Police Promotion Board Glossary

The language of promotion boards trips up good officers before the board even starts. Here’s what the terms actually mean, in plain English, from the people who’ve sat on the panel. Covers the CVF 2024, STANCE, PEEL, STARR, HMICFRS, rank calibration, the Met’s future-focused interview and every term your panel will use to score your answers.

CVF 2024

The Competency and Values Framework, updated by the College of Policing in May 2024. It's the behavioural framework promotion panels in most forces score you against, made up of six competencies and three values. In the Met's 2026 process the CVF still underpins the standards, but the interview itself is scored on potential rather than against CVF levels.Outside the Met, every question on your board maps to the CVF. If you don't know how it's structured, you're preparing blind.Read more: CVF 2024 Explained→

Competency

One of the six behavioural areas the CVF assesses: We Are Emotionally Aware, We Take Ownership, We Collaborate, We Support and Inspire, We Analyse Critically, and We Are Innovative and Open-Minded.Most boards assess between four and six competencies, and you won't always be told which ones in advance.

Value

One of the three standards every officer is expected to demonstrate equally, regardless of rank: Courage, Respect and Empathy, and Public Service.Unlike competencies, values have no levels. A constable and a chief inspector are held to the same standard, but the scale and context of the evidence changes.

Descriptor

A specific behaviour the CVF expects you to demonstrate, written as a first-person statement such as “I showed each member of the team how their work fed into the wider operational goal.”Panels listen for the descriptors relevant to your rank and tick them off as you speak. An answer that evidences nothing specific gives them nothing to score.

Mock board

A practice run of your promotion board under realistic conditions: questions asked aloud, timed answers, follow-up probes and scored feedback. Traditionally run by retired senior officers at around £380 per sitting. State6's Mock Board runs the same format with a voiced AI panel that scores you against the CVF 2024, or the Met's future-focused potential model for Met candidates, with a written debrief.The real board is spoken, timed and pressured. Reading answers on a page is not the same as delivering them out loud under questioning, and a mock board is where you find out whether your evidence survives being spoken and probed.Read more: AI Mock Board→

Positive indicator

A behaviour that earns marks: the things a panel wants to hear evidenced in your answer.Hit enough positive indicators with specific, personal evidence and your score climbs.

Negative indicator

A behaviour that costs marks. A panel can hear an otherwise strong answer and still mark it down if a negative indicator appears.This is why a polished, confident answer can still score a three. The negatives pull it back down.

CVF levels

The three levels of expectation the CVF applies by rank. Level 1 covers PC and PCSO (personal conduct), Level 2 covers Sergeant to Chief Inspector (leading others), and Level 3 covers Superintendent and above (strategic leadership).The level you're assessed against depends on your target rank. Answering below that level is one of the most common reasons strong officers score poorly.

Cumulative levels

The rule that higher ranks must demonstrate the levels below them too. A candidate assessed at Level 3 must still evidence Level 2 behaviours, not just the top level.Evidence only at a lower level can cap a descriptor score, no matter how well delivered.

Rank calibration

Pitching your answer at the level of the rank you're going for, not the one you currently hold. A sergeant answer and an inspector answer to the same question should sound different.It isn't about bigger words. It's about where your actions sit in the organisation and how far their impact reaches.Read more: What Panels Look For at Sergeant Level→

STARR

An answer structure: Situation, Task, Action, Result, Reflection. It's the standard way to structure a response at a UK police promotion board.The second R, Reflection, is the part most officers leave out, and it's where a panel starts to see the rank you're going for.Read more: How to Write a STARR Answer→

PEEL (State6 framework)

A State6 Original answer framework: Position, Evidence, Explore the Tension, Lead. It's a structure for forward facing board answers, the what would you do and what is your view questions, exclusive to State6.Not to be confused with the HMICFRS PEEL inspection programme below. They share the acronym but are entirely different things.Read more: Learn PEEL→

STANCE

State6's six-step framework for promotion board presentations: Situation, Take a position, Assessment, Navigate the options, Cost and risk, End with impact. Built on the Minto Pyramid Principle: state your recommendation before building the case for it.The most common reason officers underscore on a presentation question is structure, not content. STANCE gives the panel a recommendation in the second step, not after three minutes of context building.Read more: Learn STANCE→

HMICFRS

His Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire and Rescue Services. The independent body that inspects and reports on every police force in England and Wales.Your panel knows what HMICFRS has said about your force. Connecting your answers to that picture signals strategic awareness.Read more: What HMICFRS Grades Mean at a Board→

PEEL inspection

The HMICFRS inspection programme that grades forces on Police Effectiveness, Efficiency and Legitimacy. Each force receives published grades from Outstanding to Inadequate.Knowing your force's PEEL grades, and what's behind them, lets you ground your answers in your force's real context.

