People and training
On 31 March 2024, there were 254 people working for NPAS, which included 99 police officers who are seconded from various police forces across England and Wales.
There were 39.15 vacancies.
Recruitment and training are ongoing processes as people leave and join the service, so actual full-time equivalent (FTE) numbers versus established posts will always fluctuate.
Managing absence At NPAS, our sickness absence rates continue to be much lower than those of police forces in England and Wales.
Diversity monitoring
Growing a diverse workforce continues to be a priority as it is recognised that 69.6% of our workforce are male, and people from minority ethnic groups are under-represented, at just 3%.
We recognise this is a challenge.
Maintaining a fully inclusive and accessible organisation, which attracts the very best employees, is our aim and we continue to be focused on improving the balance of our workforce.
This data was collected during 2023/24 and provides a snapshot of a given time. Due to movements in staff, and the timeframe over which the data was collected, the total staff numbers will not necessarily equate with the total workforce numbers as recorded on 31 March 2024.
Training for excellence
In 2023/24, the aircraft G-POLU was returned to service as a dedicated training helicopter.
This follows a decision taken by the National Strategic Board in October 2022 to bring the spare aircraft back into the fleet following a period of loan in Norway.
The aircraft underwent major work to enable its use for EC135 pilot training and testing, and for the initial training course for Tactical Flight Officers (TFO).
The EC135 type rating courses have also been adjusted to include more synthetic training and all training records have now been fully adopted onto the Centrik digital platform, significantly improving our ability to record, monitor and report on each individual’s competency and training schedule.
The appointment of two national Tactical Flight Training Officers (TFTO) has strengthened the central training team. Three TFO courses were delivered in 2023/24.
