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Pre-Employment Checks

Date published: 11 January 2023 09:40

Pre-Employment Checks

After successfully completing the Online Assessment Centre, the written exercise and interview you will be given a conditional offer of appointment to join South Yorkshire Police subject to pre-employment checks.

References

We send reference requests to all your previous employers from the last five years. If you haven’t been employed for five years, we will ask for a character reference or an educational reference.

Attendance Criteria

The force has a sickness absence criteria of no more than 33 working days and/or no more than five separate occasions of sickness absence in the previous three years.

Vetting Checks

The vetting process is entirely confidential and the outcomes (other than pass/fail) are not shared with anyone else in the organisation (including trainers, future line managers or fellow trainees) or anyone outside of the organisation (including family). You can read the full privacy notice in relation to police security and vetting here.

We will carry out security checks on you and your:

  • Spouse/Partner
  • Father
  • Step father/mother’s partner
  • Mother
  • Stepmother/father’s partner
  • Brothers/sisters (full/half/step)
  • Children/children of your partner (only those age 10 years and over)
  • Any other adult living at your address
  • Financial circumstances – applicants will have their financial status checked. These checks are carried out because Police Officers have access to privileged information, which may make them vulnerable to corruption. Applicants with outstanding county court judgements, individual voluntary agreements (IVAs) or who have been registered bankrupt with outstanding debts, will be rejected.  If you have discharged bankruptcy debts then you will need to provide a certificate of satisfaction with your application.  At least three years will need to have passed since the date of discharge.

Applicants with cautions/convictions/reprimands, other than some motoring offences, may not be accepted.

You can read more about the vetting process and what to expect here

Medical Assessment

You will be asked to complete a confidential medical history questionnaire and a medical assessment will be carried out by our Occupational Health Unit.  Depending upon your medical history, we may have to contact your GP / specialist for further information

We will check the following:

  • BMI
  • Eye sight test
  • Colour vision
  • Lung function
  • Hearing

Drugs Testing

As part of the vetting process you will be required to undergo drugs testing.  All drug testing processes are entirely confidential and only the presence of illegal substances will be disclosed to the Force Vetting Unit (by the third party drug testing laboratory). Prescribed medication, including that for individuals with certain disabilities or individuals that may be transitioning, is not tested for in the process

Biometric Vetting

We will need to take your fingerprints and DNA samples to carry out some final vetting checks against the national police database.  As part of the recruitment process, you will be asked to sign a consent form for this to take place.

Fitness Test

The job related fitness test consists of one element designed to test your endurance.

Commonly known as the bleep test you will be asked to keep running between two points which are 15 meters apart.  The speed you must run is dictated by a bleep and the time allowed to run one shuttle will get shorter as the level increases.

You must reach level 5.4 to pass.