More Officers Resigning Before Pension Age

The majority of officers in some South Yorkshire teams have under five years’ policing experience, the Federation has said, as it emerges that more experienced officers are leaving the service.

New Home Office figures suggest that almost 60% of police officers who leave the service are resigning before reaching pension age, with low morale and poor job satisfaction cited as the main reasons.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said: “Sadly, this doesn’t surprise me, but it is a real concern, because we need that full breadth of experience within policing.

“The cynic in me thinks that Governments, past and present, don’t necessarily want this to be a 30-year career for people because it can be cost-effective to get younger officers in. That may be too cynical a view.

“What we’re seeing across South Yorkshire Police is teams with a majority of officers who have under five years’ service, and sometimes under three years’ service.

“I’m not faulting the work they do – they’ll be working very hard and doing their best. But you need to have experienced people to learn from, you need to have peer support.

“When I joined the police, there were people of all lengths of service within my team, and the value of that is immense. We want people to join the police as a career and to stay with it; we don’t want people leaving because of the financial situation they’re in.”

Steve said he knew officers who had left the police to become train drivers, join the private sector or start their own businesses.

“There does seem to be more of a tendency for people to leave,” he said.