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POLICE PROMOTION · PREPARATION

City of London Promotion Board Preparation

If you’re preparing for a Sergeant, Inspector or Chief Inspector board at City of London, your panel already knows your force’s inspection picture. Here’s what that means for you, and how State6 builds it into your preparation.

PEEL report

24 July 2025

2023-25 PEEL inspection

Grades

9 areas

Causes of concern

None

in the latest PEEL report

HMICFRS support level

Level One

Default position, as published 16 July 2026. What this means

City of London HMICFRS snapshot

What the inspectors found

City of London Police received good grades for responding to the public and investigating crime in the 2023-25 PEEL inspection, and an outstanding grade for data recording.

PEEL grades

  • WorkforceAdequate
  • LeadershipAdequate
  • Police powersAdequate
  • Preventing crimeAdequate
  • Managing offendersAdequate
  • Protecting vulnerableAdequate
  • Investigating crimeGood
  • Responding to publicGood
  • Recording dataOutstanding

Areas for improvement

  • The force needs to improve how it records equality data
  • The force needs to improve how it records information and reviews data to better understand its use of stop and search
  • The force needs to improve its understanding of why officers use force in some circumstances
  • The partnership and prevention hub requires a better governance and performance framework
  • The force should improve its problem-solving processes, including evaluation and a consistent way of storing plans
  • The force doesn't consistently achieve appropriate outcomes for victims
Show the other 3 areas for improvement
  • The force needs to develop its data and information to better understand challenges that affect workforce well-being and occupational health provision
  • The force should consider its personal development review process to make sure it is effective and valued by officers and staff
  • The force needs better processes to regularly review its strategic decisions, policies and processes to check they are effective

9 areas were identified in the full inspection. Inside State6, each is mapped to the CVF competencies it affects, so you know exactly what to evidence.

Source: City of London’s inspection reports on the HMICFRS website.

In their own words

What City of London says it is focused on

The inspection picture above is what HMICFRS found. These are the priorities City of London and the City of London's Police Authority Board have set for themselves, and the people on your panel work to them every day.

Policing Plan 2025 to 2028

Set by the City of London's Police Authority Board, which acts for the Court of Common Council as the police authority for the City. It is produced jointly with the force and published under the call to action Going the extra mile. The current edition is the 2026/27 annual refresh, dated 8 April 2026. Stated aim: A trusted and inclusive police service, keeping the City of London safe and transforming the national policing response to fraud, economic and cyber crime.

  • Keep people in the City safe and feeling safe
  • Put victims at the heart of everything we do
  • Improve the national policing response to fraud, economic and cyber crime
  • Be one of the most inclusive and trusted police services in the country
  • Be an employer of choiceBringing in and keeping good people, then giving them the training, equipment and support they need to do the job well.
  • Improve our productivityGetting more out of the money and staff the force already has, with better use of data and less complicated ways of working.

Read the plan on the Police Authority's publications page

Use these to choose which of your examples to tell, not as phrases to recite. An answer about a team problem lands harder when the panel can see it serves something the force has already said matters.

Priority names are the publishers’ own headings. The summaries are ours. Checked against the published documents on 21 September 2026.

What this means for your board

The Policing Plan 2025 to 2028 leads with the priority “Keep people in the City safe and feeling safe”. Your panel knows this without looking it up, and an example that speaks to it is one they will recognise.

A promotion board at City of London isn’t only assessing whether you can lead a team. It’s assessing whether you understand the force you’re asking to lead in, and where your leadership fits its priorities. Officers who connect their examples to what City of London is actually focused on stand out. Officers who stay inside their own team don’t.

You don’t do this by quoting the inspection report. You do it by letting your force’s priorities shape the decisions in your answers. If you want the full method, read our guide on what HMICFRS grades mean for your promotion board, or compare every force’s PEEL grades side by side.

How State6 prepares you for City of London

You don’t have to research any of this yourself. City of London’s real HMICFRS picture is built into State6. The Question Bank shapes practice questions around it, and every AI Board Review weaves your force’s context into the feedback on your answers. You’re preparing for the board you’ll actually sit, at the force you’ll actually sit it in.

You can also sit a full voiced AI mock board calibrated to City of London’s inspection picture, answering out loud while the panel listens, probes and scores you against the CVF 2024.

Calibrated to your target rank, too. See what panels look for at sergeant, inspector and chief inspector level.

Prefer to start free? Our free promotion board question bank gives you real questions for every CVF area at sergeant, inspector and chief inspector level, free to download as you prepare for your City of London board.

Prepare for your City of London board

Practice questions, AI board reviews and your force’s inspection picture, all in one place. Try it free first: one AI Board Review, ten practice questions, fifteen coaching rounds and one spoken mock board question, no card needed.

See plans and pricing

State6 is an independent preparation platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to City of London, the College of Policing or HMICFRS. Inspection findings are summarised from the publicly available HMICFRS PEEL reports.

HMICFRS inspection data: Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

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