Guidance for forces on recruiting former police officers.
In order to provide more flexible re-entry to the service, regulatory changes were made to the legislation that governs rejoiner members to police forces in England and Wales as set out in Regulation 10b, Police Regulations 2003.
The changes removed the requirement that former officers must rejoin a police force within five years if they wish to retain their previous rank. Instead, former officers may now rejoin a force even if their previous service ended more than five years before rejoining. They may be appointed to a higher, lower or the same rank, subject to a decision by the chief officer making the appointment.
This guidance is for forces looking to recruit rejoiners, as well as for those who wish to re-enter the service.