PCSO eligibility and vetting

Prior to submitting an application during a recruitment window, please take time to consider whether you are eligible to apply, and meet the minimum criteria required.
You will need to demonstrate this within your application.

You must have a full driving licence and be prepared to attend a medical, which includes tests for hearing, respiratory, eyesight and colour vision.

You will also be required to go through a number of other vetting and employment checks including providing a DNA sample for the elimination database.

Age

The minimum age of recruitment for PCSOs is 18.

Nationality

To be eligible for appointment you must be a British citizen or a member of the EC or other states in the EEA ,(Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein).

Commonwealth citizens and foreign nationals are also eligible but only if they are resident in the UK free of restrictions.

If you are a Commonwealth citizen or a foreign national you will be asked to provide proof that you have no restrictions on your stay in the UK.

Residency

Applicants must have been resident in the UK (including Northern Ireland but not the Republic of Ireland) for the 3 years prior to submitting an application.

If, within this 3-year period applicants have been outside the UK for over 12 months we will not be able to accept an application.

The only exceptions to this are for British Military Personnel service abroad (i.e. Army, Navy and Royal Air Force), diplomatic services, or where students are overseas for a twelve-month period as a part of a UK university accredited course (however, satisfactory documentation will be required to support this).

Tattoos and piercings

The appearance of PCSOs should be in keeping with the GMP Standards of Professional Behaviour. The nature, location, prominence and appearance of tattoos and/or piercings will be carefully considered in relation to the impression they may give to members of the public or colleagues.

Find out more information here.

Membership of BNP or similar

The Police Regulations 2003 prohibit any of their staff from becoming members of organisations whose aims and objectives may contradict the duty to promote race equality (including the British National Party (BNP), Combat 18, National Front or similar).

Financial position

PCSOs are in a privileged position with regard to access to information and could be considered potentially vulnerable to corruption. Applicants should not therefore be under pressure from un-discharged debts or liabilities and should be able to manage loans and debts sensibly.

Applicants who have existing County Court Judgments (CCJs) or who have been registered bankrupt and their bankruptcy debts have not been discharged will not be considered.

Applicants who have discharged CCJs may be considered. Applicants who have been registered bankrupt and their bankruptcy debts have been discharged will only be considered after 3 years from the discharge of the debt.

Where financial checks reveal that applicants have defaulted credit accounts, it is our policy not to proceed with the application until the defaults have been satisfied.

Criminal records

Applicants who have been convicted or cautioned, depending on the nature and circumstances of the offence, may still be eligible for appointment.

However, GMP will not recruit people with cautions or convictions which may call into question the integrity of the applicant or the Police Service. Certain convictions will preclude individuals from becoming a member of staff in GMP.

An applicant must declare on his/her application form all convictions for any past offences, formal cautions by the police (including cautions / reprimands as a juvenile, i.e. under 18 years) and any bind-overs imposed by any court.

Applicants should include traffic convictions such as speeding, drink-drive offences, fixed penalties for motoring or disorder offences and any appearances before a court martial.

Applicants must also declare any charges or summons currently outstanding against and spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 or any involvement with civil, military or transport police.

An applicant must declare if he/she has ever been involved in any criminal investigation against them whether or not this led to prosecution (either of themselves or others).

Failure to disclose details will result an application being rejected, and if appointed, may lead to an applicant's dismissal.

Security and vetting procedures

Before recruiting anyone to work in GMP, thorough checks must be undertaken to ascertain whether anything is known to the detriment of that applicant, his/her spouse or partner, or close relatives such as parents, in-laws, siblings or others living or associating with the applicant.

All applicants will have to complete detailed Vetting forms to enable these checks to be made.

We will also check whether any close family or associates are involved in criminal activity and we will therefore search for any criminal convictions or cautions recorded against an applicant's family.

Applicants must advise people that these enquiries will be made. GMP cannot disclose the results of these enquiries.

Our enquiries will reveal incidents from long ago, and failure to disclose these will lead to an applicants' application being rejected.

GMP will not recruit people with cautions or convictions which may call into question the integrity of the applicant or the Police Service.

Applicants, who have been convicted or cautioned, may still be eligible for appointment, depending on the nature and circumstances of the offence.

There may be circumstances where an individual does not fall within the criteria, but whose suspected involvement in crime, or criminal association make an offer of employment inappropriate.

In addition applicants will be required to provide fingerprints and DNA samples, which will be used to speculatively search against local and national databases prior to appointment. This is to ensure that applicants have not previously come to adverse police attention and are not linked to any outstanding crime scenes.

Business interests and other potential conflicts

You are required to declare any business interests and the extent of your involvement, which you intend to continue, should you be successful in applying for the role.

However, the Chief Constable reserves the right to reject an applicant at any stage of the recruitment process without disclosing the reasons for rejection. Please also note that serving Special Constables are precluded from undertaking the role of PCSO at the same time.

Qualifications

GCSE English and Maths at grades A-C, or Level 2 and above or Functional Skills Level 2 in English and Maths. 

Live disciplinary warnings in employment

Applicants who have received a disciplinary warning within the previous 12 months may not be able to apply, including those asked to resign from employment.

Health and fitness

You must be in a position to cope with the physical and mental demands of being a PCSO and carry out your duties effectively. Successful interview applicants will be invited to attend a compulsory medical to assess this.

Requirements of role

When you start your employment, you will be required to have your photograph taken for local publication in line with our aim to give the community confidence in the police. This will appear on our local Neighbourhood websites.