For online assessment candidates using reasonable adjustments and accommodations.
Introduction
This guide provides reasonable adjustment information for the College of Policing online assessments. All police constable applicants who have been invited to take part and those wanting to find out more can follow this guide, which sets out the adjustments and accommodations that can be made support your experience.
You may be entitled to an accommodation or reasonable adjustment should you have any condition, temporary or otherwise, that might cause you to be disadvantaged during the assessment – for example pregnancy, injury or disability, including dyslexia.
What reasonable adjustments could I receive?
This guide will only cover the most common adjustment awarded. For a full outline please refer to the reasonable adjustment and accommodations policy. The reasonable adjustments that can support you with the online assessment process include:
- 15% extra time
- 25% extra time
- 30% extra time
- 33% extra time
- 40% extra time
- 50% extra time
The Extra time section within this guide contains information on what these reasonable adjustments involve for each exercise. However, there may be other reasonable adjustments and accommodations that can be provided if they are recommended by a specialist, such as text-to-speech or speech-to-text software.
If you haven’t already, we recommend that you read the Online assessments candidate guide first to learn about what the online assessments involves.
How do I receive a reasonable adjustment or accommodation?
If you believe you may have a condition that could disadvantage you at the assessment, please contact the force you are applying to. They can assist you with further advice with your application for an accommodation or reasonable adjustment.
Any accommodation or reasonable adjustment provided for the assessment will be based on the evidence provided to your recruiting force. Supporting information should take the form of a medical or specialist’s report that provides information regarding any disability or difficulty that you experience. Where these reports are not available then it may still be possible to offer a reasonable adjustment to help support candidates.
Can I change the background colour of the device I am using?
If you experience visual stress, it is acceptable to change the background colour of the device you are using. This can be achieved by either changing the preferences on your browser or by downloading an app from your device’s app store that allows you to customise the background on your device. You are not required to seek permission from the College of Policing or recruiting force before making these changes to your device.
Can I use a coloured overlay on my device’s screen?
If you experience visual stress, it is acceptable to use a coloured overlay and place it on your device’s screen. You will be required to provide your own coloured overlay to ensure the colour is suitable for you. You are not required to seek permission from the College of Policing or recruiting force before using a coloured overlay.
Can I use coloured lenses or glasses?
If you experience visual stress, it is acceptable to use coloured lenses or glasses. You will be required to provide your own lenses or glasses to ensure they are suitable for you. You are not required to seek permission from the College of Policing or recruiting force before using these.
Extra time
Depending on the force you apply to, you may be required to complete either an in-force sift or the national sift. If you are completing the in-force sift, your recruiting force will be able to provide you with more details on the reasonable adjustments and accommodations available.
15% extra time reasonable adjustment
| Exercise | Completion times |
|---|---|
| National sift (if applicable) |
No extra time is awarded for the national sift in terms of reasonable adjustments. Approximate time to complete is 50 minutes. This will consist of approximately 20 minutes to complete the SJT and 30 minutes to complete the behavioural styles questionnaire. |
|
Competency-based interview (CBI) |
Approximate time to complete is up to 45 minutes. For each question, you will be given 1 minute 9 seconds (69 seconds) to consider the question and prepare your answer. After this you will have 5 minutes (300 seconds) to record your answer. |
|
Written exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 46 minutes, but we have set a time restriction of 2 hours (120 minutes). The candidate instructions should take approximately 11 minutes 30 seconds to read. |
|
Briefing exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 65 minutes. For preparation time, you should need approximately 11 minutes 30 seconds to independently read the preparation materials and consider your response to part 1 of the scenarios. This initial preparation stage for part 1 is not timed and is not assessed. After the initial preparation time, you will have approximately another further 50 minutes in which you will be given 12 questions to answer. This will be split into three parts with four questions in each. For parts 1, 2 and 3, you will have up to 1 minute 9 seconds (69 seconds) to prepare your response to each question. You will then have 3 minutes (180 seconds) to provide your response to the question. Parts 2 and 3 include developments of the scenario presented in part 1. |
25% extra time reasonable adjustment
| Exercise | Completion times |
|---|---|
| National sift (if applicable) |
No extra time is awarded for the national sift in terms of reasonable adjustments. Approximate time to complete is 50 minutes. This will consist of approximately 20 minutes to complete the SJT and 30 minutes to complete the behavioural styles questionnaire. |
|
CBI |
Approximate time to complete is up to 45 minutes. For each question, you will be given 1 minute 15 seconds (75 seconds) to consider the question and prepare your answer. After this you will have 5 minutes (300 seconds) to record your answer. |
|
Written exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 50 minutes, but we have set a time restriction of 2 hours (120 minutes). The candidate instructions should take approximately 12 minutes 30 seconds to read. |
|
Briefing exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 70 minutes For preparation time, you should need approximately 12 minutes 30 seconds to independently read the preparation materials and consider your response to part 1 of the scenarios. This initial preparation stage for part 1 is not timed and is not assessed. After the initial preparation time, you will have approximately another further 55 minutes in which you will be given 12 questions to answer. This will be split into three parts with four questions in each. For parts 1, 2 and 3, you will have up to 1 minute 15 seconds (75 seconds) to prepare your response to each question. You will then have 3 minutes (180 seconds) to provide your response to the question. Parts 2 and 3 include developments of the scenario presented in part 1. |
