Here we explain about our application form "Competency" checking service. If you already know about this service, and wish to book now, please click HERE. To find out more about it, please read on. For general advice on the forms, please click HERE.

Many people find the application form "competency based" answers difficult to complete, or are unsure whether they have reached the required standard. They are rightly concerned that if they fail the paper sift, then they will have to wait between six and twelve months to apply again, and that of course assumes that the force is recruiting then. Apart from that, if they did not know what they did wrong first time, how will they correct it for the next application?

We recognise therefore that some people would wish for:

• A comprehensive guide to help them fill in the form
• For their competency answers to be checked and passed by a police trained assessor before submission to their force.

We offer an application form competency question checking service for both Police Constable and Community Support Officer applications. Approximately 65% of people who apply are rejected on the paper sift. If you use our service, we guarantee that your application form will be successful, or we will refund the checking fee.

In addition, if you use our checking service, we will also give you a discount of £10 off the price of a one day Talking Blues assessment centre course. The cost of us checking your form is only £40, (which includes your free form filling guide). So, if you were going to attend a Talking Blues course anyway, you will save £10 on your assessment day course.

Your competency answers will be checked by a Police recruitment centre trained and experienced assessor, who will grade it and provide feedback for you.

When you register, we will send you via email a simple MS Word document to fill in. It contains spaces for you to cut and paste your application form answers to the competency based questions. So, if you have prepared your answers electronically, it will take you no more than ten minutes to complete. Even if you are using a paper form, we know you have typed up your answers to make them easier to evaluate yourself. (Of course you were going to do that anyway we hope!) You then email it back to us, and within five working days we will return it to you with our comments, and suggestions if appropriate. The checking is done by trained police assessors who are extremely experienced in the paper sift pass criteria. If we suggest any amendments, simply make them, then email it back again to us for a final check if you wish. If you follow our suggestions, and then fail the paper sift, we will refund your checking fee. Its that simple.

We are sure you will appreciate that this service is aimed at the competency questions. We will not check all of your personal data or that you have completed all of the other (simple) parts of the form. After all, doing that is simple common sense.

We will check the competency questions on your form only. (These are the hard ones of course) We expect you to have had a genuine attempt to complete them yourself (guided by the information we send you.) We check and advise on your competency answers, and will grade them according to the following scale:

Weak: We feel that the answer will score poorly and will probably fail
Marginal: It may get through, but needs work.
Good: We feel the answer is strong, and all things being equal should pass

If you submit an application with anything less than a "Good" rating, then you will risk failing. If we feel any of your answers fall into the "Weak" or "Marginal" category, we will advise you what we feel needs to be done to bring them up to standard.

You can return your form to us up to three times for the single fee of £40.

Simple. The reality is that you know when you send your form in to your force after having used the service, you should pass the paper sift. You also get a very comprehensive guide to help you fill in the form prior to submitting it to us.

As soon as you register, and confirm your fee via Worldpay, on the next working day we will send you two documents by email.

First is a 13 page document on how to fill in your application form, with examples and guidelines. (We will expect your answer to abide by these guidelines when you send it to us)

The second document is a table, with a section for you to paste in your proposed answer for each of the competency questions, as well as your reasons for joining the force. (This is another common question that people fail on.) We will check the document, and then enter our comments and grading for each of your answers, and email it back to you.

You can then amend your answers as necessary, and then if you wish resubmit it to us for final checking. You can submit your form as we say up to three times.

In the interests of fairness, we would point out what the application form service is not. We will not write out your form for you. We expect you to make a genuine effort to complete it to the best of your ability.

If we suggest improvements to the form, whilst whether you follow our advice is obviously up to you, if you do not, you cannot really expect us to take the blame if you fail.

We like five working days to check your form to give it the attention it deserves. Although we will probably turn it around faster than that, you need to factor this in when you send us the form after you have completed it, also giving yourself time to make any amendments that may be required. In other words, it is unrealistic for you to send us your form last thing on Friday, expecting us to email it back to you so you can submit it on the Monday! (Having said that, if you call us, we will try, but can't promise.) Sending it to us earlier rather than later is always better. For a big recruitment campaign by a large force, we may get 100 forms to check in a 5 day period (these forms are fro your competitors for a place in the police of course!). We reserve the right to limit the number of forms we take, in which case of course we will immediately refund your deposit.

The whole point of this service is to ensure that your form is of the standard required to pass. It may well be of course that your form arrives with us, and we think it is excellent. In that case, we will say so, and may only make nominal comments on it. After all, we think it is going to pass, so what more can we say?. If that happens to you, be mindful that the only feedback you get may be a simple "this is excellent". What you do gain however is the assurance that you should pass the paper sift.

Our promise here is that your form "should" pass, as opposed to "definitely will". We say this because there are often anomalies in the police system. For example, Avon and Somerset police once deselected all of the white male applicants on its waiting list. Often, the people assessing the forms are poorly trained junior clerks, who can, and do, make mistakes in marking or adding up your scores. This why we can only state that in the opinion of our police trained assessors, your form should pass if completed as per our advice. In any event though, we will still honour our promise of refunding your checking fee if the form is rejected for any reason to do with the competencies. Note however, that if your form is fine, but you are rejected because you missed a section out, sent it in dog eared and coffee stained, or you were rejected because you have flat feet, we would consider that we have fulfilled our promise and got your form passed, and cannot be held responsible for the rest.

Simple. Email or post us a copy of your form as you submitted it, together with a copy of your rejection letter. We will then immediately refund your checking fee to your card.

Simple, click on the below link, and complete the form. Then, click on "Proceed". This will then take you to a payment page with Worldpay where you will be asked to submit your £40 checking fee. You will immediately receive two emails, one from Worldpay confirming receipt of your fee, and another automated reply from us. The next working day we will send you your form completion advice booklet, and electronic table to paste your answers into. Keep your Worldpay receipt, as this will act as your £10 discount voucher if you decide to book a Talking Blues course.

Book for the application form checking service now