FOI 25-496 NQP Recruitment
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-496 NQP Recruitment
- Request Date
- 03 Nov 2025
- Response Date
- 18 Nov 2025
- Information Requested
Please provide data covering the period 1st June 2025 to present (or the most recent date available) on recruitment of Newly Qualified Paramedics (NQPs) within the Scottish Ambulance Service:
The number of NQP offers made, accepted, and started, split by region: North East West
For each region, please indicate:
- The number of full-time and part-time offers.
- The number of offers still awaiting allocation or matching.
- The planned or actual start dates for those who accepted.
- If the current Half 2 2025/Half 2026 NQP recruitment intake is now formally closed or still in progress.
If held, please provide any summary or internal report showing total NQP headcount targets or progress against those targets for the 2025 calendar year (or 2025/26 financial year).
- Response
Please see the table below detailing the number of full-time and part-time positions accepted by NQP’s broken down by Region.
NQP Offers Accepted
Course Start Date
North
East
West
Full Time
Part Time
Full Time
Part Time
Full Time
Part Time
21/07/2025
0
0
0
5
<5
0
18/08/2025
0
0
0
19
16
0
15/09/2025
<5
0
0
6
12
0
13/10/2025
11
0
0
10
<5
8
10/11/2025
11
0
0
11
5
6
05/01/2026
10
0
0
12
<5
9
02/02/2026
11
0
0
11
0
11
02/03/2026
11
0
0
10
0
11
23/03/2026
6
0
0
<5
0
<5
Totals
64
0
0
86
41
48
In total 239 NQPs have accepted job offers and have scheduled start dates with the Scottish Ambulance Service as detailed in the above table. There were an additional 22 offers which were made and not accepted by candidates. The regional breakdown of this is: 8 - east, 13 - west, <5 - north .
Our recruitment campaign has now been concluded and all offers of employment have been made with start dates having been scheduled.
Applications for the recruitment campaign closed on 20 April. The Service received 474 applications, which exceeded the anticipated figure of approximately 350. Of these, 412 applicants were shortlisted for interview. Interviews and fitness testing were conducted in June, during which 400 fitness tests and 325 interviews took place.
