Two out of five police recruits are female

About two in five police officers hired in recent years are female, data show.

As part of a 2019 election manifesto pledge, the Government promised an increase of 20,000 police officers across England and Wales by March 2023, as well as a campaign to improve the force’s gender and ethnic diversity.

Home Office data show female recruits made up 42 per cent of the 24,577 police officers hired from April 2020, when gender breakdowns were first recorded, to March this year.

The figures are a head count – women are more likely to work part-time, so the number of female police officers on the streets is likely to be lower than figures suggest.