PCSO
Role: Police Community Support Officer (PCSO) Apprenticeship Programme
Location: Various across the South Yorkshire Police Force Area (Barnsley, Doncaster, Rotherham & Sheffield)
Salary: £27,747 - £30,468
Hours: 37
Contract Type: Permanent (Please note permanency in this role is dependent on completion of the PCSO Apprenticeship Programme)
Applications are invited for our PCSO Apprenticeship Programme for a planned start date of 6th October 2025. The programme is approximately 15 months in length and once all areas have been successfully completed you will be awarded with a Level 4 Diploma in Community Policing Practice qualification.
This is a vital role here in South Yorkshire Police and one which serves as a bridge between the police force and the communities and people living within the force area.
Role Purpose:
Police Community Support Officers act as a key liaison point between local communities and policing. Publicly facing, they provide a visible, accessible, and approachable uniformed presence in the community to offer reassurance, improve confidence and trust, gather information, and promote good community relations.
Key Responsibilities:
- Deployment at locations throughout the South Yorkshire Police area.
- Work a shift pattern and Saturday working.
- Perform duties outdoors and in all weather, conditions.
- Maintain a highly visible community presence in the local area needs to address issues of public concern and act as a deterrent.
- Develop personal, detailed, comprehensive, professional knowledge and understanding of the local community in which they operate.
- Use appropriate communication methodologies for fostering, promoting, and maintaining channels of communication.
- Support ongoing Police operations undertaking community-based activities as directed to gather, handle, and submit information and intelligence.
- Support South Yorkshire Police in initial front-line response to incidents.
- Develop close working relationships with key community contacts.
- Develop effective relationships with individuals, including the vulnerable and at risk across the community.
- Where appropriate, assist South Yorkshire Police to manage complex incidents, acting to contain, assess needs and/or provide support to ensure immediate public safety.
- Maintain awareness of potential and actual risks to individuals, escalating potential threats to public.
- Support the identification and exploration of new ways of working and innovation in community policing.
- Support the implementation of evidence based policing initiatives.
- Apply personal safety tactics and the use of equipment where required.
- Attend court and give witness testimony in relation to any incidents where they have personal knowledge or involvement.
Skills and experience:
Essential Criteria:
- Able to demonstrate alignment with the ethics and values of the police service.
- Previous experience of working with members of the public.
- Verbal communication skills with the ability to listen to others, reason and defuse situations, particularly in potential confrontational circumstances.
- Ability to work on own initiative with minimal supervision and the ability to plan and prioritise own work.
- Ability to make decisions in tight timescales in an assertive and unbiased manner.
- Team working skills demonstrating awareness of individual differences.
- IT skills and experience of using systems and/or databases.
Skills and experience as documented in the role profile need to be evidenced in your application to be considered for interview
For more detailed information relating to the role, skills and experience for this role, please click here to view the role profile
What we offer:
We offer generous entitlements and supportive policies to enable a better work-life balance, some of which are listed below:
- A highly competitive salary and access to a generous pension scheme
- Generous annual leave allowance
- A wide range of family friendly policies including enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption leave
- Flexible working arrangements including flexi-time and hybrid working
- A transparent and collaborative team culture underpinned by our core values of Fairness, Integrity & Trust
- Comprehensive range of development and leadership courses to develop your career with South Yorkshire Police
- Employee Assistant Programme (accessible 24/7) offering confidential support and advice
- Flexible lifestyle benefits such as: Blue Light Card, Company Shop, Cycle to work scheme
- Committed to embedding sustainability: LPSYP Sustainability Strategy 2020 25.pdf (yhrn.police)
- Membership to the Sports and Social Club
- Access to a wide range of staff support groups and networks
Eligibility:
Residency - You must have resided in the UK for three continuous years immediately prior to application. If you have been abroad during the last three years while serving in the UK Armed Forces or working for the UK Government your application will still be considered.
Citizenship - You must be either a British citizen, a citizen of the EU or other states in the EEA, or a Commonwealth citizen or foreign national with indefinite leave to remain in the UK.
Qualifications - Candidates who currently hold a level 2 in Functionals Skills / English & Maths GCSE or equivalent will be asked to provide proof of this as part of the initial application stage. Candidates who do not currently hold this level of qualification will need to have secured Level 2 qualification in Functional Skills by the end point assessment stage of the apprenticeship programme. This will be completed alongside the apprenticeship programme.
Age - You must be 17 at the time of application and 18 at the time of appointment.
Driving Licence - You must hold a full manual driving licence.
Cautions and Convictions - Convictions and cautions will not necessarily preclude you from becoming a police community support officer. It will depend on the nature and circumstances of the offence. Failure to disclose convictions or cautions will, however, result in your application being terminated.
