Northumbria Police has been ranked as the top force for apprenticeships within 2023’s top 100 Apprenticeship Employers which are rated with input from the Department for Education.  

The force ranked 30th and had 177 new starters in 2022-23.

The force’s biggest apprenticeship programme is through the PCDA but they also offer staff apprenticeships.

The force also has a lower than average attrition rate for apprentice recruits. 

According to a Freedom of Information request submitted to the force by Police Oracle, it saw 59 officers on the PCDA programme resign during their probation period across Uplift (officers who joined between November 1 2019 and March 31 2023 and who left between November 1 2019 and May 18 2023 while in their probationary period).

Of all the entry routes across the same period, the force had 103 leavers during their probation. The figures do not include dismissals.

Meanwhile, data released by the Home Office dating to April 2023 showed that Northumbria had 1,328 new recruits (headcount) between November 2019 and March 2023, Police Oracle believes this latter figure includes those recruited through the precept as well as those contributing to Uplift. 

It works out at a 7.8% attrition rate. The national attrition rate for probationers during Uplift stood at around 11%.

The other forces who featured in the top 100 Apprenticeship Employers were Thames Valley Police (62nd), Sussex Police (66th), Avon and Somerset (75th) and Surrey (92nd).

Meanwhile, the armed forces featured heavily in the top ten – with the British Army coming 1st, the Royal Navy 3rd and the Royal Airforce 7th.

Fire and Rescue Services were also mentioned, Merseyside came 21st, Durham and Darlington 26th while the CPS came 89th.

The annual employer rankings were developed by the Department for Education in partnership with High Fliers Research, who independently assess and rank the nation's top apprenticeship employers.

The evaluation considered employers’ commitment to creating new apprenticeships, diversity of apprentices and apprentices who successfully achieve their apprenticeships.

Employers’ entry data was independently verified, weighted according to the size of the employers’ workforce, and then scored, in order to calculate the 2023 rankings.

Assistant Chief Officer, Joscelin Lawson, of Northumbria Police said: “Apprenticeships are a perfect opportunity to learn and develop in a busy working environment, while also working towards those crucial qualifications.

“All our apprentices bring a wealth of experience and skills with them and as a Force we are able to learn and develop from the contribution they make. 

“Northumbria Police is a really diverse place to work and our apprentices are a huge part of that. They help us to be the best we can for the communities we serve, and I am pleased that our commitment has been recognised nationally."