Every police officer and member of police staff is vetted before appointment — it is the longest single stage of the recruitment pipeline and the one candidates worry about most. This guide explains what vetting looks at, how the process runs, and the honest answer to "will X fail me?". It applies to the roles on our police jobs page, whether officer or staff.
Why vetting exists
Police employees have access to intelligence systems, victims' personal information and, for officers, coercive powers. Vetting is how a force assures itself that this access cannot be exploited — through corruption, coercion or divided loyalties. That framing explains everything vetting asks: it is less interested in whether your past is spotless than in whether you are honest about it and whether anything in it makes you vulnerable to pressure.
What is checked
- Identity and residency: you must normally have been resident in the UK for a qualifying period before applying, so checks can actually be run.
- Criminal history: convictions, cautions and ongoing investigations — yours, and those of family members and close associates.
- Finances: significant unmanaged debt, gambling problems or undischarged insolvency, because financial pressure is a corruption risk.
- Employment history and references, including gaps.
- Open-source and social media: public posts that call your judgement, honesty or attitudes into question.
Levels of vetting
New recruits go through recruitment-level vetting. Roles with access to more sensitive material — intelligence units, counter-terrorism, some specialist staff posts — need a higher level, with a more detailed process on top. The advert states the level required; you do not need to arrange anything yourself beyond completing the forms fully.
What actually fails vetting
There is no public list of automatic bars, and forces make case-by-case judgements — but the consistent theme is concealment. A disclosed, historic, minor matter is weighed in context: age at the time, seriousness, pattern, and what you did since. An undisclosed matter that checks then surface is treated as a lie on a vetting form, which is close to unrecoverable. If you are in doubt about whether something counts, disclose it.
Family and associates
The part candidates find hardest: vetting considers people close to you. A relative with a criminal history does not automatically fail you — forces look at the nature of the offence, how close the relationship is, and whether it creates a realistic risk. What matters, again, is that you declare it rather than hope it is not found.
Timescales and practicalities
- Vetting commonly takes weeks to months — it usually runs alongside your medical and fitness stages.
- Complete the forms exactly: full names, dates and addresses. Vague entries cause the delays.
- Tidy your finances before applying if you can; an arranged, managed debt reads very differently from an ignored one.
- If refused, you can normally reapply after a period, and some decisions can be appealed — the refusal letter explains the route.
Start with our guides to becoming a police officer and the entry routes. This is general information, not legal advice — each force's vetting unit is the authority on its own decisions.