Ospre Part 2 scrapped in favour of work based assessments
OFFICERS in England and Wales seeking promotion to sergeant or inspector will no longer sit the Ospre Part II examination.
The National Police Promotion Framework (NPPF), which has been trialled in seven police forces over the last five years, will be rolled out nationally in the New Year. Officers hoping to become a sergeant or inspector will still have to sit the Ospre Part I examination on law, but Ospre Part II will be replaced by a local selection process.
This will involve an internal assessment against rank-specific competences and will take into account the number of anticipated vacancies at the next rank.
Officers who pass both of these stages will then be selected for temporary promotion and undergo a 12-month work-based assessment programme before any final promotion.
Neil Bowles, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said: “Work-based assessment was supposed to be a pilot – but it was a pilot that was doomed to succeed because so few people failed.
“I would say work based assessment is far more bureaucratic. Are supervisors going to do their job and say “it’s a no for you” to people? Or is it going to become any other appraisal – just a tick box system?”
Chief Constable Alex Marshall, Chief Executive of the College of Policing, has described the NPPF as the “first significant change to the promotion process for many years”.
He said: “It will give newly promoted sergeants and inspectors the operational and leadership skills they need, while ensuring there is a national standard across policing.”
Police Minister Mike Penning said the new framework will also “make sure officers who want to win promotion are developing the skills they need in a consistent way across England and Wales”.
The change follows a recommendation by the Board of the College of Policing and the Police Promotion Examinations Board (PPEB) to adopt the NPPF.
The College believes that officers will benefit by developing the necessary skills for the next rank through a supported work programme. They will also have the opportunity to attain a national qualification that is recognised outside the service – a Police First Line Management Level 4 Certificate for sergeants or a Police Management Level 5 Certificate for inspectors.
The new system will ensure officers are trained to the same national standard, according to the College, while also enabling forces to match the appropriate number of officers to anticipated vacancies.
Results already obtained under Ospre Part I will remain valid.
The seven forces that have already trialled NPPF are Avon & Somerset Constabulary, Bedfordshire Police, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Merseyside Police, the Metropolitan Police Service, Sussex Police and Thames Valley Police.