Greater Manchester Police Jobs
Whether GMP is recruiting, which entry routes are open, what the job pays once allowances, tax and pension are counted, and exactly where to apply.
Also searched as greater manchester police, gmp, manchester police. Greater Manchester Police covers Greater Manchester's ten boroughs.
Is Greater Manchester Police recruiting? The short answer
On 1 October 2026 the national joining the police website listed Greater Manchester Police as recruiting police constables through PCEP and Detective entry. New constables start on £32,255 a year (national pay point 1, no regional allowance), rising to £52,015 at the top of the constable scale, on rates from 1 September 2026. To apply, use the force's own recruitment page below, not a job board.
Constable routes open
PCEP and Detective entry
National site, 1 October 2026
Starting salary
£32,255
Constable pay point 1, from 1 September 2026
Officers recruited
621 FTE
Year to 31 March 2026, excluding transfers (Home Office)
Job board reading
Advertising roles
Our tracker, all role types
We are independent and do not recruit for any force. Recruitment windows open and close without notice, so check the force's own site for current vacancies and closing dates before you rely on anything here. The route list is a dated reading of joiningthepolice.co.uk (national police recruitment site); this page stops showing it 35 days after that date. What GMP's own site said is a dated reading too, and this page stops showing it 60 days after 1 October 2026.
How GMP recruits: what its own site says
We read Greater Manchester Police's own recruitment pages on 1 October 2026 and summarised what they state about its process and local rules, in our words, with a link to each page. These are the details that differ between forces and that a national guide cannot tell you. Anything not listed here we did not find on those pages, so ask the force's recruitment team rather than assume.
| Topic | What GMP's pages said | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Entry routes described | GMP's careers site lists two entry routes for new officers: the Police Constable Entry Programme and the Detective Constable Entry Programme. | Force page ↗ 1 Oct 2026 |
| Transferring in | The careers site was inviting transferee applications for several roles, including constables for the transport policing command, detective constables, neighbourhood constables and sergeants, firearms instructors and authorised firearms officers. | Force page ↗ 1 Oct 2026 |
Get ready for the online assessment
Every route runs through the College of Policing online assessment. The free readiness check shows which parts to work on first.
OAC readiness check →Vetting comes last and takes longest
Be honest and complete on the vetting form; forces say leaving something out can itself lead to refusal. The free stage checker explains where you are and what usually comes next.
Vetting stage checker →GMP vacancies we can see
Our tracker reads GMP's job board twice a day where the system allows it. Most adverts on a force job board are police staff roles, not constable intakes. Where the board blocks automated reading, the panel says so rather than guessing.
GMP vacancies right now
Read from Greater Manchester Police's careers page today. We can see what they mention, not a vacancy list.
We can't read Greater Manchester Police's vacancy list directly, so there's no live advert list on this page. Their careers site is linked above, and you can ask us to alert you below.
What GMP actually pays
Officer pay is set nationally, so the advert figure is the same almost everywhere. What changes between forces is the allowance on top, and no force advert tells you what lands in your account after the 12.88% pension contribution.
Starting salary
£32,255
National scale, no supplement
Take-home
£1,952
per month, after tax, NI and pension (estimate)
Top of scale
£52,015
constable pay point 7
Against all 43
#11
top payer is the Met at £42,334
Constable pay scale at GMP
Rates from 1 September 2026. New recruits join at point 1 of the 7-point scale (constables appointed since April 2013) and move up each year, subject to satisfactory performance. Some forces start recruits at point 2.
| Pay point | National base | At GMP |
|---|---|---|
| Point 1 (on appointment) | £32,255 | £32,255 |
| Point 2 | £33,609 | £33,609 |
| Point 3 | £34,972 | £34,972 |
| Point 4 | £36,335 | £36,335 |
| Point 5 | £39,058 | £39,058 |
| Point 6 | £44,544 | £44,544 |
| Point 7 | £52,015 | £52,015 |
GMP jobs are not only officer jobs
Searches for "gmp police jobs" cover four quite different roles, each recruited on its own timetable. The figures are Greater Manchester Police's own workforce at 31 March 2026 from the Home Office statistics.
Police officer (constable)
8,234 FTE
Warranted officers on the national pay scale, recruited through the entry routes below. £32,255 to start.
