UK Police Bleep Test: the 5.4 Standard Explained

35 shuttles. The score 5.4 means level 5, shuttle 4. On the JRFT's 15-metre course that's 525 metres of running, completed in around 3 minutes 35 seconds. It's the pass standard for police constable recruitment in England and Wales, and Police Scotland publishes the same figure under its own National Fitness Standard. It is the same mark for every candidate, with no adjustment for age or sex.

This comes from the College of Policing's implementation guidance for fitness testing (August 2021), which states forces "must deliver the test to the 5:4 standard only." The national Join The Police recruitment site confirms the same numbers and gives the speed range: it climbs from around 7.9 km/h at level 1 to close to 9.9 km/h by level 5.

The Job-Related Fitness Test (JRFT) is the shuttle run that sits at the centre of UK police fitness requirements: the multi-stage fitness test, sometimes just called the "bleep test" or "beep test." You run between two lines 15 metres apart, touching each line in time with a recorded beep that speeds up in stages. Fall behind the beep twice and the test ends. These are the current standards as of 2026, and they've been unchanged since the 5.4 mark was set, so they apply whether you searched for police fitness requirements UK 2025 or are checking again this year.

Important: the JRFT uses a 15-metre shuttle, not the 20-metre course this app runs by default. A 5.4 on the 15m course is a different effort to a 5.4 on the 20m course. Use the app to build your engine, but rehearse the exact test on a 15m course before test day.

Serving officers in England and Wales sit the same test annually to stay operationally deployable, not just once at recruitment.

Police Scotland asks for the same figure, on the same course: level 5.4 on a 15-metre multi-stage fitness test. Its recruitment process page puts the fitness assessment fifth of seven stages and says "the standard you need to pass is level 5.4, which means running at least in time with the bleeps for four lengths at level 5." Its National Fitness Standard guidance says the same thing in one line: "all candidates must reach level 5.4 to achieve a pass." Both retrieved 18 September 2026; neither carries a published revision date.

What differs is the framework around it, not the number. Police Scotland does not use the term JRFT. It calls this the National Fitness Standard, ties it to Officer Safety Training rather than the Personal Safety Training the College of Policing framework refers to, and runs it under the Police (Scotland) Regulations 2013. So if you have read that Scotland "uses the JRFT", the standard matches but the governance is separate.

Three details from the Scottish guidance that the England and Wales material does not state the same way:

• You get two warnings before you are taken off, and removal comes after failing to make the line in time on three consecutive occasions, not two
• One foot touching the line at either end is enough. You do not have to cross it, and running ahead of the beeps is penalised
• Your pass has a shelf life. The test must have been completed within six months of being given a start date, or you sit it again

It does not stop at selection either. Recruits repeat the standard in weeks 1 and 7 of the 11-week initial course at the Scottish Police College at Tulliallan, then at roughly weeks 40, 66 and 92 before confirmation. Special constables and officers transferring in from another force are held to the same 5.4. Police Scotland points applicants at Copstrong, its own online strength and conditioning programme, to prepare.

You'll see 3.7 searched almost as often as 5.4, and it's a genuine standard, not a typo. In 2023 the National Police Chiefs' Council commissioned research through the College of Policing to work out what level of fitness the newer Public and Personal Safety Training (PPST) curriculum actually needs. The specialist who ran the study (the same person who set the original 5.4 figure back in 2003 for a training course that no longer exists) put the real requirement at 3.7, not 5.4. That's covered in detail on the Police Federation's account of the decision.

Chief constables largely kept 5.4 rather than adopting the lower figure. West Yorkshire Police is the one force confirmed to have moved serving officers onto 3.7 for their annual retest, starting the week of 1 April 2024. New officers in their first year still test to 5.4. No other major force had followed by the time this page was last checked, so don't assume 3.7 applies to you. Ask your force which figure they're currently testing to.

The standard JRFT is a shuttle run, not a treadmill test. A treadmill can't reproduce the turn at each line, which is a real part of what makes 15m shuttles demanding. For candidates who can't complete the shuttle run because of a disability or medical condition, some forces offer a reasonable-adjustment alternative: walking or running on a treadmill against an increasing gradient. That's confirmed on the national recruitment site, but it isn't a general substitute you can request for convenience. Confirm whether it's offered with the specific force you're applying to.

If you just want to train indoors, that's a different question and a reasonable one. The treadmill bleep test page sets out the 15m ramp up to 5.4 and the 20m speeds level by level, along with why a belt flatters your result: it paces you, and it never makes you turn.

5.4 is achievable for most people within a few weeks of structured running, provided you're already reasonably active. Run interval sessions two to three times a week, building toward sustaining 9–10 km/h for short reps, and practise the actual 15m shuttle format at least once a week so the turns feel familiar on test day. If you're starting from a low base, give yourself longer rather than cramming.

This site runs the exact 15m JRFT schedule. Open the beep test app and switch the toggle from "20m Test" to "15m (UK Police)" before you press start: beeps, level calls, and your final score all switch to the 15-metre timing. For the full chart and background on the 15m protocol, see the 15m bleep test page. There's also a free MP3 recording run to level 5.4, no signup needed: