Fast Track is a scheme run each year by the College of Policing. It aims to quickly progress the most talented police officers into senior leadership positions. There are now two schemes, Fast Track Constable to Inspector (FTCI) and Fast Track Inspector to Superintendent (FTIS).
There’s plenty of officers who think it favours the more academically-minded cops or disadvantages those in more operational positions. Regardless, the FTCI for Inspector 2026 is now open for applications from aspiring high-potential cops. And Rank Success as always is here to level the playing field of promotion so every great future leader knows how to tackle the promotion process.
But what exactly is Fast Track promotion? When are the key dates? Do you have high potential? What does the Fast Track process entail? And most importantly, how can you prepare effectively for Fast Track and pass?
I’ve just launched a pair of premium podcasts answering all these in depth. In this blog, I summarise this information and provide the key answers about the Fast Track to Inspector process itself. I embed them below, please subscribe to access and help support my work.
Now let’s start with the basics about Fast Track…
What is the Police Fast Track Scheme?
Fast Track is an accelerated police officer development and promotion scheme run by the College of Policing, designed to promote the most talented officers twice within two years. Ultimately, Fast Track aims to ensure the officers with the best potential reach the senior leadership ranks of policing.
There are now two versions of the scheme: Fast Track Constable to Inspector (FTCI) and Fast Track Inspector to Superintendent (FTIS). Both last for two years and promote successful officers twice in that time. Both require officers to have high potential, an understanding of strategy, are assessed at CVF Level 3, and are not for the faint-hearted.
“Exploit your talents, skills and strengths, make the world sit up and take notice. No one can discover you until you do.” – Rob Liano
Both the FTCI and FTIS programmes are run once per year, with the Inspector scheme generally launched in Spring and the Superintendent one in Autumn. They follow a structured schedule of application and assessment of aspiring officer applicants, then the two year accelerated development and promotion into the subsequent ranks.
The FTCI programme has just launched, following some College-led engagement sessions.
The competition will be more intense than any other promotion process; there’s only space for around 50 candidates from all forces each year. That averages less than one individual per force, given the Met Police account for around a third of each cohort and larger forces support just a few each.
Now let’s break down the timeline…
When is the Fast Track to Inspector Taking Place?
In summary for 2026, FTCI Cohort 12 has just opened on 5 May. You generally now have two weeks to submit your application, before the in-force paper sift. Most forces have additional selection processes to deal with the competition for places.
If successful, you can take a breather, before the National Assessment Centre run by the College in September 2026. Get past that, you face the NPPF Inspector’s legal exam in November. Pass your exam, then you’re ready to embark on your FTCI development in December.
Here’s the timeline highlights for the FTCI promotion programme:
- Now to Mid-May: National application form, assessed by forces.
- May-June: Force sift of those application forms, plus any further (optional) in-force assessments to ruthlessly whittle down numbers.
- 30 June: Forces notify the College who they nominate and put forward to the next stage.
- September: Fast Track National Assessment Centre (NAC) will assess candidates using various methods (tests, interviews), registration to NPPF Inspector Legal Exam.
- October: Candidates successful at NAC notified.
- November: NPPF Inspectors’ legal knowledge exam (3rd – 5th), results published on 30th.
- December: Cohort 12 of FTCI commences with first leadership learning module.
Along the way, there are numerous online support sessions offered by the College of Policing to inform candidates what to expect at each stage.
Who is FTCI Promotion Aimed At?
The Fast Track programme targets talented officers with the potential to reach and excel in the more senior ranks of policing. The FTCI mechanism expects officers to reach Superintendent level, while getting you halfway there. The FTIS scheme identifies those Inspectors with Chief Officer potential, progressing them to Superintendent.
As the College put it, they want to develop:
“a cadre of officers with the skills, experience and capacity to reach the senior ranks of the service (at least superintendent) to have a positive impact and influence on the management and culture of policing.”
It’s all about high potential. In short, if you think you’ve got what it takes to complete this gruelling application, development and promotion process, and you’re aspiring to the senior ranks of policing, then Fast Track could be for you.
Through Rank Success, I’ve supported numerous officers to success on the Fast Track scheme. Several hadn’t even thought of attempting the feat before getting ‘regular’ promotion support. I believe that all aspiring leaders have high potential; it’s just a case of honing that understanding and communicating it to a promotion board.
But what is high potential exactly? The College publish their High Potential development tool online. It describes additional desirable leadership skills beyond the CVF, ones which I’ve long advocated and educated officers through my Masterclasses and digital toolkits (especially for Inspector and Chief Inspector promotion).
It also reminds candidates of the sombre reality of what’s entailed…
“The programme will be particularly demanding and will require you to complete a great deal of training and practical work in a short period of time… this will put you under a great deal of pressure.” – College of Policing
How Can I Prepare Effectively?
The Fast Track process is now open. It demands significant personal investment from you. But the rewards and return on investment for ambitious officers are significant.
Whether it’s challenging yourself to do better than others, fulfilling your inner drive for bigger things, having a stronger voice and influence on key policing issues, benefiting from the £££ salary increases, providing a stronger impact on improving policing culture, or a combination of factors.
If you’re serious about Fast Track Constable to Inspector and want to know where to start, you’ll be pleased to know I’ve just recorded and published a two-part premium podcast all about this Fast Track scheme. In these in-depth, bespoke episodes covering the Constable to Inspector programme, I share:
- Why Fast Track exists
- What ‘high potential’ looks and sounds like
- Tips and guidance to help you gain traction with your personal plan and approach to attack the process
- My personal insights on the College of Policing’s high potential development tool, its shortcomings and how I believe you can get more out of it as an aspiring candidate.
- The critical importance of you understanding your own evidence and examples, ensuring they are ‘match fit’ ahead of the Fast Track application window closing date.
- Practice questions to support and challenge your strategic thinking
I also allude to, summarise and include case studies featuring successful candidates I have supported, so you can learn from others’ experiences.
“A HUGE thank you. I heard today I’ve successfully earned a place on the fast-track PC to Inspector scheme, wholly due to me working smarter not harder thanks to the combination of your extremely helpful and informative guides, your blogs and excellent promotion workshop. They helped me clarify what was required of me for each rank, develop my presentation skills (an area of significant dread but even less than the crippling fear of having nothing to say at my interviews!) and I am very happy to report success, even though this is my first time applying!”
To go further in your preparation, my downloadable PC to Sergeant toolkit now includes a bespoke Fast Track section and example application evidence.
Fast Track Applications: What’s Different?
“People rarely travel far enough along the path of development to realise their full potential.” – Sir John Whitmore
As at the date of this blog, the FTCI application window is open and opportunity knocks! Whether the window is open or not, drafting your operational and other experiences against CVF criteria should be a ‘work in progress’ as part of your Continuous Professional Development (CPD) for promotion and to get ahead of the curve.
What is the main difference between Fast Track and other promotion applications? For starters, it’s highly competitive. Whilst there are similarities with promotion applications for the federated ranks, the significant difference with your Fast Track application is it is assessed against behaviours and descriptors at Level 3 of the CVF. That’s the senior and executive level (Superintendent and above).
Why? Because when you are successful in securing a place on the scheme, it is expected you can reach the rank of Superintendent and beyond.
“Just want to pass on my success at the fast track process. Your help with the application form & the masterclass set the foundation of it all. Thank you for your support.”
As a Constable, you might be thinking at this stage, as many do, how on earth can I provide evidence or examples at this level? It’s a sound question because what is measured, assessed and evaluated through the Fast Track in force selection and national assessment centre tests is not your actual performance but your potential to perform at higher ranks.
You can certainly demonstrate potential, but it can sometimes take time and effort to refine and distil your approach to do that in the best light. After all, no one walks around in a state of readiness to do well in an assessment centre, but it’s a position you can reach with some focused effort. Assessing your potential as a FTCI candidate begins with a challenging promotion application as the gateway to a very competitive national selection process.
