Correspondence

007/2024: Annex B (Amendments) – Appointment of Senior Officers (accessible)

Published 21 August 2024

The following determination “Annex B (Amendments) – Appointment of Senior Officers” is made by the Secretary of State under regulation 11 of the Police Regulations 2003 (S.I. 2003/527), following approval by the College of Policing in accordance with regulation 46 of those Regulations. This determination was made on 26 June 2024 and amends the determination “Annex B – Appointment of Senior Officers” (“Annex B”). The amendments come into force on 1 July 2024.

1.     For Annex B, substitute:

Annex B                                                                                                   

Regulation 11

Appointment of senior officers

Part 1 – Courses and assessment centres

1.    The courses or assessment centres that must be satisfactorily completed before a police officer may be appointed to a rank higher than that of Chief Superintendent, but below that of Chief Constable, Commissioner of Police for the City of London or Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (in those officers’ respective forces), are:

(a)   the Senior Police National Assessment Centre (“Senior PNAC”) and the Strategic Command Course (“SCC”); or

(b)  the Police Leadership Programme: Stage 5 (Executive leaders) (“Executive leaders programme”).

2.    Paragraph (1) does not apply in a case where a person is temporarily promoted or otherwise required to perform the duties normally performed by a member of the force of a higher rank than the person’s own.

Part 1A – Eligibility for appointment to the rank of Chief Constable in a police force in England and Wales, Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis or Commissioner of Police for the City of London. 

For a person to be eligible for appointment to the rank of Chief Constable in a police force in England and Wales, Commissioner of Police for the City of London or Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis, they must be serving, or have served, in:

(a)   the ranks of Assistant Chief Constable, Commander, or a more senior rank in a police force in any part of the United Kingdom; or

(b)  a designated rank in an approved overseas police force, pursuant to paragraph 2(1A)(b) of Schedule 8 to the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011.

Part 2 – Appointments to be advertised

1.    Subject to paragraph (4), where a vacancy exists in one of the ranks specified in paragraph (8), a notice of the vacancy which complies with paragraph (2) shall be published by the relevant authority.

2.    The notice referred to in paragraph (1) must-

a)     invite applications to fill the vacancy;

b)    be published in a public website or some other form of publication which deals with police matters, and

c)     specify the date, which shall not be less than three weeks after the date of the publication of the notice, by which applications must be made.

3.    Subject to paragraph (4), no appointment shall be made to fill a vacancy in one of the ranks specified in paragraph (8) until after the date specified in accordance with paragraph (2)(c) in a notice in respect of that vacancy.

4.    Paragraphs (1) and (3) shall not apply where-

a)     the term of appointment of the person who currently holds the rank in which the vacancy would otherwise occur is extended under regulation 11(2B), or

b)    that person is appointed for a further term and the conditions set out in paragraph (5) are satisfied.

5.    The conditions referred to in paragraph (4) are that-

a)     the person who currently holds the rank in which the vacancy would otherwise occur does so by virtue of an appointment under regulation 11(2);

b)    the relevant appointment of that person was for a term which was less than the maximum term authorised in respect of that person by regulation 11(2A); and

c)     the term for which it is proposed to appoint that person (and for which that

person is subsequently appointed) is such that, when taken together with-

i)      the term for which he was appointed by the relevant appointment, and

ii)    the term for which he was appointed by any subsequent appointment,

the terms in total do not exceed the maximum term of appointment to which he could have been appointed at the time of the relevant appointment under regulation 11(2A).

6.    In paragraph (5) “relevant appointment” means an appointment made under regulation 11(2) after the procedures required by paragraphs (1) and (3) above have been complied with.

7.    In this determination “the relevant authority” means

a)     in the case of the ranks specified in paragraph (8)(a), the person with the power to make the appointment;

b)    in the case of the ranks in paragraph (8)(b) and (c), the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis or, as the case may be, the Commissioner of the City of London police.

8.    The ranks specified for the purposes of this determination are-

a)     chief constable, deputy chief constable or assistant chief constable of a police force maintained under section 2 of the Police Act 1996

b)    commissioner, deputy commissioner, assistant commissioner, deputy assistant commissioner or commander in the metropolitan police force, and

c)     assistant commissioner or commander in the City of London police force.