PSNI Recruitment Figures 2020-2025

Request Number: F-14591

Category: Human Resources - Recruitment

Subject: PSNI Recruitment Figures 2020-2025

Request and Answer: 

Your request for information has now been considered. In respect of Section 1(1)(a) of the Act we can confirm that the Police Service of Northern Ireland does hold information to which your request relates. The decision has been taken to disclose the following.

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, I would like to request the following information:

Request 1

The total number of PSNI officer recruitment targets set for each year from 2020 to 2025 (inclusive).

Answer

PSNI did not set specific recruitment targets for each year from 2020 – 2025, rather the number of police officers to be appointed was based on the available budget, the numbers of police officers leaving the service each year and the number of candidates available for appointment.

Request 2

The actual number of officers successfully recruited each year from 2020 to 2025 (with 2025 data covering January to March, or the most recent data available).

Answer

See table below:-

Appointees

Request 3

A breakdown of all officer recruitment figures for the period 2020-2025 by:

a) Religious background (Catholic, Protestant, Other, None, Prefer not to say)

Answer

See table below:-

Appointees by Community Background

b) Community background where recorded (Nationalist, Unionist, Other, Prefer not to say)

Answer

See table below:-

Appointees by Political Opinion

Request 4

The current overall religious composition of the PSNI workforce as of the most recent available data.

Answer

Community background of PSNI police officers as at 1/5/25:

Protestant – 66.51%

Roman Catholic – 32.08%

Undetermined – 1.42%

Request 5

Details of any specific initiatives undertaken between 2020-2025 to increase recruitment from the Catholic community or address representational imbalance.

Answer

PSNI is committed to being representativeness of the community we serve and seeks to encourage applications from those currently under-represented within the service. This commitment is further reflected in the Northern Ireland Policing Plan (Indicator 3.1 Representativeness of the Police Service) and within our ‘Here for You’ Engagement Strategy where one of the key pillars is ‘Attraction and Recruitment.’

We continuously strive to embed our outreach and engagement within the everyday activities of our police officers and police staff in encouraging those from under-presented groups to consider a career in policing. We are particularly focused on our engagement with schools and further education colleges through facilitating district work experience programmes, interview workshop skills and attending a range of careers events (supported by our Minority Support Associations). Local Policing have also hosted a number of REaL events across a number of communities, including the Catholic, Nationalist and Republican community, to help us better understand and discuss current policing issues. Recent events have included a presentation and discussion regarding our Student Officer and Call Handler recruitment campaigns and how to encourage applications from under-represented groups.

Each of our recruitment campaigns from 2020-2025 have been under-pinned by a programme of outreach and engagement focusing on schools, the retail sector and local community groups. We have also held in-person and online recruitment workshops to support potential candidates with queries they have regarding the recruitment process. We continuously review the information on our recruitment website (www.joinpsni.co.uk) to provide additional detail on the recruitment process to those who are not familiar with policing, particularly regarding what a career in policing can offer. We seek to maximise the reach of our advertising to under-represented groups through utilising a range of mediums including digital and specialist press, social media, radio and audio and outdoor advertising.