What a year 2025 has been for policing and aspiring police leaders. Highlights included proposals to create mega-forces, new reports like the State of Policing, agreements finalised for police officer pay, forces embedding the new CVF for promotion, the new SIPP promotion process being designed on-the-go in trial forces, and a new leadership review launched by the College.
Alongside all this, I’ve been publishing a range of free police promotion and leadership materials to enhance your ongoing CPD.
I’ve sat down with more Chief Officers and senior policing figures from around the country, conducting candid interviews for your enjoyment too: Chief Constable Jo Shiner, London Commissioner Pete O’Doherty, ACC Matt Welsted, Festus Akinbusoye, Chief Constable Steve Cooper, and DCC Sam de Reya. Let me know if you’d also like to share my platform and join the conversation on key policing issues.
All this completely for free: No strings, no click bait, no engagement farming; just sit back and enjoy whenever you want. And if you’re serious about promotion, I’ve completely revamped my Sergeant and Inspector / Chief Inspector toolkits fresh for 2026.
Now let’s get to a quick summary of the top three police promotion and leadership videos, podcasts, and blogs…
Top 3 Blogs to Read from 2025
I’ve published over 40 completely free blogs for you in 2025. I cover force-specific topical pieces including the PSNI, West Midlands, and the Met Police. Policing reports such as new digital strategies, a pending leadership review, staff and wellbeing surveys, PEEL reports, anti-racism commitments, and recorded crime trends will be of particular interest to the environmental scanning of those in or seeking more strategic ranks like Inspector and above.
Plus of course developments on SIPP, avoiding the specialist trap, NPPF exam results, to name a few more. Check out my blog for a full breakdown, there’s now hundreds of free articles relevant to your CPD and have stood the test of time. But here’s the lowdown on my top 3 this year…
1. Creation of 12 Mega-Forces by 2030
Earlier this month, the government released the bombshell they’re serious about implementing regional forces. This stems from a longstanding Labour ambition (originally proposed in 2006 under Blair) of police amalgamations. A White Paper on the matter is due in January 2026.
Published just earlier this month, I critique these proposals, looking at the pros and cons, and visually map how all 43 forces may be amalgamated. I also share a potted history of police amalgamations and learning from the case of Police Scotland.
Read my ’43 Police Forces to 12 in 5 Years’ here.
2. Police Pay 2025 – Latest UK Officer Salaries and Negotiations
Police pay is a hot topic for officers themselves and forces budgeting for annual pay awards. I published several reports on pay this year, with this one detailing how the negotiations were going at the time.
Upon agreement of the 4.2% rise for England and Wales officers, I wrote about the implications for officers and forces. Then once Scotland and PSNI were all agreed, I rounded everything up for the year ahead in my most recent pay blog: The State of Police Pay for 2026.
3. Inside the UK’s Police Workforce 2025 Strength
Police officer strength is unsurprisingly a big issue in policing, of interest to cops, PCCs, the government, and the public alike. As one of my ‘Stats Corner’ pieces, I outline the state of the entire police workforce across all UK forces.
First, I cover the key headlines and takeaways for the 183,000 officers around the UK forces. Then we assess changes and how that compares to the population of each country over the years, with Garda as a comparator. The changes in officer numbers by rank are eye-opening, as are the leavers and joiners. I also cover diversity, promotions, proportion of cops on the front line, and strength of civilian staff, PCSOs and Specials.
Read my full report on 2025 UK police strength right here.
Top 3 Podcasts to Listen to from 2025
Now onto the podcasts. My Police Promotion and Leadership podcast is among the most popular and top rated UK policing podcasts. It’s number one for policing CPD content. So far in this ‘Year of the Snake’, I’ve published 36 free and premium episodes. There’s more to come in January and early February before the next season begins. Continuing with the Chinese New Year themes, that will be ‘Year of the Horse’.
I’ve given you hours more of my in-person interviews with top cops and other high-profile people in policing. Leadership learning from books, a spotlight on integrity, HMICFRS reports, the magic of coaching, a debrief from the 2025 Emergency Services Show, explaining the CVF, police wellbeing, the leadership review, a two-parter on Bill Bratton, and exploring officer turnover are some examples. But here’s the top 3 of 2025…
1. Interview with City of London Commissioner Pete O’Doherty (Season 5, Episode 5)
In this exclusive interview, Pete dives deep on digital crime and cyber security, for which he holds the NPCC national portfolio. He also answers an array of questions on police leadership, emotional awareness, his own career journey, and advice to aspiring leaders in policing.
There’s so much ground covered in this hour-long episode. And it’s just one of my completely free interviews with chief officers in my back catalogue. Tune in below to listen.
2. Top Promotion Fears and Concerns (Season 4, Episode 48)
As one of my final episodes in ‘Year of the Dragon’, I published this hour-long discussion in January 2025. It’s a great way to start the year, in which I methodically address common fears and concerns officers have about promotion.
Worried about an upcoming interview and how to best present yourself? Have you previously tried and failed promotion? Scared you’ll dry up or draw a blank? Don’t know where to start on your preparation? Listen in for practical insights and how you can overcome them in the new year.
3. The Great Sergeant (Season 5, Episodes 21, 22, 23)
In this trilogy of podcasts, I first share my free webinar recording on what makes a great Sergeant and why. These leadership attributes have stood firm over many cycles of ‘reinventing the wheel’ of police competency frameworks.
The second and third helping dive deeper into the role of Sergeant and associated behaviours. Whether you’re seeking promotion to Sergeant or just want to perform better when in post, this provides you with some fantastic CPD. If you aspire to Inspector or above, you’ll also get great value by understanding what to expect from your team of first-line supervisors.
Top 3 Videos to Watch from 2025
Finally, here’s the top content from my YouTube channel over the past year. Again, I cover a wide range of subjects completely for free, so subscribe to my channel for updates.
1. The State of Policing Report 2025
Have you read the annual State of Policing Report? In this short video, I share some highlights from my more in-depth analysis and review of this important read for aspiring police leaders.
Over the last year, I’ve experimented with doing short videos for my YouTube Shorts, TikTok and Instagram accounts. Let me know if you’re finding this stripped-back content helpful!
2. Cheshire Police 2025 PEEL Report Summary
I’ve summarised the contents of almost every PEEL Inspection report in recent years, to save you time. This helps you focus on what’s going well and where you as a leader can help improve. I also reduce the complexity into digestible, intuitive graphics. Cheshire’s report is just one of many I spotlighted in just a couple of minutes. Watch below…
3. The New Police CVF – Explained
In this 5 minute video, I preview my new CVF Explainer content. This follows on from the College of Policing’s updated CVF released just last year and which is now followed by forces’ promotion processes.
Feel free to revisit my free CVF blog, explaining further the key differences (and similarities!) between the CVF 2016 and the CVF 2024 versions.
Looking Ahead to 2026
I’ll be publishing loads more free content for you across my blogs, podcasts and video platforms in 2026. And for a modest £4.99 a month, you can access a mass of premium podcast episodes too. This helps me continue to create fascinating interviews and other great content for you and your police colleagues, so please consider subscribing if you find it useful.
As always, I’m happy to share my platform for those who wish to join the conversation on policing and leadership issues. I wish you all the best and every success for the year ahead. Visit my website or give me a free call if you want any support with your own ambitions for 2026.
Kind Regards, Steve
Don’t leave your promotion to chance! Start preparing like a pro today, with instant access to proven resources like my Digital Promotion Toolkit and Police Promotion Masterclass. For more tailored guidance, get in touch for a free call. Tune in to my extensive Police Promotion Podcast for regular powerful leadership CPD and promotion insights.