Frequently asked questions
Officers may join at the pay point commensurate to length of service previously completed in that rank.
There are, however, no provisions to reckon, for the purposes of pay, any period of service in the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC).
Officers may carry over continuous service from a Non-Home Office force, with the exception of the Civil Nuclear Constabulary (CNC), and annual leave entitlements will therefore be in line with length of service.
Officers with service in CNC will be unable to carry this over as continuous service, and annual leave entitlement will therefore commence in line with a newly recruited student officer.
With the exception of CNC, you will be entitled to carry over your service from a Non-Home Office force.
If you have previous home office experience and have completed your probation period, you may be eligible to apply via our re-joiner entry route.
While diagnostic assessments for neurodiverse conditions are helpful in providing an accurate picture of an individual’s abilities, it is recognised that there can be barriers in obtaining such assessments, for example the cost of reports.
Therefore, in support of an application for reasonable adjustments, alternative forms of supporting information, completed by suitably trained and qualified individuals, will be accepted, for candidates who have a neurodiverse condition but do not yet have a diagnostic report. These alternatives include:
- Evidence of exam/assessment access arrangements obtained while in education (known as Form 8).
- Evidence of Disabled Students Allowance report.
- Evidence of Study Aid and Strategies report completed while in education.
- Evidence of Workplace needs assessment report.
Please note: In cases where supporting information does not provide specific personal recommendations for assessments, it is likely standard reasonable adjustments will be offered, which have been found to be helpful for candidates who experience this neurodiversity.
Under most circumstances, your pensionable service is directly transferable from one Force to another. Therefore, your pension transfers across with you. So long as you do not have a gap in your service your transfer will remain as continuous service.
If you are applying as a transferee to Devon & Cornwall or Dorset Police, you should not resign from your current Force until you have completed all aspects of the selection process and received written confirmation of a start date and posting. Your resignation should be effective from midnight preceding your date for joining Devon & Cornwall or Dorset Police. This will ensure that there is no break in service, and that your rights are continued.
Any national qualifications, for example NPPF, will be recognised once you have supplied evidence of your result. Other qualifications will be looked at and countersigned if the skill / qualification is equal to our standards. In some cases, the skill may need to be reassessed, for example driving.
Officers who are currently serving within a Non-Home Office force can apply to join at a higher rank, provided they have already achieved recognised legislative exams for this rank and are substantive in the role within their current force.
Officers who are currently serving within a Non-Home Office force are permitted to apply whilst still in probation.
When completing your online application, you will need some personal information, such as:
- Your Driving Licence Number
- Your National Insurance Number
- Details of your home addresses for the last 5 years
If you have questions that aren’t answered on this page then you can email us at:
We endeavour to respond to you within five working days during normal office hours, Monday to Thursday 9am–4pm and Friday 9am–3pm.
If you encounter technical difficulties during your assessment, please contact the College of Policing who will assist in resolving the issue.
You may also contact recruit@college.pnn.police.uk if you feel your assessment was impacted due to the technical issues.
If you have any technical questions relating to the online application form behaviour styles questionnaire or situational judgement test, please use the self-help links on the left hand menu of the e-recruitment system.
If you are still unable to resolve the issue this way then you can email us at Alliance Resourcing.
We will try to respond to you within five working days during normal office hours, Monday to Thursday 9am–4pm and Friday 9am–3pm.
At the end of each element of the online process you will receive an email to check the e-recruitment system for the update. You are encouraged to ensure you have amended your filter settings, as emails can be sent to your junk mail by your spam software.
We will need to assess the motoring offences. However, if you have more than six penalty points on your driving licence and/or two or more motoring offences within the three years prior to the application date you may not be eligible to join as a student officer.
If you have been unsuccessful at the national sift or online assessment centre within the last three months (based on the date you were notified of the outcome of the process) you will be able to apply but your application would be held in abeyance until the 3 months have elapsed.
No - All newly recruited Police Officers must undergo a probationary period, so you could not apply for any specialist posts until you have completed this.
The process can take up between 4 and 6 months to complete, depending on the recruitment process.
For Devon & Cornwall Police applicants, initial training will be completed at Police Headquarters, Middlemoor, Exeter. For Dorset Police applicants, initial training will be completed at Ferndown Initial Training Facility and Police Headquarters, Winfrith.
Candidates from a Non-Home Office police force or the National Crime Agency (NCA), for example, should be considered a new recruit and would, therefore, be expected to undertake an initial learning programme, either the Initial Police Learning and Development Programme (IPLDP) (where applicable) or an appropriate Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF) entry programme, subject to the provisions of the determination under regulations.
Dorset/Devon and Cornwall police no longer run IPLDP, therefore you will be expected to achieve the Post Graduate Diploma in Professional Policing or the vocational degree in policing and professional practice, via a 2- or 3-year programme respectively. The current entry routes for Devon & Cornwall and Dorset Police are as follows:
- Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship, also known as PCDA: 3 Year Programme.
- Degree Holder Entry Programme, also known as DHEP: 2 Year Programme
- Professional Policing Degree (PPD)
Candidates who have already completed their initial training in a non-Home Office force may not have covered, either through training or experience in role, the learning outcomes of either IPLDP or the PEQF. In this instance, where possible, on a individual, case-by-case basis, training requirements would be assessed and delivered as soon as possible on commencement in role.