Our people
NPAS is the only holder of a Police Air Operator's Certificate (PAOC) in England and Wales.
To retain our PAOC we are required to employ nine European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and Civil Aviation Authority-approved Form 4 holders, also known as nominated persons.
They must demonstrate they fully understand their accountabilities and are capable in the delivery of safe and compliant flight operations.
Our Accountable Manager has overall responsibility for our effective management system; making sure our operations can be financed and meet regulatory requirements. She is directly accountable for the safety of our service.
Every UK aviation organisation must have Form 4 holders – NPAS is no different.
Such accreditation and CAA-approval must be maintained by these critical postholders, who are experts in police aviation – including flight operations, compliance, training, safety, ground infrastructure, technical services and continuing airworthiness.
Without them, we couldn’t operate.
Employee numbers
On 31 March 2023, there were 252 people working for NPAS, which included 98 police officers who are seconded from various police forces across England and Wales.
There were 28 vacancies.
Recruitment and training are ongoing processes as people leave and join, so actual full-time equivalent (FTE) numbers versus established posts will always fluctuate.
Employee numbers (31 March 2023) (text only)
Pilots: Established posts 74, actual FTEs 69
Base managers: Established posts 16, actual FTEs 14
Tactical Flight Officers: Established posts 129, actual FTEs 111.20
Headquarters: 36, actual FTEs 31.81
Operations Centre: 25, actual FTEs 24.52
Managing absence
At NPAS, our sickness absence rates are much lower than those of police forces in England and Wales.
Absence rate (text only)
All police forces (31/03/2022): Officers 3.95%, Staff 4.01%
NPAS (31/03/2023): Officers 1.52%, Staff 1.50%
Diversity monitoring
Our Diversity, Equality and Inclusion group has been established to look at ways of increasing diversity within our workforce.
It is recognised that currently 82% of our workforce is male and people from minority ethnic groups are significantly under-represented, at just over 2%.
We are driven to maintain a fully inclusive and accessible organisation which attracts the very best employees and are focused on improving the balance of our workforce, fully in the knowledge that a diverse staff brings a wealth of experience and perspective, creating a healthy working environment for everyone.
This data was collected during 2022/23. Due to movements in staff, the total staff numbers will not necessarily equate with the total workforce numbers as recorded on 31 March 2023.
Diversity breakdown (text only)
Police officers (male): white 107, minority ethnic 2, prefer not to say 3
Police officers (female): white 26, minority ethnic 0, prefer not to say 0
Police staff (male): white 113, minority ethnic 2, prefer not to say 5
Police staff (female): white 21, minority ethnic 2, prefer not to say 0
Volunteers (male): white 1, minority ethnic 0, prefer not to say 0
Volunteers (female): white 0, minority ethnic 0, prefer not to say 0
Total (male): white 221, minority ethnic 4, prefer not to say 8
Total (female): white 47, minority ethnic 2, prefer not to say 0
An Approved Training Organisation (ATO)
Each year, our internal training department keeps our pilots and Tactical Flight Officers current, competent and qualified in their skills to deliver safe and effective police air operations.
As an Approved Training Organisation (ATO) we deliver training specific to the operations we conduct, in both rotary and fixed wing aircraft. Our courses are set against strict standards that our training providers are examined against.
In 2022/23, we significantly upgraded our training management software by adopting Centrik as our preferred platform to record, monitor and report on each individual’s competency and training schedule.
We also redesigned our training programme for Tactical Flight Officers, streamlining the steps officers must take and reducing the cost and time of training by further enhancing our inhouse simulator equipment.
Training for excellence
In 2022/23, 225 police officers or staff applied to join NPAS as a Tactical Flight Officer.
Of those, 146 were shortlisted for assessment.
All shortlisted candidates are required to pass an interview, group exercise and aptitude test before qualifying for a place on an initial four-week course.
In total, 15 new Tactical Flight Officers or Base Managers successfully completed the course in 2022/23 and are now flying with NPAS. A further 15 new pilots were trained.
We ran five Tactical Flight Officer courses in 2022/23. Due to the timeframes for testing and training, several officers selected for training in 2022/23 will complete a course in 2023/24.
As of April 2023, 12 candidates were on a succession list, awaiting training, and a further 41 were still going through the assessment process.
Training courses (text only)
Number of new pilots successfully completing training: 15
Number of new TFOs successfully completing training: 15
Percentage of pilots passing initial training course: 100%
Percentage of TFOs passing initial training course: 91%