Call for greater emphasis on retaining officers

21 March 2022

More than one in 10 recruits to the Government’s uplift programme have left Derbyshire Police during their probation period, new figures have revealed.

Now Derbyshire Police Federation chair Tony Wetton is calling for a greater focus on retention including pay and benefits, training and mental health.

Tony was commenting as data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, obtained by Police Oracle, shows that Derbyshire Police has seen 29 new officers leave during probation from a total of 279 recruits, an attrition rate of 11.2 per cent.

Northamptonshire (19.3 per cent), North Yorkshire (16.8 per cent) and Cambridgeshire (16.1 per cent) have the highest attrition rates, according to the figures.

On the lower end of the scale, Cumbria and North Wales each have a rate of 3.9 per cent, while Merseyside and West Midlands both recorded 5.4 per cent.

The data reveals that the average attrition rate is 9.1 per cent with 2,567 leavers from 28,173 new recruits.

Tony said: “It’s not just about getting people through the door. Retention is as vital as recruitment, otherwise the uplift programme falls down.

“We need to ensure we’re doing all we can to retain our recruits, and our more experienced officers as well.

“Our members made it clear they don’t feel valued in our recent pay and morale survey and that poor pay is having a devastating impact on their morale.

“Clearly the issues are linked, and we need action now to address them. It’s vital that police are paid fairly for the hazards they face. They deserve more investment in their mental health, better benefits, and appropriate training that equips them for modern policing.

“In short, police leaders need to put their workforce first.”

In January, the Federation aired its concerns when Home Office statistics revealed the uplift programme was just halfway towards meeting its target, and, if it does reach the numbers pledged, would only bring the service back to pre-austerity levels.

Data showed 11,048 officers have been recruited from funding for the Government’s Police Uplift Programme and contributed towards the target of 20,000 by March 2023.

If the 20,000 target is achieved, it would bring officer numbers up to around 148,000, which is slightly above the number of officers in 2010.