Overview
The College of Policing's Online Assessment Process is the standardised set of exercises used across England and Wales to assess candidates applying to become a police constable, usually through routes such as the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) or the Police Constable Entry Programme. Individual forces handle local application and eligibility checks, but the assessment content itself is set centrally by the College of Policing.
Who can apply
Eligibility (minimum age, right to work in the UK, background and vetting checks, and any force-specific requirements) is set by each recruiting police force, though the online assessment content is common across forces using the College of Policing framework.
Exam pattern
Candidates first complete either an in-force sift or the national sift, depending on which force they applied to; the national sift uses a Situational Judgement Test (SJT) and a Behavioural Styles Questionnaire (BSQ) to assess potential to perform as a police officer and determine who is invited to the online assessment process.
The online assessment process itself has three parts: a competency-based video interview (five questions on how the candidate has handled specific past situations, with one minute's preparation and five minutes to answer each question), a written exercise, and a briefing exercise.
After the exam
Candidates who pass the online assessment process proceed to further pre-employment stages (such as fitness testing, medical assessment and vetting) before joining a force, typically through the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship, which combines employment as a trainee constable with a degree in Professional Policing Practice.
Preparation tips
Because the competency-based interview asks about real past situations rather than hypotheticals, preparing specific, structured examples in advance (what happened, what the candidate did, and the outcome) for situations like teamwork, conflict resolution and problem-solving tends to work better than generic answers.
Who sets the content of the police online assessment process?
The College of Policing sets the national framework and exercises; individual forces handle application, eligibility and local recruitment campaigns.
What are the three parts of the online assessment process?
A competency-based video interview, a written exercise, and a briefing exercise.