‘Officer retention is as big an issue as recruitment’

14 February 2023

West Mercia Police Federation has welcomed a new report which showed almost nine out of ten recruits who joined up under the Police Uplift Programme (PUP) intend to stay in the service until they retire.

Branch interim chair Pete Nightingale said it was great to see such a positive attitude from young officers but urged the Force to do everything it could to ensure they did not become disillusioned.

He said: “Officer retention has become as big an issue as recruitment and it is important that concerns over the number of officers leaving the service are properly addressed.

“I think it’s wonderful that our newest recruits are so positive about the job so we need to make sure they feel wanted, valued and respected at West Mercia Police.

“Officers young and old leave policing for a variety of reasons but pay and conditions and morale are usually cited as the main factors so the Force has to make sure this is a place where people want to work.”

The PUP New Recruits Onboarding Survey (2022) painted a positive overall picture with high satisfaction rates and strong intentions to remain within policing.

It found more than eight in ten (82 per cent) new officers were satisfied with the role and 81 per cent were satisfied with the support they received from their line managers.

Almost seven in ten (69 per cent) said the role had met or exceeded their expectations while 86 per cent said they wanted to serve with the police until retirement.

The findings from the 2022 survey were less positive when compared to the 2021 survey which showed 90 per cent were satisfied with the role, 81 per cent were satisfied with the support received, 79 per cent felt the role met or exceeded expectations and 90 per cent intended to stay.

On officer wellbeing, around four in ten (40 per cent) new recruits report ignoring their personal life needs due to work strain and agreed that tension and stress from work was adversely affecting the rest of their life. This compares with a figure of 33 per cent from the 2021 survey.

The 2022 report found the experiences of new officers from minority ethnic backgrounds were not as positive as those of their white counterparts across a number of questions.

It also noted the number of positive responses to questions generally decreased as length of service and officer age increased.

The Police Uplift Programme was launched in 2020 with the aim of taking on 20,000 additional officers by March 2023 although critics point out officer numbers will still be lower than 13 years ago when cuts began.

Policing and crime minister Chris Philp said: “Policing is a career like no other and I am proud that so many thousands of people in England and Wales want to put themselves forward to protect their communities from danger - in a challenging, essential and rewarding job.

“In a matter of months, when this once-in-a-generation recruitment drive is complete and we have a record number of officers across England and Wales, our police forces will be more representative than ever of the communities they serve.

“The overwhelming majority of new recruits recently surveyed report positive job satisfaction and want to remain officers for the rest of their working lives, and compared to other public sectors, voluntary resignations in policing remain low at 2.5 per cent.”