Results of new Pay and Morale survey are ‘worrying and damning’ says Fed chair
25 March 2024
Gwent Police Federation chair Matthew Candy described new research which found more than one in five officers in England and Wales plan to quit policing as ‘damning and worrying’.
The Police Federation of England and Wales’s (PFEW) latest annual Pay and Morale Survey revealed that 22 per cent of police officers are planning to leave the service.
More than three-quarters of those (78 per cent) said that poor treatment from the Government was a contributing factor in wanting to leave. Morale (85 per cent), their mental health and wellbeing (73 per cent) and pay (70 per cent) were also key factors.
And with PFEW also reporting that 9,000 officers resigned in the year ending March 2023, the highest number of leavers in a financial year since comparable records began, Matthew called for urgent action.
He said: “The results of the latest PFEW pay and morale survey are damning about the way police officers feel they’re treated, particularly over pay and conditions.
“The figures are also very worrying, with so many officers thinking about leaving the service.
“They’ve had their pay and conditions reduced going back over the past decade and more, and it’s having an impact. We always said that cuts have consequences.
“Our members feel overworked and undervalued, and we need the Government and decision makers to take urgent action to address their very real concerns.
“That needs to start with a fair pay agreement for this year. But it also needs to include the introduction of a fair, transparent, and fully independent pay review process."
The 2024 PFEW pay and morale survey, which was published this week, found 85 per cent of respondents feel they are not fairly paid given the hazards they face within their job, up from 78 per cent in 2018.
That is illustrated by 15 per cent reporting they had suffered one or more injuries that required medical attention because of work-related violence in the last year.
More than three quarters (78 per cent) of police officers said they are ‘dissatisfied’ or ‘very dissatisfied’ with their overall remuneration (including basic pay and allowances), while 18 per cent reported ‘never’ or ‘almost never’ having enough money to cover all their essentials.
More than half (58 per cent) of respondents feel their morale is ‘low’ or ‘very low’, while 87 per cent feel morale within their force is currently ‘low’ or ‘very low’.
More than two-thirds (82 per cent) indicated they had experienced feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety or other problems with their mental health and wellbeing over the last 12 months.
Other findings include:
• 95 per cent said how the police are treated by the Government had a negative impact on their morale.
• 81 per cent said their pay had a negative impact on their morale.
• 73 per cent said they would not recommend joining the police to others.
• 71 per cent said they did not feel valued within the police.
• 92 per cent of respondents feel they are not fairly paid given the stresses and strains of their job.
• 86 per cent said they do not feel there are enough officers to meet the demands of their team or unit.
• 64 per cent said their workload has been ‘too high’ or ‘much too high’ over the last 12 months.
• 39 per cent said their workload being too high had an impact on their mental health and wellbeing.
PFEW national chair Steve Hartshorn said: “At a critical time where the police service is looking to rebuild eroded public confidence, a sustained recruitment and retention programme is needed to meet demand and deliver. The numbers we currently have are not enough and we are haemorrhaging officers.
“We do not need to scratch our heads wondering why they are quitting, because the evidence is right here, with unfair pay at the centre of it all.
“A fair pay mechanism is urgently needed, namely the ‘P-Factor’, a payment for remunerating officers for the harm they may encounter while carrying out their duties among other restrictions. It is there to address a series of unique issues experienced by police officers, and independent research agrees with this positioning.
“To help the Government understand these unique challenges to policing, PFEW is undertaking its own review of the P-Factor design and formula to support our campaigning on this matter.
“The survey findings ultimately demonstrate the need for committed action, and a vote for the members to make a decision around whether they want to seek greater industrial rights, specifically collective bargaining and binding arbitration in relation to pay and conditions, will be held as soon as is practicable this year.”
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