Pay and Morale survey reveals staggering number of South Yorkshire officers reporting low force morale

A ‘STAGGERING’ number of police officers believe morale in the force to be a low, a new survey has revealed.

South Yorkshire officers told the 2019 PFEW Pay and Morale survey that they are worried about their finances, and that they don’t get paid enough for what they do while 89% of respondents said they felt morale in the force was currently low.

South Yorkshire Police Federation Chair Steve Kent said it was a staggeringly high figure which was unlikely to change until more officers can be drafted in.

“The three figures that really stick out are the 76% of respondents who are unhappy with pay, the 65% who feel worse off financially than they were 5 years ago, which is showing the sort of overall decline and the sort of drip, drip effect of officers not getting the pay rises that they need, and the  staggering one, that 89% think that morale is low,” he said.

“I get that, and it reflects the energy I get from people out on the street and speaking to officers. Our force is trying to be positive in terms of recruiting as many as possible on top of the 20,000 cops promised.

“But until those cops are bedded in and officers start to get the remuneration they deserve, I can’t see that figure improving and I’m just not surprised by it at all.”

Steve also wants to see consistent pay rises awarded every year which reflect the cost of living.

“Obviously the fact that we had the pay rise this year was lukewarmly welcomed, but we need to see continued and improved pay rises to get cops back onto their feet again because officers are barely on any more money than what they were 10 years ago, and that can’t be right,” he said.

“There needs to be a steep incline in pay rises, officers in South Yorkshire are struggling. It’s frightening when officers are still struggling in areas such as South Yorkshire, where the cost of living isn’t as high as some places.

“The figure that gets me is that officers are on not much more money to start with when I joined the job 17 years ago. It’s utterly staggering when you think about that. They’re not on much more at all.”