Hundreds of officers locked in policing career limbo
ONE in five South Yorkshire Police officers are locked in career limbo in what has been described as a “dark period for promotions” in the police service.
A Freedom of Information request has revealed that 461 constables and 117 sergeants in the force have passed both Ospre Parts I and II but have not been substantively promoted. Across England and Wales, at least 10,444 constables and 3,778 sergeants are awaiting promotion.
Neil Bowles, chairman of South Yorkshire Police Federation, said the issue was a difficult one to solve. “The force cannot really restrict people from taking the exams but we must manage expectations around promotions in the current climate.
“We should be encouraging plenty of options for lateral movement, be it in role or location, to get people out of their comfort zone and give them challenges in their current rank.”
John Giblin, who sits on the Police Federation’s professional development sub-committee and co-leads on promotion-related matters, said the situation has been getting worse since 2008.
“Officers are becoming annoyed, frustrated, demoralised,” he said. “We have a large pool of good, talented people at the point where they would have expected to progress and it is just not happening.”
Mr Giblin said the lack of promotion opportunities could lead to officers leaving the police service. “Working on the frontline takes it out of you,” he said. “If you are looking for a pay rise or for more responsibility and cannot get a promotion, people will start to look elsewhere.”
He added: “It is a dark period for promotions and it is a consequence of the 20 per cent cuts imposed upon the police service.”
Police officers awaiting promotion have said they feel “very, very frustrated” and said the lack of promotions has “left people feeling despondent”.
ACPO has acknowledged it is “a very serious issue” and suggested the police service looks at other ways of “rewarding and incentivising officers” with a greater emphasis on development and lateral progression.
Mike Cunningham, ACPO lead on workforce development and chief constable of Staffordshire Police, said: “There are considerably more staff qualified for promotion than there are opportunities, and this has the potential to adversely impact on morale.”
The College of Policing has acknowledged the current system of promotion is qualifying more officers than can reasonably be promoted in the current economic climate. It believes the new National Police Promotion Framework (NPPF), being rolled out across the country, will go some way to help.
The overall FOI figures include all forces in England and Wales, including British Transport Police, but excluding Essex Police which did not respond to the request in time.