Federation: Investment in policing needed to stop people leaving the Job

28 October 2024

63% of those who left the police service pointed to the job’s negative effect on their family and personal life as a critical factor, a new Leavers Survey has shown.

The Police Federation of England and Wales captured the experiences of 2,654 officers who had left the job and discovered that reasons for them leaving, included long/irregular hours, high stress and no work/life balance.

The survey showed 27% of police officers are resigning before reaching pension age, with low morale and poor job satisfaction cited as the main reasons.

More than half of resigning police officers stated their mental health has been severely affected by the job.

74% of resigners cited low morale as a major reason for leaving. 41% of resigners and 32% of retirees pointed to physical health issues as a reason.

60% said understaffing/the inability to meet team or unit demands drove their decision.

Andy Symonds, Chair of Norfolk Police Federation, said: “These stats are a symptom of a growing crisis in problem caused by a number of factors. The first is pay and conditions. Officers have been treated less favourably than our counterparts in the public sector in regards to both pay awards which have been less over the years.

“An example of this is this year’s pay award for police was 4.75% and almost every other public sector worker received more in their pay award be that 5% or 6% and with junior doctors it was 22%. Many officers with the pensions changes are leaving earlier and finding employment outside of policing.

“When I get to catch-up with my former colleagues whom have left policing early they all are happier, healthier and financially better off as the jobs they’ve moved into pay them more than being a police officer did. This is because many employers see officer skills and experience as highly valuable assets. Something which a growing number of police officers feel is not present within policing.

“Add into the mix that the high level of scrutiny officers face when investigations take place and the pressures and anxiety this brings as well as the length time they may be under investigation many officers feel this burden is too much and they leave. In addition to all of this ,officers have numerous restrictions on their private lives. They can be ordered to work longer hours, work on their rest days and annual leave often at short notice. They are never off duty and are required to act whilst off duty.

“They can be told not to associate with certain people or family members, they have to remain financially solvent. Many officers are assaulted regularly and the seriousness of these assaults is growing. Many officers have permanent disabilities as a result of assaults or injuries sustained on duty. The psychological impact on officers is a growing issue. Many officers are struggling with their mental health. Trying to cope with dealing with so many traumatic incidents during their career has a huge negative impact on them.

“So taking all of this into account it is no surprise that we’re seeing a worrying number of officers quit. What needs to be done is a number of things. The police accountability review is an important step. Having a first class proactive occupational health and wellbeing offering to officers who are struggling physically and mentally will help alleviate the negative impacts policing has on officers.

“So investment from Government which is ring fenced to be invested into wellbeing.

“Investment into policing in terms of budgets to allow Chief Constables to make decision on where resources need to be deployed. This does include an uplift in officers but importantly police staff.

“One of the reasons we’re seeing burnout with officers is that they are doing too much all of the time. They are on the accelerator and revving at 8,000 revs all the time. There is simply not enough of them to cope with all the demands placed on policing.

“We’ve seen in recent reports and stats that in England and Wales we have around 200 police officers per 100,000 people. Compare this with other European countries and we rank the lowest. With Germany at over 300 per 100,000, Spain at well over 400 per 100,000. We then need a truly independent pay process that allows negotiation and collective bargaining, something that we’ve not had since it was changed in 2015 after the Winsor review of pay and conditions. We have not got this - and this is one of the reasons why police officer pay has been suppressed for many years.”