armed forces
• border force
• criminal justice sector/CPS/courts
• cyber/digital and financial fraud crimes
• emergency services
• health and social care sectors
• justice and law enforcement sectors
• police staff, particularly custody, public contact/demand hub/enquiry office roles and investigative roles
• PCSO or Special Constable
• prison service
• professional services/project management
• teaching
• youth work

Driving licence - hold a full UK or driving licence (manual or automatic) before receiving a formal offer of appointment.

Health - be in good health and able to physically and mentally perform your duties

Tattoos/piercings - not have any piercings or tattoos which cause offence

Location - live within 40 road miles and a 1 hour commute of two of our main police stations before a formal job offer is made. Flexibility is expected in terms of postings as we may need to post to certain locations based on organisational need and this might not be your preferred location.

Application Process

• Self-assessment questionnaire – we encourage all applicants to self-assess your eligibility prior to applying
• Application – see ‘Be prepared to apply’ page on our website
• National Sift (online)
• Eligibility checking
• Online Assessment Centre (OAC)
• Interview (in-person)
• Provisional offer
• Pre-employment checks including interview, fitness test/assessment, medical, references and vetting

Thames Valley Police continues to offer an entry programme for those that do wish to gain academic accreditation alongside their operational training, this is the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) for those who wish to gain a degree qualification as they learn.

Visit www.tvpcareers.co.uk/police-officer to find out more.

Be the difference you want to see. At Thames Valley Police, we are committed to better reflect the communities that we serve. We encourage applications from our under represented communities including all ethnic or religious backgrounds, LGBTQ+ and women.

Our Positive Action and Engagement Team provide support and guidance to anyone from an ethnically diverse background throughout the police officer recruitment process as well as advice on career development and progression. They can be contacted via: positiveactionteam@thamesvalley.police.uk