These challenges were particularly evident in relation to the Metropolitan Police Service, which has faced a number of recent high-profile incidents involving serving police officers. In his evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee in April 2022, the Acting Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Service stated that he was less confident than before that the force would reach its final year target, partly because the job market was more challenging and because of the higher salaries being offered by some organisations.38 The Department told us that it believed officer pay remained competitive within the public sector, with a starting range of pay for a new officer between £23,000 and £24,000 and rising to almost £40,000 when a police officer was fully competent after six years’ service. It confirmed however that the Metropolitan Police Service was receiving only half the number of applications it needed to achieve its final year target, though applications for detective roles were “very healthy”. The Department told us it was working with the force to improve this and identify how it could better attract applicants.39