The government’s decision to recruit an unprecedented number of new police officers over a relatively short period of time impacted on the implementation of a fundamental reform of how police officers are trained and developed. From 2016 onwards, police forces began to adopt the new Police Education and Qualifications Framework (PEQF), as mandated by the College of Policing. This new approach requires prospective police officers to either hold a qualification equivalent to a university degree or to earn an equivalent qualification through study during their first three years of service.20