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North Yorkshire Police Federation

Chair's message: 'fears of a retention crisis have not disappeared'

23 January 2025

The Federation has long been saying that we face a retention crisis in policing, and new Home Office workforce figures do little to dispel that fear.

The statistics make for disappointing reading for us in North Yorkshire Police.

The plain stats tell us that between May and September of last year, we lost 29 full-time police officers – or 1.7 per cent of our frontline workforce.

In percentage terms, it was the third biggest fall in England and Wales, with only Hertfordshire (2.3 per cent) and our neighbours in Humberside (2.5 per cent) losing a bigger share of their officer numbers.

As a Federation, we have said that recruitment is only part of the story.

Uplift programme

We had the much-vaunted Uplift programme a few years ago, and a lot of time, effort, and money was invested into recruiting 20,000 officers across England and Wales.

But it feels like the Home Office and decision makers did not give much thought, if any, to retaining those officers, or indeed to retaining the experienced officers who are the backbone of policing and who we desperately need to bring on the next generation.

We are now feeling the impact of that with a retention crisis.

There are lots of reasons why people are leaving the Force and leaving policing.

Pay continues to lag behind where it was pre-austerity despite the welcome rises of the past two years.

Rewards and recognition

Members continue to feel they do not get the rewards and recognition they should, given the unique job they do and the dangers they face.

More than three-quarters of members who took our most recent Pay and Morale Survey were dissatisfied with their remuneration, four out of five felt financially worse off than five years ago, and 13 per cent struggled to cover the cost of their everyday essentials.

Workloads have increased considerably, which the loss of so many officers in the past six months will only add to. Again, the Pay and Morale Survey found 65 per cent had a workload that was too high while a third felt pressured into working long hours.

Members feel the conduct and discipline processes are weighted against them and that they take too long to conclude.

They don’t feel respected by the Government, valued by the public, and see other public sector workers, who have the right to industrial action, receiving much higher pay settlements.

Skills and experience

It’s not surprising that all these things hit morale, and in turn we see officers take the decision that it’s just not worth it, and they take their considerable skills and experience elsewhere.

It does not have to be like this.

Those same Home Office figures show that the number of Specials in North Yorkshire Police has risen by 4.8 per cent to 87 Special Constables.

It suggests to me that people want to be part of policing, that they want to help and support their communities, they just do not want all the additional hassle that comes with it.

This is why we need a shift so that officers feel supported in their roles.

Pay and morale

The Government can help improve morale this summer by giving officers a pay rise that ensures they are sufficiently remunerated for their efforts.

We need to be given pay negotiation rights so that we can talk directly to decision-makers about the reality of policing. The current system is unfair and unfit for purpose.

We need to have the training infrastructure, the stations, and the equipment in place.

We also need to look at how we can incentivise long service so we retain the skills and experience we need.

Our people are our biggest asset. It’s time we started treating them as such.

READ MORE: Fed elections: Put yourself forward.

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February 2025
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