“I passed the College of Policing fast track process. Just 6 candidates from my force passed… from 165 original applicants!”
To succeed in the application and subsequent stages of the selection process, it is often helpful to be able to see what good evidence at the level expected can look like, especially when your questions begin: “As a future senior leader how will you…”
Having a sound understanding of these expectations from the outset can be the difference between doing well and falling short. I encourage you to commit to a depth and breadth of preparation because it clearly pays dividends in your approach and the level of confidence you can bring to bear in the assessments.
Where to Get Fast Track Support…
“I decided to apply for Fast Track to really test my skills and abilities – to be honest I never expected to get through paper sift stage, I came out top of the in-force Fast Track assessment centre… I passed a competency-based interview, followed by an interview with Chief Officers. I was selected as 1 of only 2 to attend the College of Policing (COP) for the Fast Track Assessment.”
Of course a good first port of call are my two hour-long premium podcasts on the Fast Track Constable to Inspector process. It’s also great you’re reading this blog and following the links for further information.
If you need more in-depth support thinking through, structuring and presenting your Fast Track evidence or examples to deliver your best application, you can download a bespoke digital guide. This will help you hit the standard required to secure your place on the scheme, with the successive promotions to Sergeant and then Inspector that come with it (and a lot of hard work) over the next couple of years.
This guide contains specific detailed examples and insights to help you understand how to include aspects looked for in Fast Track evidence, for example reflecting your cognitive capacity, broader thinking, leadership and communication and indications of personal drive.
I offer bespoke coaching and application review sessions to help close your gaps too. The testimonials I’ve shared in this blog are just some of the successes showing my methods simply work. I am also of course available on the phone for a completely free, no strings, 30-minute support call. Just get in touch!
I take my hat off to any officer who decides to embark on the police Fast Track promotion process. If that’s you, a quick reminder that ‘time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted’. With that in mind, I hope you find this and the more in-depth podcast episodes supportive. Good luck!
“I have this week received the good news I was successful at the national assessment centre for this years’ PC to Inspector fast track process. I’m so glad I found your materials. Particularly your podcasts, which have been invaluable to expanding my knowledge and giving me breadth in my understanding around various policing contexts nationally. Your guidance gave me a solid grounding and sense of direction when I initially felt overwhelmed with the process…”
Please get in touch if you need further support. In the interim check out the free blogs, leadership interviews, free Rank Success videos on social media and of course you can subscribe to my podcast for premium audio content and to support my work.
I’ll leave the last words here to someone who was once where you are now and was kind enough to share some feedback on their own experience:
“I came across Rank Success on YouTube. I started to watch the free videos on the CVF and it completely changed how I had been looking at it, finally making sense! I purchased the Inspector digital toolkit in order to prepare for my internal force board. I utilised the tips and guidance on what to read and be thinking about.. challenges policing faces and how we can overcome them, a huge help. I also had a 121 session with Steve, who explains everything so clearly and this really helped me achieve a high score in the board. Next step was the assessment centre… There are 5 assessments and they are all so tough in different ways. It’s a very mentally draining two days, with so much information being processed. I was successful at the National Assessment Centre and accepted on the fast track scheme. Having passed such a rigorous assessment, I now have so much more confidence that I am ready for this role and deserve it. I would definitely recommend the digital toolkit for anyone studying for a board. If you do the work, it will pay off. Thanks!”
Kind Regards, Steve
Seeking police promotion? Want a MASSIVE head start right now and a focus on what matters? Hit the ground running with my great value digital promotion toolkits, and/or my market-leading Police Promotion Masterclass and CVF explainers. There’s nothing else like it to effectively prepare you for success and level the playing field of promotion. Any questions? Get in touch for a free call or to arrange more personal coaching support. Tune in to my extensive podcast for regular powerful leadership CPD and promotion insights.