Throughout the uplift programme, the NPCC has collected management information from police forces in England and Wales about new and existing officers to support decision making and for use in these statistics. This has included information on the sex and gender, ethnicity and age of police officers and new recruits. As part of the initiative to improve data on the police workforce, a number of changes have recently been made to the NPCC data collection template, particularly around the collection of data on protected characteristics. The Home Office, the NPCC and the College of Policing have been collaborating in developing National Standards for Workforce Data. The data standards draw on existing harmonised standards set out by the Government Statistical Service and aim to bring more standardisation within policing for the collection of data on protected characteristics (and some other demographic information). The variables currently covered by the Standards are: Ethnicity, Age, Religion or Belief, Disability, Sexual orientation, Gender, Sex, and Gender Reassignment. A full breakdown of the standards can be found in the user guide. Information on their protected characteristics is self-reported by officers on police force HR systems. Recent changes to police force HR systems to align with the new data standards have allowed all staff the opportunity to review existing records and declare further information on protected characteristics. However, many officers are yet to update their HR records and, as such, data is not currently complete. This annex includes information on the proportion of officers broken down by sexual orientation and disability status. Whilst relatively high proportions of officers had not recorded their sexual orientation and disability status (40.3% and 42.1% respectively as at 31 March 2023), the NPCC is working with police forces to encourage all staff to enter this information. We therefore expect to see increases in the proportion of officers who have recorded their sexual orientation and disability status, which will be available in future ‘Police workforce, England and Wales’ statistical bulletins. As described in the main police uplift statistics there were a total of 149,572 officers in post as at 31 March 2023. The below tables show proportions of these officers, where known, by disability status and sexual orientation as well as the proportion of all officers where this information is currently unknown. Given the incomplete nature of this dataset, any interpretation of data in this Annex should be made with caution. Table A1: Police officers by sexual orientation, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2023
Percentage (%) of all officers (headcount) Known59.7% of which: Heterosexual/Straight92.0% of which: Bisexual3.0% of which: Gay/Lesbian4.8% of which: Prefer to self-describe0.3% Prefer not to say5.6% Unknown34.7% Table A2: Police officers by disability status, England and Wales, as at 31 March 2023
Percentage (%) of all officers (headcount) Known57.9% of which: Yes8.7% of which: No91.3% Prefer not to say1.7% Unknown40.4%