Officer retention issues have to be tackled head-on, says Federation chair

17 March 2022

Hertfordshire Police Federation chair Geoff Bardell has warned more needs to be done to hold onto new recruits after figures revealed the number of officers leaving the Force before finishing their probation.

Data from the National Police Chiefs’ Council, obtained by Police Oracle, revealed a 9.3 per cent attrition rate at Hertfordshire Police with 50 out of 535  new officers quitting early.

The recruits have been recorded from November 2019 and the leavers from April 2020.

The Hertfordshire figure is just slightly higher than the national average of 9.1 per cent which equates to a total of 2,567 early leavers from 28,173 new recruits.

Geoff said: “The figures are very disappointing and show much more work needs to be done on officer retention.

“The reasons new recruits leave early are many and varied but there is no doubt the issues at the heart of this are the same ones that crop up all the time.

“To make sure our new recruits stick with it I think their pay and conditions have to improve, investment in their mental health and wellbeing has to be stepped up, better benefits have to be offered and their training and integrated learning has to come into line with the requirements of a modern and efficient police service.”

Geoff said recent reports made the levels of dissatisfaction among police officers crystal clear.

He said: “The Police Federation’s most recent pay and morale survey found half of Hertfordshire Police officers worry about their finances every day or almost every day. Seven out of ten feel worse off than they did five years ago and 15 per cent have barely enough money to cover all their essentials.

“Hardly any of our members think they are respected by the Government for the difficult and often stressful job they do and 14 per cent want to leave the police service, either within the next two years or as soon as possible.

“Officer retention is as important as recruitment but until these issues are tackled head on the number of early leavers will continue to rise.”

The highest rate of attrition across the 43 forces of England and Wales was Northamptonshire with 19.3 per cent.

North Yorkshire recorded 16.8 per cent, followed by Cambridgeshire at 16.1 per cent and Bedfordshire with 15.7 per cent.

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.

Data shows 11,048 officers have now been recruited from funding for the 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.