£150,000 spent but not one Pc taken on

A £150,000 bill has been racked up by West Midlands Police putting 1,000 new recruits through the force assessment centre in the past year - none of whom has been given a job.

Around 700 recruits have completed the assessment process and have been waiting between 18 months and two years to be given a start date, details released under the Freedom of Information request have revealed. The remaining 300 have been trapped in the process since a recruitment freeze was put in place in June last year.

A breakdown of the costs involved in recruiting show that the force must pay the National Policing Improvement Agency £25 per applicant to be put through the assessment centre.

Additional costs are incurred if the force has to use external assessors.

West Midlands Police say the freeze had been put in place while Programme Paragon was introduced.

Programme Paragon is a restructuring programme which has transformed the operational running of West Midlands Police.

Twenty-one area command units have been replaced by 10 local policing units.

The changes have seen the four Black Country boroughs each being policed by one local policing unit, instead of two.

Joanne Hunt, spokeswoman with West Midlands Police, said: "Under Paragon, which is a major project aimed at streamlining the force, all police officer and police staff roles and posts are subject to scrutiny as the force tries to provide more efficient policing.

"However, the force has given a commitment that front line posts and services which involve contact with the public, such as neighbourhood policing, will remain at the very core of the programme and will not be affected."

A provisional start date is due to be issued to the waiting recruits within the next few weeks.

Applicants who have been stuck in the process have been venting their anger on the UK Police Online forum, with some claiming they have been waiting almost three years.

One disgruntled applicant has posted: "I will be withdrawing my application, and will never consider any positions with WMP again."