In November, I reported the Sergeant’s legal exam results with analysis by force and protected characteristics. With the second Inspector’s exam now out, I look again at the College of Policing’s recently published data and explore the same for the two 2023 Inspector exams.
There were two chances to pass the Inspector’s legal exam in 2023, rather than the standard one-exam-per-year approach. This will be the case for the foreseeable future, except for those forces trialling the new Sergeant and Inspector Promotion and Progression (SIPP) process nearing completion, which includes a proposal to remove the front-loaded exam.
In this blog, I summarise the headline exam results in a clearer format. I include both the May and November 2023 Inspector exam results, review differences in gradings, compare rates across forces (including British Transport Police), and assess differences across the protected characteristics of Sex and Race as the College include in their dataset.
Inspector NPPF Exam: Pass Rates by Year
“Tests ain’t fair. Those that study have an unfair advantage. It’s always been that way.” – Allan Dare Pearce
The Inspector’s legal exam has a 65% pass mark, with candidates needing 85% to achieve an exceptional grading. This is higher than the 55% and 75% respectively for the Sergeant’s exam.
The above chart shows the overall pass rates by grading for the last few years. While there’s some consistency in recent pass rate history (around 50%), the November 2023 exam rate dipped drastically. Far fewer achieving the high pass mark. What might have caused this dip?
With two opportunities now available to aspiring Sergeants, this year over 3,500 officers went for the exam overall; 1,200 more than applied in 2022. On average, just under half passed, meaning there’s another 1,600 officers qualified for applying for their in-force selection processes, emphasising the nature of the competition for promotion.
While most officers put immense effort into studying for the exam, that does not always seem to the case for more competitive in-force promotion processes. I therefore encourage smart, hard work to convert your exam success into substantive promotion, or else the qualification is wasted. Many officers are unaware that in force selection processes can vary significantly, to put it another way it’s a bit of a ‘Postcode Lottery’. I encourage serious candidates to keep momentum by finding out as much as possible about the process and preparing in advance.
To help you smash your board, Rank Success provides a range of free and premium tried and tested materials. You can also get ahead of the curve by booking onto my promotion masterclass in Feb 2024.
In the chart below, I’ve compared Inspector exam pass rates and volume of successful officers over the long term…
As with the 2023 Sergeant’s exam, the success rates increased significantly during the government lockdown period of 2020-2021. Online exams were evidently easier than the standard ones. However, for the most recent Autumn 2023 Sergeant’s exam, the rate returned to the pre-restriction levels of around 50%.
If you were unsuccessful (this time), adopting a growth mindset is a great strategy towards your long-term leadership aspirations. Failing to better yourself is an essential aspect of your ongoing CPD.
If you’re one of the 1,600 cops who passed this year, congratulations! You now have a ticket to the ‘room with a queue’, while you await your in-force competitive selection process. That is where the real competition begins. The bad news is, you’ll need to do at least as much preparation as you did studying for the exam!
With SIPP promotion changes on the horizon, now’s the time to begin your effective preparation. At least for the trial SIPP forces, things are soon to become far more complex, turning the promotion process from being akin to the 400M hurdles to more like a 3000M steeplechase!
Inspector Exam Success Rates by Force
“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.” – Seneca
As I reported in the Inspector exam success rates in 2021, inter-force variation remains extensive in 2023. See for example the charts below, where I outline the two exams for each force:
Exam success ranges from around 30% of Metropolitan Police and Essex Police candidates, to well over 70% success rate for forces including Thames Valley, Dorset, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire.
Thames Valley Police often do well in the legal exam for both Sergeant and Inspector; intelligence from officers in that force puts this down to the practical study support and training given by the force. In terms of the high-performers, Sergeants in Warwickshire and Avon and Somerset consistently scored well on the exam in 2023.
There appears little consistency even in the same force between the different exams either. For example, Derbyshire went from a very low pass rate in the Spring 2023 Inspector exam to one of the highest by Autumn.
What do you believe explains these drastic differences? Let me know in the comments or by getting in touch. No doubt that as with the postcode lottery of promotion, there’s 43 different ways of helping (or otherwise) their aspiring future leaders!
Whichever force you reside in, there’s now another 1,600 officers in the eligible pool to apply for substantive Inspector promotion. More will arrive in 2024, raising the competition again for the very limited Inspector posts available. The smaller cohort of smart ones will be mindful of the further and necessary study ahead to overcome the odds. The smartest ones will work smart, not just hard, by securing themselves an unfair advantage.
Ready-made, 24-7, targeted materials are available for those who wish to focus on the right things in the right way, while also developing wider leadership skills and awareness to be more effective in post when successful.
Race and Sex: Diversity and Disparity of Exam Results
In their published exam results data, the College publish pass rates for selected protected characteristics. This can help guide targeted positive action and support, towards enhanced equality and inclusion in police leadership. The College publish data on Race (via the broad ethnicity categories of white vs. non-white) and Sex (male vs. female) only.
Race
For the College-reported ethnicity demographics of ‘White’ and ‘Minority Ethnic’ (which the College define as only those in a visible minority ethnic group), I summarise results from the last few years below.
There’s clearly an ongoing disparity here, with White candidates scoring consistently higher than Minority Ethnic groups. Further, the deterioration seen in Autumn 2023 was far more extreme for Minority Ethnic candidates, with only a quarter of applicants passing that exam. What are your views on these disparities? How is your force supporting different parties?
Having English as a second language could be part of the reason. With that in mind, I’ve recently begun providing translated versions of my free promotion videos on YouTube.
Given the disparities, the College of Policing are already working on a scheme to improve diversity in the promotion process. The entire NPPF process is earmarked for replacement by SIPP. SIPP is far more extensive and academic, with emphasis on leadership distance learning, CPD, and ‘portfolio-building’. However, this is unlikely to start taking effect before 2025, since the College recently postponed their initial plans.
Where the objective is to remove exam pass rate disparity between different groups, we can reasonably expect some unintended consequences when it comes to Sex. That’s because the underrepresented group for this characteristic actually fares better…
Sex
Of those candidates who disclosed their Sex, women consistently fare better than their male counterparts. The margin is not so wide as that for Race, given the gap tends to be around 5%. What are your thoughts on that? Does this ultimately originate from the innate fact that girls tend to achieve better academic results than boys?
Both groups’ pass rates deteriorated significantly in the November 2023 Inspector exam results, especially for males. Was this exam a particularly tough one possibly?
Women often report to me their struggles with Imposter Syndrome and other confidence issues when it comes to substantive promotion. I’m a keen supporter of the BAWP and have created supportive free materials for aspiring women, including an epic free blog series on Women in Police Leadership.
In summary, men and (visible) ethnic minority groups tend to fare less well in the exam stage.
For further reading on protected characteristics, diversity, and inclusion matters, including their relevance to police leadership and promotion support, see my in-depth blog series on Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion in Police Leadership.
As ever, I wish you every success in your career. I have a ton of free content now to help you in your endeavours, and I look forward to supporting you with the competitive steps of the process when you reach that stage. If you want to drastically increase your odds of success, it’s time to start your preparation right now and take action if you really want promotion in 2024!
Kind Regards, Steve
Want to go further right now? Hit the ground running with your promotion preparation. Get your personal digital promotion toolkit, and/or my Police Promotion Masterclass. You can also contact me to arrange personal coaching support. If you first want to explore completely free content, I have a collection of videos, eGuides, a podcast.