Recruitment progress welcomed

30 April 2021

The chair of West Midlands Police Federation says the Force’s three-year recruitment campaign is going strong after seeing an uplift of more than 600 officers since its launch.

However, Jon Nott said there’s still work to be done on retention following the release of new Home Office figures.

They show there were 7,319 officers in the Force as at 31 March, up from 6,691, an uplift of 628 officers against an allocation of 366.

However, the Home Office data also shows that West Midlands Police recruited a total of 1,167 new officers in that period, and Jon said this highlighted the challenges of retaining experienced officers.

Jon said: “We’re delighted to welcome our new colleagues to the Force and wish them the very best in their new roles. The Force’s recruitment campaign continues to be strong, particularly in the face of the many challenges we’ve faced with the pandemic, lockdowns and restrictions, and should be applauded.

“However, the figures show there’s a lot of work still to be done to ensure we retain the expertise and experience of existing officers. They are vital to the training and understanding of our new colleagues as they bed into the Force and we must do what we can to make sure we retain their skills and knowledge.”

Nationally, the Home Office figures show there were 137,704 officers in the 43 territorial police forces in England and Wales as at 31 March – an increase of 8,771 officers. The. Government has pledged to recruit 20,000 officers over a three-year period.

Meanwhile, Forces are being encouraged to use new tax breaks to recruit more officers from military backgrounds.

Companies and public sector organisations which employ armed forces veterans are now exempt from paying National Insurance contributions during the first 12 months of their employment.

This new tax relief came into force on 6 April and is available to every employer - regardless of when a veteran left the regular armed forces.

National chair of the Police Federation of England and Wales John Apter said: “This is good news and shows the Government recognises the value and contribution veterans can bring through their life experiences and strong transferable skills.

“As part of our current national recruitment campaign, forces need to grab this opportunity with both hands and do all they can to recruit people with life experience, and this includes ex-military who can contribute so much to policing.”