Federation reveals results of 2024 pay and morale survey

1 May 2025

75% of Avon and Somerset Police officers feel ‘worse off’ financially now than they were five years ago and 16% ‘never’ or ‘almost never’ have enough money to cover all their essentials.

According to the 2024 Police Federation of England and Wales Pay and Morale Report – published today - 86% of respondents have seen living cost increases in the previous month and 56% of officers are dissatisfied with their pay.

Worryingly, 18% of Avon and Somerset Police officers who responded to the survey said they intend to resign from the police service either ‘within the next two years’ or ‘as soon as [they] can’.

Whilst Police Officers received a 4.75% pay rise in 2024, officer pay has reduced by a fifth since 2010.

Nationally 76% of officers responding to the PFEW Pay and Morale survey say their pay does not reflect the dangers they face and a third of officers struggle to afford essentials such as food, rent, or heating.

Officers are also struggling with low morale and lack of support, the survey found. 90% of Avon and Somerset officers said they do not feel respected by the Government, and 55% said they were experiencing low morale.

70% of respondents from Avon and Somerset Police said that they would not recommend joining the police to others. 70% said they do not feel valued within the service.

Tom Gent, Secretary of Avon and Somerset Police Federation said: “To see that 90% of our colleagues feel morale is low isn’t surprising to me, but we must ensure that our officers who are out there supporting the community are recognised for their hard work.

“I know lots of officers are leaving the service, we’re losing that experience, it’s really difficult to replace that experience and there’s no doubt that pay is a factor in that.”

He added: “Officers are feeling under pressure, they’re feeling under-resourced, under-equipped, over-worked, and they need support, they need our support, they need Government to ensure they support officers, that officers feel backed by our own organisation and by the national picture, and that they do need to be compensated fairly – we’ve seen pay erode by around 20% over the past few years, we see experienced officers struggling to make ends meet.” 

Officers are coming under attack from the public too, the report showed, with 17% having suffered one or more injuries that required medical attention as a result of work-related violence in the last year.

Only 14% of officers who responded reported having access to double crewing at all times whilst on duty.

69% of respondents from Avon and Somerset Police said that over the last 12 months, their workload has been ‘too high’ or ‘much too high’. 5% of officers said that they have ‘never’ or ‘rarely’ been able to take an 11-hour break between shifts in the last 12 months and 31% said they feel ‘always’ or ‘often’ feel pressured into working long hours.

Sadly, 86% of respondents from Avon and Somerset Police indicated that they had experienced feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety, or other difficulties with their health and wellbeing over the last 12 months, and 47% said that they find their job ‘very’ or ‘extremely’ stressful.

The survey is based on 786 responses received from Avon and Somerset Police officers.