A quarter of Northants cops plan to quit in the next two years

17 April 2024

One in four Northamptonshire Police officers are planning to leave the Force in the next two years, a new survey has revealed.

Twenty-four per cent of Northants officers responding to the annual Police Federation Pay and Morale Survey said they would be quitting their jobs within a couple of years, higher than the national rate of 22 per cent, and the third highest rating of the 43 forces across England and Wales behind only the Metropolitan and City of London Police.

A total of 84 per cent of the officers planning to quit said it was due to there being better opportunities outside policing. Other reasons given included how the police are treated by the Government (77 per cent), pay and morale (both 74 per cent), workload and responsibilities and the impact the job has on their family and home life (both 59 per cent).

“Just last year, we came to the end of the Police Uplift Programme through which police numbers increased by 20,000. Every force in England and Wales has benefited from that programme as have the communities they serve,” explains Sam Dobbs, chair of Northamptonshire Police Federation.

“But we could soon be haemorrhaging officers at a faster rate than we can recruit and train them. Policing is in crisis. Years of underfunding, below-inflation pay rises and increasing demands, coupled with an almost constant onslaught of negative headlines in the media have taken their toll on officers’ morale and general wellbeing.

Northamptonshire Police Federation chair Sam Dobbs.

“It’s not surprising that almost a quarter of our current officers are looking for an exit route. Who can blame them? They do not feel valued by the Government, they do not feel respected by the public and since their pay does not adequately reflect the very real dangers they face when carrying out their duties, they are looking for better paid and less challenging careers.

“If these officers do all leave and given that there will also be a percentage of officers who retire in the next two years as well, we will lose a huge amount of experience and that will also have an impact on the training of any new officers we take on.

“While I appreciate we are in a General Election year and therefore the current Government is unlikely to address the findings of this survey ahead of polling day, I would urge whichever party form the next Government to prioritise policing.

“Politicians need to look at police pay and also the mechanism for determining our pay award since the current system is not working. The Police Remuneration Review Body is far from independent given that it is given a remit by Government and the Home Secretary can ignore its recommendations. Neither do we have any right to go to arbitration.

“There also needs to be a longer-term programme for investment in policing so that police chiefs can properly plan ahead and provide the policing service our communities want and need.”

The Police Federation of England and Wales Pay and Morale Survey was carried out among all 43 forces during five weeks late last year. It aims to obtain members’ views on pay and conditions as well as their attitudes to their work and the police service in general.

The survey has been carried out by the Federation every year since 2014 and it is one of the largest annual surveys of police officers conducted within England and Wales.

Other headline figures for Northamptonshire Police Federation members were:

94 per cent do not feel they are paid fairly for the stresses and strains of their role, with 81 per cent saying their pay did not reflect the hazards of their job
87 per cent felt they were worse off financially than they were five years ago, the seventh highest percentage in the country
81 per cent said Force morale is ‘low’ or ‘very low’ with the main reasons for this cited as how the police are treated by Government (96 per cent), how the police are treated by the public (87 per cent), and pay and benefits (83 per cent).
80 per cent indicated they had experienced feelings of stress, low mood, anxiety, or other difficulties with their health and wellbeing over the last 12 months.
59 per cent said that over the last 12 months, their workload has been ‘too high’ or ‘much too high’, with 39 per cent feeling always or often pressured into working longer hours
54 per cent said their morale is currently ‘low’ or ‘very low’
20 per cent reported ‘never’ or ‘almost never’ having enough money to cover all their essentials.

Sam concluded: “This survey report makes for difficult reading. Police officers join the police service to serve and protect the public, to fight crime, keep order and look after the vulnerable but they are not paid a wage befitting the very real dangers they face on a daily basis.

“It is time for politicians to recognise the growing crisis within policing and do something about it. We often hear warm words of support but what is lacking is real action. The time has come for them to act, and the sooner the better.”

Read the full report.