The Metropolitan Police is receiving less than half of the applications it needs but “doesn’t know why”.
Robin Wilkinson, the Met’s chief of corporate services, said the volume of applications the force was currently getting for uniformed PC roles was substantially too low – but that it was too early to say whether this was down to concerns about culture and standards in the scandal-hit force.
He told the London Assembly police and crime committee: “Recruitment is very challenged at the moment.
“The volume of applications we are getting is currently too low to meet the growth we need.
“We have regrettably moved away from London residency requirement because of the volume of recruits we are having.
“That policy change has only been in place for five or six weeks but so far that policy change has not resulted in a substantial increase in the volume of applications we are getting for our uniformed PC roles.
“Those volumes are currently substantially too low – less than 50 per cent of the volume of applications we need.
“We don’t know why yet. We don’t know is that because policing across the country is recruiting in such big numbers, are we reaching saturation levels?
“Or is it because of concerns around the Met as an organisation and culture and standards? We do not know yet.”
Mr Wilkinson said it was “too early to tell” whether the recent string of scandals to have plagued the Met had impacted recruitment of women or those from ethnic minority backgrounds, but the signs suggest not.
“It’s too early to tell whether there’s any lasting damage through all of the difficulties of the last few months,” he said.
“What we haven’t seen is any adjustment in the makeup of the recruits.
“Our numbers are lower, but we are not seeing substantially fewer women apply or substantially fewer Black, Asian or mixed heritage recruits apply…but we are looking at it and it’s a worry.”
The Met is currently attempting to recruit an additional 1,800 officers by March 2023 as part of the Police Uplift programme.
To do this, it has temporarily lifted its London residency criteria, meaning those who have not lived or studied in the capital can apply.
The force has recruited almost 4,000 new officers since the start of 2019.
Mr Wilkinson admitted more needed to be done to root out sexism and racism in the Met.
“A substantial amount of work has been put in to changing the culture but the issues that have been coming forward are of course serious,” he said.
“Sexism is regrettably rife in this country and it is imported into policing and it’s imported into the Met Police. We need to do more to root it out and to stop it happening.