Officer routes →
Police staff
3,921 FTE
Call handling, custody detention officers, investigators, analysts, forensics, IT and admin. Pay is set by the force's own grading, not the officer scale.
Police staff guide →
PCSO
277 FTE
Paid, uniformed neighbourhood role without a warrant card. Recruited by each force on its own schedule.
How to become a PCSO →
Special constable
151 people
Unpaid volunteer officers with full police powers. Some forces count special constable service towards constable entry.
Special constable guide →
How to apply to GMP: the stages
Every force in England and Wales uses the College of Policing's national sift and online assessment, and appointment rules come from regulation 10 of the Police Regulations 2003; forces add their own steps in between. Each stage links to a free tool or guide for that step.
-
Step 1
Check you are eligible
Age 17 to apply and 18 to be appointed, the right to live and work in the UK, and the qualification for your chosen route. Residency, tattoos, debt and past offences are checked at vetting.
Eligibility reality check → -
Step 2
Choose a route the force has open
PCDA, PCEP, DHEP, the professional policing degree holder route, detective entry or rejoiner. Not every force runs every route at once.
Entry routes compared → -
Step 3
Application form and national sift
A national application form, then a situational judgement test and a behavioural styles questionnaire.
National sift guide → -
Step 4
Online assessment process
A competency-based interview, a written exercise and a briefing exercise, marked against the competency and values framework.
OAC readiness check → -
Step 5
Any force interview
Constable candidates other than transferees must pass an in-person interview with the force (Police Regulations 2003, regulation 10(1)(eb)). Check GMP's recruitment page for the format it uses.
Practise interview questions → -
Step 6
Fitness, medical and vetting
The job-related fitness test (15m multi-stage shuttle run), a medical and eyesight check, drugs test, and vetting of you and your close associates.
Vetting stage checker →
Not sure how long all of this takes? The free timeline planner lays out each stage from application to start date, so you can plan notice at work and money around it.
Plan my timeline →Ways to join GMP as an officer
Our tracker's last reading of GMP's careers pages found these routes mentioned. Each opens and closes on its own schedule.
Detective
Detective Entry Routes
Detective pathways built on the constable entry routes: a detective degree holder entry programme for graduates and, in some forces, a detective police constable entry programme that usually needs no degree.
Two-year probation, plus the learning needed for PIP 2 accreditation
Transferee
Transferee (Serving Officers)
A move for officers already serving in another force, keeping rank, pay point and pension scheme membership.
Set by the receiving force; vetting and references are the usual waits
Specials
Special Constable
A volunteer police officer with the same powers as a regular officer, giving a minimum number of hours each month alongside other work.
Ongoing, with a minimum monthly hours commitment set by each force
Comparing routes? Read every police entry route compared, or compare GMP with other forces on pay and location.
Where you'd be policing
Greater Manchester Police covers Greater Manchester's ten boroughs, with headquarters at Manchester. New officers are usually posted where the force needs them rather than to a station of their choosing, so it is worth being realistic about commuting across the whole force area.
GMP recruitment questions
Is Greater Manchester Police recruiting in 2026? +
On 1 October 2026 the national joining the police website listed Greater Manchester Police as recruiting police constables through PCEP and Detective entry. Our own tracker, which reads the force's job board twice a day, reported: Read from Greater Manchester Police's careers page today. We can see what they mention, not a vacancy list. Police staff, PCSO and special constable roles are advertised separately on the force's careers site, so a force can be closed to new constables and still have other vacancies open.
How do I apply to Greater Manchester Police? +
Apply directly to Greater Manchester Police through its own careers site. For police constable roles the national stages are an application form, the national sift (a situational judgement test and a behavioural styles questionnaire) and the College of Policing online assessment (a competency-based interview, a written exercise and a briefing exercise), followed by fitness, medical and vetting checks. Since 17 March 2026 the Police Regulations 2003 (regulation 10(1)(eb)) also require constable candidates, other than transferees, to pass an in-person interview with the force they apply to. Check GMP's recruitment page for how it runs that stage. The force decides which entry routes it opens and when.
Where are Greater Manchester Police vacancies advertised? +
On Greater Manchester Police's own careers and vacancies pages, which is the only place an application can be made. Constable entry routes also appear on the national joining the police website's "which forces are recruiting" list. Job boards sometimes repost police staff adverts, but the force's own advert is the one with the current closing date.