30% extra time reasonable adjustment
| Exercise | Completion times |
|---|---|
| National sift (if applicable) |
No extra time is awarded for the national sift in terms of reasonable adjustments. Approximate time to complete is 50 minutes. This will consist of approximately 20 minutes to complete the SJT and 30 minutes to complete the behavioural styles questionnaire. |
|
CBI |
Approximate time to complete is up to 45 minutes. For each question, you will be given 1 minute 18 seconds (78 seconds) to consider the question and prepare your answer. After this you will have 5 minutes (300 seconds) to record your answer. |
|
Written exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 52 minutes, but we have set a time restriction of 2 hours (120 minutes). The candidate instructions should take approximately 13 minutes to read. |
|
Briefing exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 70 minutes. For preparation time, you should need approximately 13 minutes to independently read the preparation materials and consider your response to part 1 of the scenarios. This initial preparation stage for part 1 is not timed and is not assessed. After the initial preparation time, you will have approximately another further 55 minutes in which you will be given 12 questions to answer. This will be split into three parts with four questions in each. For parts 1, 2 and 3, you will have up to 1 minute 18 seconds (78 seconds) to prepare your response to each question. You will then have 3 minutes (180 seconds) to provide your response to the question. Parts 2 and 3 include developments of the scenario presented in part 1. |
33% extra time reasonable adjustment
| Exercise | Completion times |
|---|---|
| National sift (if applicable) |
No extra time is awarded for the national sift in terms of reasonable adjustments. Approximate time to complete is 50 minutes. This will consist of approximately 20 minutes to complete the SJT and 30 minutes to complete the behavioural styles questionnaire. |
|
CBI |
Approximate time to complete is up to 45 minutes. For each question, you will be given 1 minute 20 seconds (80 seconds) to consider the question and prepare your answer. After this you will have 5 minutes (300 seconds) to record your answer. |
|
Written exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 53 minutes, but we have set a time restriction of 2 hours (120 minutes). The candidate instructions should take approximately 13 minutes 30 seconds to read. |
|
Briefing exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 70 minutes. For preparation time, you should need approximately 13 minutes 30 seconds to independently read the preparation materials and consider your response to part 1 of the scenarios. This initial preparation stage for part 1 is not timed and is not assessed. After the initial preparation time, you will have approximately another further 50 minutes in which you will be given 12 questions to answer. This will be split into three parts with four questions in each. For parts 1, 2 and 3, you will have up to 1 minute 20 seconds (80 seconds) to prepare your response to each question. You will then have 3 minutes (180 seconds) to provide your response to the question. Parts 2 and 3 include developments of the scenario presented in part 1. |
40% extra time reasonable adjustment
| Exercise | Completion times |
|---|---|
| National sift (if applicable) |
No extra time is awarded for the national sift in terms of reasonable adjustments. Approximate time to complete is 50 minutes. This will consist of approximately 20 minutes to complete the SJT and 30 minutes to complete the behavioural styles questionnaire. |
|
CBI |
Approximate time to complete is up to 50 minutes. For each question, you will be given 1 minute 24 seconds (84 seconds) to consider the question and prepare your answer. After this you will have 5 minutes (300 seconds) to record your answer. |
|
Written exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 56 minutes, but we have set a time restriction of 2 hours (120 minutes). The candidate instructions should take approximately 14 minutes to read. |
|
Briefing exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 75 minutes. For preparation time, you should need approximately 14 minutes to independently read the preparation materials and consider your response to part 1 of the scenarios. This initial preparation stage for part 1 is not timed and is not assessed. After the initial preparation time, you will have approximately another further 60 minutes in which you will be given 12 questions to answer. This will be split into three parts with four questions in each. For parts 1, 2 and 3, you will have up to 1 minute 24 seconds (84 seconds) to prepare your response to each question. You will then have 3 minutes (180 seconds) to provide your response to the question. Parts 2 and 3 include developments of the scenario presented in part 1. |
50% extra time reasonable adjustment
| Exercise | Completion times |
|---|---|
| National sift (if applicable) |
No extra time is awarded for the national sift in terms of reasonable adjustments. Approximate time to complete is 50 minutes. This will consist of approximately 20 minutes to complete the SJT and 30 minutes to complete the behavioural styles questionnaire. |
|
CBI |
Approximate time to complete is up to 50 minutes. For each question, you will be given 1 minute 30 seconds (90 seconds) to consider the question and prepare your answer. After this you will have 5 minutes (300 seconds) to record your answer. |
|
Written exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 60 minutes, but we have set a time restriction of 2 hours (120 minutes). The candidate instructions should take approximately 15 minutes to read. |
|
Briefing exercise |
Approximate time to complete is 75 minutes. For preparation time, you should need approximately 15 minutes to independently read the preparation materials and consider your response to part 1 of the scenarios. This initial preparation stage for part 1 is not timed and is not assessed. After the initial preparation time, you will have approximately another further 60 minutes in which you will be given 12 questions to answer. This will be split into three parts with four questions in each. For parts 1, 2 and 3, you will have up to 1 minute 30 seconds (90 seconds) to prepare your response to each question. You will then have 3 minutes (180 seconds) to provide your response to the question. Parts 2 and 3 include developments of the scenario presented in part 1. |