Transfer or Rejoin
Police Scotland

Police Scotland runs three separate routes for police officers. Which one you use depends on whether you are serving now, where you served and whether you completed probation with Police Scotland.

If neither the transferee nor the rejoiner rules fit you, you apply as a new officer. Our Police Scotland hub covers that route stage by stage.

Police Scotland's transferee page says it considers serving officers in a recognised Home Office force in England or Wales, the Police Service of Northern Ireland or the British Transport Police, who have:

• at least three years' service; and
• no outstanding complaints.

Transfers are open at all substantive ranks.

Police Scotland's transferee page lists these steps. It does not publish how long each takes.

1. A CVF-based application. Written against Police Scotland's Competency and Values Framework. Its competencies match the College of Policing's six, but the values are Police Scotland's own: integrity, fairness, respect and human rights.
2. Background and reference checks, including your current force's Professional Standards and vetting.
3. A CVF interview.
4. National promotion assessments if you are transferring to a specialist role or a senior rank. Police Scotland says you will "typically" undertake them.
5. The fitness test to level 5.4.
6. A medical, including eyesight and BMI.
7. A substance misuse test.

Why the values matter for transferees

You will already know the College of Policing CVF competencies. The trap is the values. In England and Wales the CVF values are different; Police Scotland's framework is underpinned by integrity, fairness, respect and human rights and its Code of Ethics. Your application and interview examples should show those four. Our values and Code of Ethics guide explains each.

Police Scotland says transferees attend "a 3 week training course at the Scottish Police College and locally" and "You will not be required to serve a period of probation." Compare that with new officers, who do 18 weeks of initial training and a 2-year probation.

The 3 weeks are there to bring you up to speed on policing in Scotland. Scotland has its own law, its own courts and its own regulations: the Police Service of Scotland Regulations 2013 rather than the Police Regulations 2003. Police Scotland does not publish the content of the course.

Moving force usually means more than a new uniform. These are the published differences most likely to affect you.

Pension

In Scotland you build pension in the Police Pension Scheme (Scotland) 2015, administered by the Scottish Public Pensions Agency. The accrual rate is 1/56.1 of pensionable earnings each year, slightly lower than England and Wales' 1/55.3. The member contribution is a flat 13.7%. Normal pension age is 60. Police Scotland says that if you are already paying into a pension "it may be possible to transfer it to the police scheme". Pension transfers can have large long-term effects, so get your own scheme's figures before deciding.

Tax

Living in Scotland means paying Scottish income tax. In 2026/27 the 21% intermediate band runs from £29,527 and the 42% higher band from £43,663 of taxable income (assuming the standard £12,570 Personal Allowance). Our pay comparison works through it.

Leave

The PNBS handbook gives federated ranks 28 days' annual leave with under 2 years' service, 34 days from 2 to 4 years, 36 days from 5 to 9 years and 39 days at 10 years or more. Police Scotland does not publish whether service in another force counts towards these bands, so ask.

Police Scotland's rejoiner route is only for former Police Scotland officers who completed their probation. If you left before completing probation, or served in another force, you apply as a new officer (or, if you are still serving elsewhere, as a transferee).

The rejoiner page lists criteria including:

• a manual driving licence;
• a Body Mass Index between 18 and 30;
• a minimum of three years' UK residence immediately prior to application;
• the national eyesight standard.

Police Scotland says it is particularly interested in rejoiners for rural and remote postings in Argyll and in the Highlands and Islands. The rejoiner constable vacancy (ID 5115) had a closing date of 31 March 2027 when we checked.

1. CVF application.
2. References.
3. CVF interview.
4. Fitness test.
5. Medical.
6. Substance misuse test.
7. Vetting. The rejoiner page says the final offer follows vetting clearance.

Training is set by a training needs analysis, so what you do depends on how long you have been away and what has changed. Rejoiners do not serve probation and pay is at the point matching your previous service in the rank.

Police Scotland does not publish a maximum time out of the service for rejoiners on the page we read. If you have been away a long time, ask the recruitment team how the training needs analysis is likely to treat you.

Both routes include a CVF interview. Police Scotland does not publish the format for transferee or rejoiner interviews. For new officers, the interview is 20 minutes with four questions, each tied to a named CVF competency. Whatever the format, the preparation is similar:

• Prepare two recent, real examples for each of the six competencies, at the level of the rank you are applying for. The CVF puts constables at level 1 and sergeants to chief inspectors at level 2.
• Make the values visible: integrity, fairness, respect and human rights.
• Be ready to explain why Scotland: what draws you to Police Scotland, the community you want to police and what you understand about policing there.
• Rejoiners: be ready to explain why you left, what you have done since and why you want to come back.

Our Police Scotland interview guide has practice questions for every competency.

These invented examples apply Police Scotland's published transferee and rejoiner rules. Where the rules do not fit, the route is the new officer process.

If you are a new candidate, start with our eligibility checker and the hub.

The steps below are in the order Police Scotland lists them. It does not publish how long each takes.

For the new officer route, see the hub, which walks through the PSET, the fitness test, the assessment day and the final checks.

The only specific transferee post listed on 22 October 2026 was in Orkney. Police Scotland also says it is particularly interested in rejoiners for rural and remote postings in Argyll and in the Highlands and Islands. If you are open to an island posting, the Islands Allowance applies. It is paid to all ranks permanently posted to a listed island, for the length of the posting, at four national rates (PNBS Circular 2026/04).

Whether the Islands Allowance is pensionable is not stated on the PNBS handbook page we read. There is no housing allowance for new officers in the PNBS handbook; Police Scotland's transferee page says a housing allowance continues only if you received it before August 1994.

Every rejoiner will be asked, in some form, why they left and why they want to return. Police Scotland does not publish its rejoiner interview questions, so this is our suggested structure for that answer:

1. Why you left, briefly and honestly. No need for detail you are not asked for.
2. What you have done since: work, study, caring, volunteering. What did it teach you that makes you a better officer now?
3. Why now: what has changed in your life or thinking.
4. What you would bring back: link it to the CVF competencies and to Police Scotland's values.
5. Where: if you are open to rural or remote postings in Argyll or the Highlands and Islands, say so. Police Scotland says it is particularly interested in rejoiners for those areas.

Detective and other specialisms are post-probation roles in Police Scotland, not entry routes. Police Scotland lists specialist roles including public order, intelligence, armed policing, negotiator, wildlife crime, detective, cybercrime, road policing, counter terrorism policing and child protection. For transfers into specialist roles and senior ranks, Police Scotland says you will typically undertake its national promotion assessments.

Promotion in Scotland works differently from England and Wales. A constable qualifies for promotion to sergeant through the qualifying diploma or the Police Leadership Development Programme, under the Police Service of Scotland (Promotion) Regulations 2013. There is no Scottish written promotion exam equivalent to the England and Wales NPPF exam in the current regulations.