Police Scotland Welcomes Neurodiverse Recruits

As part of its commitment to representing the community it serves, Police Scotland embarked on an initiative to ensure it was doing all it could to support individuals from the neurodiverse community who had ambitions to become police officers.

“Every three months we recruit 150-200 new police officers and put them through a 12-week training course and final exam. We’ve long recognised the value of diversity within the workplace, so when we realised just 1% of our new recruits were declaring themselves neurodivergent, we wanted to increase this to 10%, to be representative of the one in ten people who have a neurodivergent condition across the UK,” explained June Standen, Health & Wellbeing Commercial Delivery Manager, for Police Scotland.

She adds, “There was additional support we could provide to help neurodiverse individuals, with conditions such as dyslexia, autism, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or developmental coordination disorder (DCD), also called dyspraxia. But first we had to identify who they were.”

“There was additional support we could provide to help neurodiverse individuals, but first we had to identify who they were.”

The approach

Even after inviting people with neurodiverse conditions to come forward and reassuring them that they would be supported, only 3-4 people declared a condition at the start of the 12-week training.

“It became clear that we first needed to gain the trust of individuals who didn’t yet know us,” says June. “Our approach included getting probationer training tutors to have one-to-ones with all recruits at the end of week one, to ask how they were finding the study and if they were ever given extra time at school. That resulted in 16-18 people, the anticipated 10%, coming forward. The next step was to work with Concept Northern, our partner in this area, to identify what reasonable adjustments could be made to help them succeed.

The solution

“The amount of effort that goes into recruiting and training a police officer is significant, so we wanted as many people as possible to succeed by getting the right support, leading them to pass the exam at the end of the 12 week training period,” explains June. “In response, Concept Northern carried out a needs assessment for each of the neurodiverse individuals we had identified to put forward some recommendations. These ranged from extra exam time or printing information on yellow paper to make it easier for people with dyslexia to read, through to allowing people to take the exam in a small room with an educator who could read out key words.”

She adds, “Concept Northern went above and beyond to help us understand each individual’s specific areas of difficulty and secure Access to Work funding, from the Department of Work and Pensions, to help fund the cost of technology and coaching to support. They were particularly good at bespoking their recommendations to what we can and can’t offer. It is vital that we are equipping people to be successful in a career in policing, particularly given the nature of our work. They also helped us to ensure neurodivergent individuals didn’t feel stigmatised. For example, suggesting Police Scotland put assistive software onto all the computers in a room, instead of having just one computer in the corner labelled as being for people with dyslexia.”

The report Concept Northern provided to line managers was also essential for helping individuals succeed. “By the time a neurodiverse individual progresses into the force from the Scottish Police College, their line manager is aware of their condition, challenges and what they can do to support them,” explains June. “Concept Northern also provide training and coaching for managers to help them understand that neurodiversity does not relate to levels of intelligence, it just means their brains are wired differently. Neorodiverse individuals can bring different strengths to the team based on this difference in wiring e.g. can include innovation and excellent problem solving skills. All of which has been very well received by line managers, who are keen to know what they can do to help new recruits succeed.”

“I’ve had people saying they’ve struggled with their condition all their life and now they’re finally getting the support they need.”

The result

“We wanted to better reflect the communities we serve, and Concept Northern has supported us to achieve this. They are very approachable and like an extension of our professional work family. The adjustments made to assessment process mean that currently one in ten of our new recruits have been identified as neurodivergent, this is in keeping with current proportions of neurodivergent people across the UK as a whole. Simple things, like being able to ask for a word to be read out during an exam, have enabled neurodiverse individuals who otherwise would have failed the final assessment to pass, first time.”

She adds, “Once they enter onto the force, individuals are now also being supported to succeed in the role and pass their two-year probation period. In the past, someone with dyslexia could have been a brilliant police officer but struggled with aspects of the role, such as report writing and quit because of this. Now we have text to speech software and other tools that can support neurodivergent individuals, so they don’t become overwhelmed with these aspects of the role. Plus, as well as supporting them, colleagues are experiencing the use to these tools locally and recognizing they can also benefit for support enabling us to help those in the workforce that may never have been diagnosed, and provided with adjustments in support.”

Overall, the initiative has been a huge success says June: “When you’ve spent thousands training up a new police officer, you don’t want to have to replace them within two years, because of frustrations around aspects of the role, that we can fully supported allowing them to be successful. By helping us to give neurodivergent individuals the support they needed, Concept Northern is not only helping us to retain good people, and by extension save costs, but also improving the lived experience of our people, and through the work of our neurodiverse Officers and Staff, our communities,” says June.

She concludes, “I’ve had people saying they’ve struggled with their condition all their life and now they’re finally getting the support they need. It’s been of tremendous value, above and beyond the obvious boost to our reputation as an employer that values diversity.”