FOI 569-2025 / May 2025 / Neurodivergent data
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST REFERENCE NO: 569-2025
I write in connection with your request for information which was received on 27th May 2025 as follows:
Q1. How many police officers do you have in your organisation that are neurodivergent, can this data be broken down per condition and or rank (i.e. autism, ADHD, dyslexia etc)?
Q2. Do you have data on neurodivergent people who have applied/ been successful or failed the sgt promotion process?
Q3. What is the process in your force for the PC-Sgt promotion.
Q4. What support is offered to autistic/ neurodivergent candidates as part of the PC-Sgt promotion process?
Q5. Does your force have a neurodiversity strategy or policy? Of so could you provide a copy of summary?
Q6. Has the force conducted any reviews or evaluations on how inclusive the pc-sgt promotion process if for autistic/ neurodivergent officers? If yes can you provide a summary/ report?
Please find the Warwickshire Police response set out below.
Response: Please be advised that, regarding Q1, the requested information is not centrally recorded and is therefore not held in a readily retrievable format. Information in relation to neurodiversity would only be recorded if the individual requested it to be and/or where the condition required any reasonable adjustment. Therefore, in order to determine the number of Police Officers we currently have where a neurodiverse condition is recorded, and then the additional information relating to condition and rank, it would be necessary to examine the personal records of each and every officer on an individual basis. There are currently over 1,100 officers in the force and therefore such searches, and the retrieving of information, would exceed the cost threshold (£450) which equates to 18 hours work at a standard rate of £25 per hour, as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with Section 12(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of the request and, if one part of a request exceeds the fees limit, then section 12 of the Act applies to the whole request.
Further, with regard to Q2 and confirming whether any information specified in this part of the request is held, it would be necessary to first determine the number of officers where a neurodiverse condition was recorded (which, as already advised, would exceed the fees limit), followed by further manual review to determine whether any of these had applied for promotion to Sergeant. Therefore, the cost of confirming or denying whether the requested information is held would exceed the ‘appropriate level’ as stated in the Freedom of Information (Fees and Appropriate Limit) Regulations 2004.
In accordance with Section 12(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, this letter also acts as a Refusal Notice for this part of the request.
In accordance with Section 16 of the Act I have a duty to provide advice and assistance in relation to refining your request; however, due to the number of records which would need to be examined, I am unable to suggest a way to revise these parts of your request into ones which could be managed within the fees limit. I can advise that it may be possible to provide a response to the remaining parts of your request, should you wish to revise and resubmit.
As a gesture of goodwill, you may find reviewing the below links useful:
Every effort has been made to ensure that the information provided is as accurate as possible.
Your attention is drawn to the below which details your right of complaint.
Should you have any further enquiries concerning this matter, please write or email the Freedom of Information Unit quoting the reference number above.
Yours sincerely
Freedom of Information Officer
Freedom of Information Unit
Warwickshire Police
PO Box 4
Leek Wootton
Warwickshire
CV35 7QB