Consensia partnership
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The Consensia Partnership carry out recruitment of police officers for the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI).
[edit] Introduction
The PSNI was set up in line with the recommendations of the Patten Commission and the Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000. The aim has been to create a new beginning to policing Northern Ireland, with far-reaching and permanent change in policing structures and arrangements, so that the Police Service is a true reflection of the whole community.
Recruitment for the Police Service of Northern Ireland is being managed and delivered by an independent partnership of professional firms - The Consensia Partnership, led by Deloitte MCS Ltd. They began recruiting for Regular trainees in February 2001 and the first Regular trainees completed their initial training in April 2002.
The PSNI offer both regular (full time) and part-time roles.
[edit] The Patten Commission
Prior to the publication of the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, for most people in Northern Ireland there had been real concern about the ways in which the PSNI could be different and how it could become more representative of the whole community.
The Patten Commission made extensive recommendations about policing in Northern Ireland, having taken as its starting point the Good Friday Agreement, which:
"provides the opportunity for a new beginning to policing in Northern Ireland with a police service capable of attracting and sustaining support from the community as a whole." The Patten Commission went on to say that:
"communities as a whole should see themselves as having a stake in the police service as a whole. If all communities see the police as their police there will be a better, cooperative partnership between community and police, and therefore more effective policing." A wide range of changes have been outlined in the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland Implementation Plan and the Updated Implementation Plan. Of particular relevance for your application are:
- the appointment of a new police recruitment agency (The Consensia Partnership) and involvement of lay assessors in the police recruitment process;
- special measures to change the composition of the Police Service and make it more representative of the community it serves;
- a new Training, Education and Development Strategy for the Police Service, covering both recruits and serving officers, and a new purpose built Police College.
The changes in the composition of the Police Service to make it more representative of the whole community are being brought about in part through the recruitment process in which you are about to participate. It involves us, as the recruitment agency, in testing, assessing and examining applicants to form a pool of qualified candidates.
The process to form a pool of qualified candidates is conducted so that no-one receives less favourable treatment on grounds of gender, marital status, religion, political opinion, race, age (within upper and lower limits), sexual orientation or having or not having dependents or disability.
Once a pool of qualified candidates has been formed, the Chief Constable, Hugh Orde will then appoint trainees on the basis of 50 per cent Roman Catholic and 50 per cent non-Roman Catholic.
The community as a whole has involvement in and oversight of the recruitment process through Independent Community Observers who are concerned that the administration of the process is fair and through trained Lay Assessors who participate in the assessment of candidates.
This overall approach and the recruitment process are designed to achieve the aim of creating a new Police Service of Northern Ireland that is representative of the whole community.
Over five years have now passed since the publication of the Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland: Implementation Plan, June 2000. Progress against this plan is monitored regularly by the Oversight Commissioner. In his 13th report, published in June 2005 he praised the transformation in policing that has taken place in a relatively short space of time and said:
"The recruitment of regular police officers, particularly with respect to community representation, continues to be a quantitative success."
This has resulted in the regular Police Service now comprising nearly 20% Catholic, which is a significant increase from 8% reported by the Independent Commission in 1999.
In relation to the recruitment and selection process, the Oversight Commissioner has commented:
"The responses from all communities have been positive and the results have exceeded expectations." and,
"providing the Police Service with an opportunity to select only the most highly qualified recruits. This is an enviable position for any police organisation in today's competitive labour market." and,
"Clearly, the recruitment programme is a success story, and this is in large part attributable to the collective cooperative effort of the Police Service of Northern Ireland and the Consensia Partnership."
The full background to and detail of the changes in policing in Northern Ireland are set out in the following publications (accessible via the Relevant Reports section on our website www.selectnipolice.org):
- A New Beginning: Policing in Northern Ireland. The Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland, September 1999 (known as ‘The Patten Report’);
- Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland: Implementation Plan, June 2000;
- Report of the Independent Commission on Policing for Northern Ireland: Updated Implementation Plan, August 2001;
- Overseeing the Proposed Revisions for the Policing Services of Northern Ireland, May 2003;
- Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2000;
- Police (Recruitment) (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2001;
- Police (Northern Ireland) Act 2003
