Black applicants to the Home Office’s police recruitment drive were far more frequently rejected than white applicants, according to data sourced from Freedom of Information requests.
The Media Storm news podcast obtained data from 32 out of the 43 police forces in England and Wales, including the Metropolitan Police.
Out of just over 180,000 applicants, Black applicants faced a 60% higher rejection rate than white counterparts, researchers found.
The government pledged a target of recruiting 20,000 more police officers in England and Wales by March 2023 in its 2019 election manifesto. This was known as the “Uplift” programme.
In April 2023, the Home Office claimed it had employed 20,951 more officers since 2019 and met the Uplift targets, but staff association the Police Federation of England and Wales disputed these claims as many roles had simply been backfilled.
According to FOI data acquired by Media Storm, all ethnic minority groups were less likely to be selected, prompting accusations of discrimination. Overall, applicants from Black, Asian and other ethnic minorities were 45% more likely to receive a rejection than white applicants.
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Asian applicants were 51% more likely to be rejected, and those of mixed ethnicity 33% more likely.
In London, the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police were 50% more likely to select a white candidate than one from an ethnic minority, while Wales delivered far greater diversity in recruitment overall than England.
Dr Pete Jones, a psychologist who has worked with UK police forces on removing bias from recruitment, said the government had missed a “once in a generation opportunity” to truly represent the communities it serves.
“We can keep on pointing fingers at communities, but at some point we have to turn the mirror on ourselves and say, well, perhaps it’s our systems that have done this,” he said.
Two of the forces approached by Media Storm said data was not stored in a way to permit easy retrieval, and nine failed to respond to the FOI request within the statutory timescale of 20 working days.
A spokesperson from the National Police Chiefs’ Council told the podcast that the Home Office’s own data showed an increase of 15.9% ethnic minority candidates and 19.3% uplift in Black candidates passing the assessment process since May 2020.
“We also now have more women than ever before, with over 53,000 women nationally representing policing,” they said.
“We have worked with forces to build capability in outreach and encourage conversation with those who might have previously discounted policing.
“We have laid the foundations for fairer selection across our processes. Chief constables are committed to becoming more representative.
“Improvements to vetting mean all new police officers are vetted to the highest standards and the Uplift Programme team have supported forces in managing the increased vetting challenge as a result of additional recruitment.”
The NPCC added that from more than 275,000 applicants, fewer than 47,000 were successful, demonstrating “how rigorous the recruitment process is and how focus has remained on standards and quality”.
“We must continue to improve policing for everyone who feels marginalised by policing because of their ethnicity. This is in our best interest, the best interest of the communities we serve, and those who give service as officers, staff and volunteers.”
A number of police forces have come under scrutiny for racial discrimination, including the Metropolitan Police and Avon and Somerset.
Earlier this month, a programme aiming to tackle racial discrimination in policing – the Police Race Action Plan – was accused of being “cumbersome and hierarchical” and promoting existing structures within policing.
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