Financial Position - All applicants will have their financial status verified. Checks are carried out because police community support officers have access to privileged and highly sensitive information, which may make them vulnerable to corruption. Applicants with outstanding County Court judgements, or who have been registered bankrupt with outstanding debts, will be rejected. If you have discharged bankruptcy debts, then you will need to provide a Certificate of Satisfaction with your application. At least three years will need to have passed since the date of discharge.
Health - Police community support officers may encounter difficult situations, trauma, physical confrontation and work long hours on shifts. They need to be resilient enough to cope with the demands and pressures of police work. Applicants must be in good health mentally and physically to undertake the duties of the role. You will undergo a medical examination to ensure that you meet the health standards required.
Appearance & Standards - South Yorkshire Police is committed to striking a proportionate balance between self-expression and the need to maintain role sensitive professional standards in dress and appearance. Officers, staff, and volunteers of South Yorkshire Police are permitted to have tattoos visible whilst on duty provided the tattoo is not considered to be unacceptable or otherwise inappropriate. Tattoos will be reviewed as part of the recruitment and selection process.
Substance misuse & Biometric Testing- If you are currently using any illegal drugs this will automatically rule you out of the recruitment process. On application, you must agree to have a drugs test, as well as having a DNA sample and fingerprints taken for the purpose of conducting a speculative search against the national database.
Membership to a Proscribed Terrorist Organisation or Group - The police service strictly prohibits any of their officers or staff from becoming members of organisations whose aims and objectives may contradict the duty to promote race equality. If you are, or have been, a member of such an organisation you are not eligible to apply.
Annual Leave - Please note that annual leave is heavily restricted during the training programme due to the nature of the course you will be completing. After the initial stage of the recruitment process, we will contact successful applicants and ask for details on any holidays you already have booked over the next 2 years. There will be a series of fixed leave periods during the apprenticeship programme, and we will confirm these to the successful candidates as soon as possible.
Flexible – You must be flexible to work anywhere within South Yorkshire Police
South Yorkshire Police’s Key Values:
At South Yorkshire Police we have 3 key values which run through everything we do Fairness, Integrity & Trust, the attached document details the key behaviours we expect all employees to adhere to.
Smarter ways of Working:
South Yorkshire Police is committed to developing working practices which assist staff to balance their personal and professional lives, whilst meeting the needs of the organisation. This in turn enables South Yorkshire Police to provide an outstanding service to the community.
There are 3 different categories as part of this which are: Fixed, Field and Hybrid.
This role has been evaluated as a field role.
Field: This applies to roles that do have a base, however, due to the nature of their duties is required to travel to other locations. Due to the nature of these roles, they cannot accommodate flexible working from home on a permanent basis.
Contact point for applicants:
For further information about the role, please contact the Talent Acquisition Team on Recruiting@southyorks.pnn.police.uk
Closing date: 6th April 2025
Closing dates are not normally extended, other than in exceptional circumstances and agreement is made between the Talent Acquisition Manager and the Line Manager for the role.
The Recruitment & Selection Process:
- National Sift: 15th April - 22nd April 2025
- Force Interview: 12th May – 30th May 2025
Information Event:
We are holding two information events via MS Teams on Tuesday 25th March & Wednesday 2nd April at 6.00pm. If you are interested in attending the event and discussing the role, please click here to book yourself a place.
Apply for the role:
To apply for the role, please click the ‘Apply’ button.
Candidate Information:
Please note that, should you be successful at the interview stage and before appointment, the relevant pre-employment checks are required. These include references, medical clearance, vetting clearance, substance misuse, biometric vetting and sickness absence criteria check.
Diversity & Inclusion:
Applications are particularly welcome from female and ethnic minority candidates.
It is really important to us that the department represents the community we serve, in order for us to provide the best service, utilising a range of backgrounds, experience and skills. We support and value all officers and staff and the unique experiences they bring to the role. We strongly encourage and welcome expressions of interest from these valuable underrepresented groups.
If you are from an underrepresented group and want to find out more about the support we can offer, please contact our dedicated team on positiveaction@southyorks.pnn.police.uk
In addition, we will look to support anyone who requires Part Time/Job share working hours.
Case Study – PCSO Ashley Spooner
To view the case study for PCSO Ashley Spooner talking about the role of a PCSO - Please Click Here
Documents to Review:
For the Police Staff Recruitment Vetting Handbook - Please Click here
For Application Guidance and Tips - Please Click Here
For the FIT Values of South Yorkshire Police - Please Click Here
For the Apprenticeship Factsheet - Please Click Here