Causes of concern

The most serious findings HMICFRS can issue about a force, flagging an area where performance is seriously below standard and requires urgent attention.An officer who understands their force's causes of concern can show a panel they lead with the wider picture in view.

Areas for improvement

Findings HMICFRS issues that are less severe than a cause of concern, identifying where a force should improve.Like causes of concern, these form part of the force context a strong candidate can weave into their answers.

Collective language

The habit of describing what your team did (“we decided”) rather than what you personally did (“I decided”) when answering a board question.A panel scores one person, not a team. Collective language hides your individual contribution and is one of the most common reasons answers underscore.Read more: The Collective Language Problem→

Probe question

A question a panel asks after your answer to test its depth, often to check whether something you described was genuine and whether you can explain your reasoning.Probes are where a thin answer falls apart. Preparing for the likely probes is as important as the answer itself.

Structured interview

An interview format where every candidate is asked the same set of questions and scored against the same criteria, used by most forces for promotion boards.Because the scoring is structured, vague answers that don't map to the criteria score poorly however confident they sound.

National Decision Model

The decision making framework used across UK policing, built around gathering information, assessing threat and risk, considering powers and options, and taking action. Usually shortened to the NDM.Referencing the NDM is expected at every rank for any decision making example. Leaving it out is a common gap.

Behavioural evidence

A specific action you personally took, a decision you made, or an outcome you created, that demonstrates a CVF descriptor. General statements and implied behaviour don't count.If a panel can't point to a specific moment in your answer that shows the behaviour, it isn't evidenced.

Reflection

The final part of a STARR answer, where you explain what the experience taught you and what you would do differently.Panels read reflection as a sign you can learn, which is the raw material of a more senior leader.

Overall score

The single rating a panel gives your answer, typically on a 1 to 5 scale, based on how many positive indicators you evidenced and whether any negatives were present.A 3 means you met the standard. A 4 or 5 means you clearly exceeded it. Knowing the difference helps you aim your evidence.

Future-focused interview

The Metropolitan Police promotion interview format used from 2026. It asks how you would lead and decide in the rank you're applying for, rather than for past examples, and is scored on your potential rather than on a competency you've already demonstrated.It rewards forward reasoning, not war stories. A strong past-example answer dropped into a future-focused interview scores low because it shows history, not potential.Read more: Met Police Promotion 2026 guide→

Potential scale (1 to 4)

The Metropolitan Police scores promotion answers on a four-point potential scale: 1 Limited, 2 Developing, 3 Acceptable, 4 High. It measures your capacity to perform at the next rank, unlike the CVF's 1 to 5 competence scale the other 42 forces use.Knowing it's four points, and that 3 is Acceptable, tells you the bar: the panel wants clear evidence of potential, not a polished account of the past.Read more: What a 1 to 4 score looks like→

Met Success Profile

The five areas the Metropolitan Police interview assesses: Integrity, Leads Inclusively, Being Resilient, Planning and Prioritising, and Drives Engagement. Each is explored through future-focused questions and scored on potential.These are what your answers are mapped to at a Met board. Integrity is also assessed directly, so an approach that games a target counts against you.Read more: Met Police Promotion 2026 guide→

Role Specific Leadership Exercise (RSLE)

The second assessed part of the Metropolitan Police inspector process, alongside the future-focused interview. It's a realistic, role-based scenario where you have to lead rather than talk about leadership, and it makes up roughly half the assessment.Most preparation ignores it. Walk in having prepared only for the interview and you've prepared for half the test.Read more: The Met leadership exercise explained→

Ready for promotion (PDR gateway)

A potential rating in your Metropolitan Police Professional Development Review that now acts as the entry point to promotion, in place of the old application form. Reaching ready for promotion or above is what makes you eligible for the round.Because the rating is the gateway, the evidence that earns it is built across the whole review year. By the time the round opens, your eligibility is largely decided.Read more: The ready for promotion PDR gateway→

Sources: College of Policing CVF 2024 · HMICFRS. State6 is an independent preparation platform and is not affiliated with the College of Policing or HMICFRS.