Police standards: Vetting

How are the police vetted?

All police officers and staff must be vetted before being appointed. Each force is responsible for vetting its personnel. The purpose of vetting is to identify any adverse information about an individual that could pose a risk to national security, public safety or to public confidence in the police. There are two types of vetting:

• police vetting (conducted by the police)
• national security vetting (conducted by UK Security Vetting, in the Cabinet Office)

There are several levels of clearance within each type of vetting. The level of clearance required for each policing role will depend on the level of unsupervised access that person will have to sensitive information, vulnerable people or potential targets of terrorism. Each clearance has separate decision-making criteria.

The Police (Vetting) Regulations 2025 (as amended by the Police (Conduct and Vetting etc.) (Amendment) Regulations 2026) established a statutory requirement for police officers to maintain vetting and set out other vetting standards in legislation for the first time.

Police forces should also follow the College of Policing Vetting Code of Practice and Vetting Authorised Professional Practice (APP). All vetting decisions must be made in line with the national decision model.

What is checked in police vetting?

Vetting processes should consider factors related to an applicant’s honesty, integrity, reliability and overall suitability to work in the police. Vetting units should check:

• employment history
• signs of financial vulnerability such as debts or bankruptcy
• past allegations, cautions, or convictions
• relatives and associates who may pose a risk

They will gather this information through the applicant’s vetting form, reviews of police databases, social media accounts, credit checks, and open-source research. The exact sources used will depend on the level of vetting required. Each case must be decided on its own merits, taking all relevant information into account.

Police forces should also establish processes to continually monitor the vetting clearance of their staff and officers. This includes mandatory full vetting renewals at set intervals (between 7 and 10 years), intermittent vetting reviews if someone’s circumstances change and annual integrity reviews.

How else are police standards maintained?

The standards of professional behaviour for the police set out how police officers must behave when they are both on and off duty. Legislation provides a system for the public to complain about the police and for misconduct issues to be handled. These are explained on the Library webpage Police standards.