Federation warns of crisis in recruitment and retention

1 June 2022

Hertfordshire Police Federation has warned of a deepening recruitment and retention crisis after it emerged the Metropolitan Police was enticing experienced officers from surrounding forces with a £5,000 payment.

Met chiefs confirmed they were offering the one-off payment to attract officers after they failed to meet the targets in the Government’s uplift programme, which aims to deliver 20,000 new officers in England and Wales by the end of March next year.

Hertfordshire branch chair Luke Mitchell said he would not be surprised if members were tempted to take the Met up on its offer but  insisted it was now down to Hertfordshire Police to take action to prevent an exodus.

He said: “There is no point attacking the Met. Money talks and after 12 years of one per cent rises or pay freezes, some Hertfordshire police officers will have no option but to move because £5,000 is a lot of money.

“Instead of complaining about what the Met is doing, the Force has to step up to the plate and ask itself what it can do to make sure it recruits and retains the best candidates.

“The Force does have the ability to push back on this and reward its officers further.

“It did put the South East Allowance up in April and that was immediately wiped out by the National Insurance increase so made no difference whatsoever.

“So, firstly I would urge the Force to review its South East Allowance policy and increase it once again. And then it really must become more active with the Government. We really are in crisis and this is not going to go away until police pay is sorted out.

“We are in the midst of a serious cost-of-living catastrophe with police officers using food banks and being unable to afford to put petrol in their cars to drive to work so something has to be done.

“As branch chair, I will be as vocal as possible about this and I have promised to keep pressing for better terms and conditions for our members but we can only go so far. The Force now has to engage with the Government and reach a solution sooner rather than later.”

The Met said it hoped to fill 200 positions with the £5,000 payment, which it described as a “one-off cash bonus”.

It said the job market in London had changed quickly post-Covid with more job opportunities, fewer people looking for work and more officers choosing to retire.

Met director of resources Clare Davies said: “We will be doing everything we can while we have the funding to encourage the best of the best to join us. We will also continue to press hard for a fair pay award for all our officers so that we remain an attractive employer.”

Hertfordshire Police Federation secretary Al Wollaston said he was aware neighbouring forces were considering taking legal action against the Met but argued this was the wrong response and said they should be looking closer to home for the answer.

He said: “The issue isn’t what the Met is doing to attract people, it’s what Herts and other forces are doing to retain people.

“Hertfordshire has always been seen as a friendly force where officers are more than just a number but I don’t think that is the case any more. It is all about money and if police officers can travel into London and get, with a one-off £5,000, another £9,500 a year then who is going to blame them?

“The Force needs to meet the Home Secretary to spell out what the issues are because unless police officers are properly remunerated this crisis will just get worse and worse.

“As a Police Federation, we have highlighted retention as an issue for as long as I can remember but this is now about the Force doing something. The £500 increase in SE Allowance doesn’t even come close to being enough.

“At the moment money really does talk and £5,000 is too big a carrot for many of our members to ignore.”