How much do Greater Manchester Police officers get paid? +
New constables start on £32,255 a year (national pay point 1, no regional allowance), rising to £52,015 at the top of the constable scale, on rates from 1 September 2026. After income tax, National Insurance and the 12.88% pension contribution, the starting figure is roughly £1,952 a month. Increments move you up the scale each year, subject to satisfactory performance.
Which entry routes does Greater Manchester Police use? +
We checked Greater Manchester Police's own pages on 1 October 2026. GMP's careers site lists two entry routes for new officers: the Police Constable Entry Programme and the Detective Constable Entry Programme. On 1 October 2026 the national site listed PCEP and Detective entry as open at Greater Manchester Police. Routes open and close separately, so a route missing from that list may simply be between intakes.
Can I join Greater Manchester Police without a degree? +
Nationally, yes: the PCDA and PCEP are open to people without a degree. The Home Office list in Annex BA lets a chief officer accept a level 3 qualification (such as two A levels), or equivalent experience, including service as a special constable or PCSO. Whether Greater Manchester Police is running either route at the moment is a matter for the force; on 1 October 2026 the national site listed PCEP as open there.
How many officers does Greater Manchester Police have? +
8,234 full-time equivalent officers (8,278 people) at 31 March 2026, according to the Home Office police workforce statistics published on 22 July 2026. In the year to 31 March 2026 the force took on 621 officers (FTE, excluding transfers) and 61 transferred in from other forces.
How long does Greater Manchester Police recruitment take? +
There is no published national timescale, and it varies by force, intake date and how quickly vetting and medical checks clear. The College of Policing's guide to joining describes the stages but does not give a fixed length. Our recruitment timeline planner lays out the stages so you can see where the waits usually fall.
Where would I be posted with Greater Manchester Police? +
Greater Manchester Police covers Greater Manchester's ten boroughs, with headquarters at Manchester. The main population centres include Manchester, Salford, Bolton. New officers are usually posted where the force needs them rather than to a station of their choosing, so it is worth being realistic about travelling across the whole force area.
Does Greater Manchester Police take transferees? +
We checked Greater Manchester Police's pages on 1 October 2026. The careers site was inviting transferee applications for several roles, including constables for the transport policing command, detective constables, neighbourhood constables and sergeants, firearms instructors and authorised firearms officers. Our guide to transferring between forces explains what happens to your pay point, pension and probation.
Moving from another force? See how to transfer between police forces. Left the police and thinking of coming back? See rejoining the police.
What candidates say about applying to Greater Manchester Police
Anonymous reviews from real officers and candidates — checked before publishing, never shared with the force.
0 reviews so far
Tell me when GMP opens
Greater Manchester Police opens and closes recruitment windows at different times. Register once and we'll email you when a new GMP vacancy appears on our tracker, and, only if you tick the box, introduce you to their recruitment team.
Other forces in North West
Where these figures come from
- Greater Manchester Police: police officers page (read 1 October 2026) — what the force's own site said about applications, routes, its interview and local rules
- Greater Manchester Police: careers home page (read 1 October 2026) — what the force's own site said about applications, routes, its interview and local rules
- Home Office:Police workforce, England and Wales: 31 March 2026 (published 22 July 2026) — officer, staff, PCSO and special constable numbers and officer joiners for this force
- joiningthepolice.co.uk: which forces are recruiting (read 1 October 2026) — constable entry routes listed as open, by force
- College of Policing: joining the police as a new PC — the four constable entry routes and the national application stages
- Home Office Circular 002/2024, Annex BA: policing qualifications and experience — level 3 or equivalent for PCDA and PCEP; a degree for DHEP
- PolicePay: police pay scales 2026 — the constable scale and allowances used on this page
Take-home figures are estimates using 2026/27 tax and National Insurance and the police pension contribution rate for the salary band; your payslip will differ with tax code, overtime, allowances and student loan. PolicePay is independent and not affiliated with Greater Manchester Police, the College of Policing or the Home Office.
Work in GMP recruitment?
We can show you how many candidates viewed GMP jobs this month, which routes they filtered for and how many clicked through to your system, free and without any candidate personal data.