Positive Action in motion

As part of the national government pledge to improve safety in communities, an uplift of 20,000 officers was provided, this resulted in an additional 800 officers for West Yorkshire. This provided an opportunity to address the widening gap of representation among Police officers.

This created one of the largest Positive Action Teams in the country.  With a focus on the recruitment process and ensuring progression opportunities were made available for global majority staff and those with other protected characteristics.   

A strategy to attract, recruit, retention and progression

West Yorkshire Police have four priorities; attract, recruit, retain and progress.

During the attract and recruit stages a number of barriers were identified and these were addressed as follows;

• Application process was not accessible – this led tothe development of QR codes where applications were instantly made accessible.
• Pre-employment vetting stage often more complex for those with larger families – Having frank open conversations and enabling potential applicants to understand the process.
• Applicants could not re-apply in a 12-month period – this was removed for global majority applicants.
• Potential applicants weren’t aware of the vast amount of career options and roles within the West Yorkshire Police – for the first time ever social media and radio were used to support the recruitment drive especially in places where young people and groups from particular communities would visit or use.
• Culturally did not want to apply due to the stigma attached to Police uniforms – The Positive Action team did more to promote non-uniformed and specialist roles in schools, places of worship and in their outreach and engagement activities with local communities.  They found that certain roles had less stigma than others.
• The application process was long and arduous, which resulted in a huge number of drop-outs – this was addressed through additional support being provided ensuring that applicants understood the role, expectation and demands of the job along with what they should expect throughout the process.  Additional support was provided as they found that often the physical test was a barrier for older female applicants, this led toadditional fitness training sessions to improve stamina.

During the retain and progress stages, additional mechanisms were put in place;

• Asian females were particularly underrepresented – additionalprogrammes have been launched such as Evolve, along with to CV building and interview preparations.
• Officers once in post were burnt out and consequently left the force –  there has been a greater emphasis on expectations during the attract and recruit stages to ensure that applicants who applied understood the demands of the role. Additional touchpoints were also found in the retain stages such as sick leave, as this could be an indicator of other issues such as wellbeing.  These regular check-ins allowed more data to be collected to ensure further actions could be put in place to optimise experience.
• Applying for a promotions had to be approved by a manager, which resulted in bias and favouritism-  the Police bypassed this process enabling officers to apply for progression without the approval of their managers.  
• Officers were unable to pass the exams they needed for progression- tailored support has been developed such as  free books where they are unaffordable, mentoring and shadowing opportunities, interview skills, action learning sets. and advice and support.

Whilst there has been some progression made by raising representation from 6% (2019) to 8.5% (2024) there is still a long way to go to increase the target percentage to 23%. 

West Yorkshire Police also recognises that Positive Action is often perceived as unfair, or negatively among white peers.  More work needs to be done to address perceptions that Positive Action only benefits certain communities rather than the force as a whole. 

Should any organisation want to roll out Positive Action;

• Education is a fundamental part of the process for the wider workforce and wider buy-in is gained from leaders to those working on the ground including being able to explain the benefits
• Be brave and courageous as leaders, Positive Action requires commitment and clarity
• Investment in positive action should  reflect the pace, scale and that is needed

To speak to the Positive Action team, please contact: Imran Haider – Detective Inspector – imran.haider@westyorkshire.police.uk / Positive Action Team. Second Floor, Room 2.19. Lawcroft House Police Station. Bradford. BD9 5AF. Tel Ext: X76054

Written and compiled by Aqib Khan.