Police Leavers: Improvements in pay and work/life balance will help retention

MORE than half of police officers leaving the service have blamed poor morale, a new study  has found.

The Police Federation of England and Wales’ Leavers’ Survey found that 51% of people who left the service between October 2017 and April 2019, said their morale had a large part to play in their decision to exit the service and 40% admitted stress was one of the reasons.

More than eight out of 10 resigned because they reached pension age and have chosen to retire. Two thirds of officers that left said they would never consider returning to the police service.

And 28% of officers said improved pension provisions would make them reconsider their decision to leave, with 22% saying that a higher salary would make them reconsider.

Police Federation of England and Wales Chair John Apter said: “These findings do not surprise me at all. This is yet more evidence, if it were needed, to prove to the Government and chief constables that my colleagues are at breaking point – or are unfortunately already broken and have been driven to leave the service due to low morale, stress and soaring demand.

“The service has been cut to the bone since 2010, with 22,000 fewer officers to protect the public, leaving our dedicated members with little option but to operate in a pressure-cooker environment, doing double the workload – now more likely single-crewed – with cancelled rest-days and holidays.

“Police officers are not robots, they are human beings. They are exhausted and consistently exposed to things people should never have to see, with a large proportion also leaving because of the toll taken on their psychological health.”

A total of 1,022 people responded to the report during the 18-month period between October 2017 and April 2019, and the survey is open to any officer who is leaving within the next three months, including those who are retiring, resigning or being required to leave by their force.

Mr Apter added: “Our members who have served 10, 20 years, were more likely to leave due to poor psychological and physical health which is something policing should be ashamed of. The apparent lack of willingness to fight to retain our most experienced officers is simply inexcusable and more must be done to ensure we look after our people.”

A full copy of the report can be found here: https://www.polfed.org/media/15183/leavers-survey-report-2019-02-09-19-v013.pdf