Eligibility | Met Police

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible to apply you must meet the below criteria.

We would like to take the opportunity to remind all of our candidates who are members of the European Economic Area (EEA) of the immigration requirement to apply for settled or pre-settled status.

If this is relevant to you and you have not yet applied to the EUSS, please take the time to do so before the deadline on 30th June 2021 at www.gov.uk/eusettlementscheme

Ideally, you shouldn’t have a criminal conviction or cautions record. If you do have one, eligibility will depend on the age and nature of the offence. We’re unable to confirm whether your convictions record will affect your application before you apply, but will determine this from the full and confidential information provided during the recruitment and selection process.

If you don’t tell us about any cautions, investigations or criminal convictions that may be linked to you at an early stage, your application could be refused simply because you weren’t open and up front, whereas it might have been accepted if you were. If in any doubt, disclose the information.

We won’t accept applications from anyone who is, or has been, a member of the BNP or similar organisations.

You must declare any other employment or business interests you intend to maintain, if offered a position within our team.

The Met is committed to safeguarding the welfare of children and vulnerable adults. As part of these safeguards, the MPS adopts a consistent and thorough process of safe recruitment in order to ensure that all MPS staff and volunteers are suitable.

Posts that involve a high level of contact with children and vulnerable adults will additionally require a Criminal Record Bureau (CRB) check.

Candidates who apply for banded Police staff roles must be at least 16 years old, except where the role involves shift work, where the minimum age will be 18.

Tattoos

This tattoo policy is new from October 2018, and significantly different to our previous policy. If you weren’t eligible to work with us in the past because of your tattoos, you may now be allowed to work for the Met and consider applying for roles.

Some tattoos will stop you working for the Met. You can’t work for the Met if you have tattoos on:

the sides and front of your neck above the collar line
your face

You will be allowed to work for the Met if you have tattoos:

discreet tattoos on your hands
on the back of your neck
below your collar line
on your ears
behind your ears

Sometimes we’ll require you to cover up these tattoos for policing events such as state funerals or ceremonial events.

Even if you have tattoos in the allowed places, we can’t allow you to join the Met if any of the tattoos could be considered:

discriminatory
offensive
violent
rude
lewd
crude
racist
sexist
sectarian
homophobic
intimidating
political in nature

Tattoos like this aren’t compatible with the values of the Met.

If you apply for a role with us, we’ll ask you to declare information about your tattoos. When we meet we’ll check that you comply with our tattoo policy.

This won’t be an intrusive check, but we will need to see your tattoos and talk to you about them as part of the recruitment process.

Financial Commitments

If you are successful in the assessment process, you will need to go through security checks. If you have any of the following financial arrangements, you may need to take action in order to successfully clear checks:

Debt Management Plans: You will need to provide proof that you have maintained regular payments over a number of months, for e.g. a letter from the debt Management Company to show the date the plan was entered into and confirmation that all monthly payments have been met.
CCJ – County Court Judgement: You must clear any outstanding debt and have a Certificate of Satisfaction to prove that you have done so.
IVA – Individual Voluntary Arrangement: You must have had an IVA for 18 months or more and be able to produce statements reflecting the payments you have made. If you have had an IVA for less than the 18 months, you will not clear security checks.
DRO –Debt Relief Order/Bankruptcy: You will only be able to progress in the process once the debt has been paid and you have been clear/discharged for a period of 3 years.

Applicants with previous MPS service

Please note that individuals with previous MPS service who left the MPS as a result of a corporate Early Departure Scheme [where compensation was awarded e.g. redundancy] are not eligible to submit an application to re-join the MPS in any police staff role for a period of 2 years from their date of leaving the organisation. Any applications received that do not comply with this will be automatically rejected.