Uplift figures could be misleading, says Fed chair

27 April 2023

Hertfordshire Police Federation chair Luke Mitchell has warned new recruitment figures from the Home Office should be treated with caution.

The latest statistics show the Force has taken on 330 new officers under the Police Uplift Programme, 34 more than the target of 304 set by the Government when it launched the recruitment drive.

The current headcount of 2,415 is higher than 2010 when it stood at 2,069 but that figure had fallen as low as 1,924 by the start of 2019 after several years of austerity-led funding cuts.

Luke gave a cautious welcome to the increase in officer numbers but said the figures could be misleading.

He said: “Firstly, I’d like to say well done to all the staff who helped ensure we as a Force met uplift. These additional officers are very much welcome and so very much needed.

“However I still have Theresa May’s constant rhetoric playing through my ear when she for so many years told the police and the public that it is not about numbers but how you use them as she presided over slashing police officer numbers, pay and conditions. Fast forward a few years and it now all appears to be about police numbers.

“As with anything that is politically driven and target led, we must ensure the public have the facts. The fact we in Herts have more officers doesn’t mean the public can expect a better service. It takes two years to fully train a police officer, there is no magic wand. I’d suggest around 150/200 police officers are currently within their first six months of training and haven’t landed on area. Due to the sheer retention issue, our frontline teams look very different to how they did under Mrs May, as experience officers left in their droves due to pay and condition. We now have a young in age and young in service workforce, it will therefore take our staff longer to deal with incidents and more mistakes will be made as there isn’t the share learning available to our new officers.

“When you factor in the population growth in our county per head, in 10 years its risen by over 70,000 and continues to grow at pace, and the change in demands of policing often picking up where other services are failing, the number won’t make much of a difference. I’d argue we’re in a worse place than we were five years ago.

“So while the Government will play smoke and mirrors (again) with misleading statements, this news isn't something to celebrate and rather than focus on the fact we will now have to constantly to recruit as we can’t retain. The fact we can’t retain again falls into pay, while other public sectors have received between a 1 and 24 per cent increase over the last 20 years police officers have had a real terms pay cut of 17 per cent. People join the police and soon work out what is demanded of them is not recognised the money they receive, likewise those more experienced officers are now leaving as they have simply had another of pay freezes or one per cent increases.

“I’ve pushed senior officers as far as I can within Force to ensure they can give officers as much as they can, increase in South East Allowance, use of TVPs and one-off use of honorarium payments, the elephant in the room is the Government awarding officers a sizeable pay increase, the Federation has asked for 17 per cent which again isn’t a pay increase, merely what we have lost out on.

“The uplift will hopefully relieve some of that pressure but that is also a double-edged sword because by the very nature of the uplift programme, the new officers are much less experienced than the people they have replaced and they will have to be properly trained and monitored and that takes time and money.

“So, in real terms, I’m not sure we are much better off than we were 13 years ago when the decade of funding cuts got underway.

“On a positive note, the new recruits I have met are bright, enthusiastic and have a lot to offer so hopefully the Force will do all it can to make sure they are properly treated and given all the support they need.”

The Home Office figures show that nationwide, a total of 20,951 extra recruits have joined the service under the Police Uplift Programme and that the only Force that failed to meet its target was the Met.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Twitter: “In 2019 we promised to recruit 20,000 additional police officers in England and Wales to make our streets safer and protect communities. Today, I’m pleased to say we have delivered that promise.”

Home Secretary Suella Braverman described it as a “historic moment for our country”.

During a speech in Westminster, she said: “We should be immensely proud of what we’ve achieved in the last few years.

“Many said we couldn't do it but this is a police success, a Home Office success and a Conservative Government success.”

She denied that policing was the “failure of austerity” and insisted the new recruitment figures were a success.

Asked whether it was fair to say that cuts to the police service in previous years had been a “problem”, she replied: “No. Since 2010, we see that overall crime has fallen. When you take out fraud and online crime, it’s almost 50 per cent lower than it was in 2010.”

Police Federation national chair Steve Hartshorn said the latest figures did not stand up to scrutiny.

He said: “The reality is, considering population growth of more than four million since 2010, even with an uplift of 20,000 officers, we will have fewer officers on the streets than we had a decade ago.

“Half of all police forces now have fewer officers than they had in 2010 and voluntary resignations have almost doubled.”