British Transport Police become the first police force to achieve CIPD People Development Partner status through ongoing commitment to continuing development and professional standards.
Working with the CIPD, British Transport Police (BTP) has strengthened its HR team, built professional standards into everyday practice and created learning opportunities tailored to its people. Using CIPD insight tools, BTP created focused learning programmes that help its colleagues gain new skills. This approach has boosted the team’s confidence and credibility, helping them step up as trusted advisors and make a real difference across the organisation. As a result of this sustained work, we were proud to recognise BTP as a CIPD People Development Partner (PDP).
British Transport Police (BTP) is the national police force responsible for policing the railway in England, Scotland and Wales including the London Underground and several light rail systems. It ensures the safety and security of passengers, staff and rail infrastructure, prevents and investigates crime and supports the smooth operation of the rail network across Great Britain.
Historically, support functions like HR didn’t always receive the same attention as frontline policing teams. People related priorities were often viewed as operational necessities rather than strategic drivers. BTP recognised that to change this mindset, HR needed to build even stronger credibility through greater professionalism, accreditation, and visibility. The aim was to elevate professional standards, strengthen HR capability, and clearly demonstrate the vital role a high performing people team plays in enabling both operational excellence and long term strategic success across the Force.
“Partnering with the CIPD has empowered our people to pursue professional development actively – raising our credibility and strengthening our strategic contribution.”
In early 2023, 54% of BTP’s people function were active CIPD members. There was inconsistent access to professional development, no clear view of expected behaviours and capabilities and a lack of targeted learning opportunities. BTP wanted to introduce a consistent standard that everyone could align to and a development pathway that truly reflected the complexity and professionalism across its people function.
With that in mind, BTP turned to the CIPD for support in helping its team demonstrate alignment with our globally recognised standards, maintain and further develop their skills and gain greater confidence to be trusted advisors. We partnered with BTP to assess its people team’s existing capability and use the insights to build a structured programme of development and accreditation.
Our first step was to help BTP audit and centralise its people team’s CIPD membership. This helped the organisation understand who already held CIPD qualifications, check that membership levels matched roles and expertise and see where there were gaps in membership. This work meant that BTP could take a more proactive approach to accreditation, identifying colleagues suited to apprenticeships as well as those who could gain or upgrade CIPD membership through experience assessment rather than formal study. By 2026, 65% of the people function was in active CIPD membership and dozens of colleagues gained new accreditations, including Chartered and Fellow statuses.
We supported BTP to take an evidence-based approach to strengthening its team’s capability by combining stakeholder feedback with individual and team development insights. We used our People Impact Tool to survey 700 key stakeholders about the team’s capability and priorities. BTP applied this insight directly to create a targeted function-wide development plan.
We followed this up by supporting BTP to roll out our Development Insights Tool to the whole people function in 2025. This is a self-assessment tool that allows individuals to evaluate their capability against the CIPD Profession Map, identify gaps in knowledge and behaviours and create a bespoke personal learning plan.
Using these insights, BTP designed a structured capability development plan for the team, including CIPD-led courses covering AI for HR, HR business partnering, talent management, employment law, strategic workforce planning and data analytics. It’s a significant shift from BTP’s previous ad hoc training approach to a tailored learning programme that’s aligned to the CIPD Profession Map, individual learning needs and future workforce priorities.
“This is about recognising people for the experience and evidence they already have and supporting colleagues to grow and achieve professional recognition. By strengthening credibility, leadership and confidence the people function can add more value and impact to the Force.”
The partnership has significantly strengthened BTP’s people function, increasing confidence, credibility and strategic influence across the organisation. Leaders within the team now operate as true strategic business partners, contributing at senior levels and leading complex initiatives they might not previously have considered. Through insight-led, targeted development, BTP has driven high engagement, with colleagues actively taking up apprenticeships, professional accreditation and learning opportunities.
Through this investment, BTP has also seen increased motivation and retention across the team, even during organisational change, as colleagues feel valued, supported and clear about their professional expectations. The impact of this work has been recognised both internally and externally, including awards for HR excellence, flexible working, talent management, innovation and inclusivity. Several individuals have also achieved Chartered Fellow status, further strengthening professional confidence and the team’s ability to influence at the highest levels.
Overall, the work has helped BTP build a culture of continuous learning, professional pride and evidence-based practice across its people team. In recognition of BTP’s long-term commitment to learning and professional growth, we were proud to award them CIPD PDP status. This focus on continuing professional development is helping the team build confidence and capability to support wider organisational goals.
“BTP’s commitment to professional development shows how a people function can truly make an impact. CIPD PDP status recognises their achievement and sets an example for policing and beyond.”
With PDP status achieved, BTP will continue to embed professional development as a central and ongoing priority. This includes using the CIPD Development Insights Tool to maintain its data-driven approach to understanding and addressing learning needs.
The next phase will also focus on strengthening external influence and innovation. BTP will increase its contribution to professional networks and policing forums, promote entry into the people profession through apprenticeships and create more opportunities for leadership development and knowledge-sharing. BTP also plans to make use of digital tools and artificial intelligence to improve the insight it generates and support effective decision-making, enabling its people function to shape and lead organisational change.
To find out how the CIPD can support you in developing your people function, get in touch.